LED Bulbs

[Chris6663]

After coming from BMW and the other vehicle in our household being an Audi I am rather used to having all round external LED lights- I find cars without these to be a bit old fashioned these days!

 

As i'm sure you'll all know the Octavia VRS does not have LED front or rear indicators or LED number plate lights= which to me looks odd against the Xenons/LED's.

 

I've searched the previous threads and I think it's pretty much been established that it's more hassle than it's worth to change the front indicator bulbs, however I wondered if anyone had found any reasonably priced bulbs that they can confirm produce no errors for either the rear number plate or rear indicators?

[Shermo]

For the rear doesn't the vRS have the optional rear LED unit?

[Chris6663]

It has rear side and brake lights yeah, but the indicators/reverse/number plate/fog lights are all non-led bulbs

[TheWanderer]

You can get some LED units for the rear number plate downlights. But you need to do some searching, Superskoda do some, I have them in the boot of my car awaiting fitment.

[treendale]

I have just replaced my rear indicators with Philips Xtreme visions:

 

http://www.powerbulbs.com/au/product/xtreme-vision-py21

 

They're steep and are they worth it considering I can't really see them? I dunno, but they are very bright and have great visibility in terms of angle. Look great with the LED tail lights/brake lights.

 

Good thing is I didn't need to use the CANBUS cancellers, which are these meaty metal units. There would be no space to mount them at the rear. My suspicion is that if I replaced the front indicators too (I'd like to, but what a hassle) then I'd need the resistors.

 

Didn't bother replacing the other lights (reverse or fogs) - hardly in use. Number plates would be good at some point. Check out LEDperf.co.uk for these.

 

(Incidentally I got the Xtreme visions for about £31 - they have discounts regularly. Still a ridiculous price for a pair of bulbs, if you think about it)

Edited 12 August, 2014 by treendale

[Davey007]

What about this from PowerBulbs:

"They can be used in an exterior application but it is not road legal"

[treendale]

What about this from PowerBulbs:

Depends where you live but it is clearly widely ignored. I'm not sure why they are not road legal, they function as well as if not better than a standard filament bulb.

[Minimoke]

Depends where you live but it is clearly widely ignored. I'm not sure why they are not road legal, they function as well as if not better than a standard filament bulb.

It's a legal requirement in the UK that all the external bulbs on the car are type approved by the manufacturer, are E marked for conformity, and have the wattage indelibly marked on the bulb. LED replacements will norrmally fail on at least one of these points. So technically its a MOT failure.

 

Not really a big issue for number plate illumination. But a bigger problem can arise with retro fitted led brake lights when the person does not understand that, because leds have much higher luminous efficacy than traditonal bulbs, they can dazzle following drivers if the incorrect led wattage is fitted. My understanding is that as traditional brake lights normally provide a maximum of 21w, led's should not exceed about 4/5 watts as they provide 5 times the lumens of a normal bulb.

 

As I say thats my understanding - and I guess the rules are different in Australia. If my memory is correct they don't even have an equivalent of an MOT in some states and you can run any old rust bucket.

[hobbie2k]

I've seen aftermarket LED bulbs on cars before (usually in brake light housings) and found that they are much worse than the incandescent type.  I think this is because all the light is projected back so you end up with a tiny dot for a brake light, whereas a regular bulb projects in all directions, including onto the reflector, filling the whole housing with light.  This makes it MUCH easier to see, especially in daylight.

 

The O3 turn signals may be different because it looks like the light is reflected down, then back.  Do you have any pics of them working, day and night?