What bulbs are fitted to the S3 & upgraded bulb recommendations

[pj71]

On 24/03/2016 at 19:19, Gizmo said:

Reversing Lights

 

1156/BA15S/382

 

STD:

 

80W CREE LED’s: 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x80w-1156-BA15S-382-BRIGHTEST-OSRAM-CREE-LED-WHITE-CANBUS-REVERSE-BRAKE-DRL-/152013310456?hash=item2364b309f8:g:Ww4AAOSwDk5T94q8

 

Fitted:

 

 

To give you an idea how bright these are this is them fitted to the Yeti (on the S3 you lose some of the brightness due to the silver caps that cover the bulbs)

 

Myself and a few other members have used these in various cars (Citygo, Fabia MKI, Superb MKI, Yeti etc and nobody has a bad word to say about them!)

 

Hi all, thank you to gizmo for pointing me to the LED reverse light bulbs that i recently purchased for my own car. The lights are a definite improvement, however, the rear light clusters themselves are, for me personally, frustrating me slightly.

It concerns the piece of plastic inside the cluster that looks like a strip of a magnifying glass to me. You can see in gizmo's pics.

The piece appears in both the indicators, and reverse lights. Has anyone modified this, or changed the cluster or anything!? I know its a trivial gripe, but i live in rural England, and, at the moment, its dark when i go out, and dark when i come home!

As ever all advice, help, and ideas are very much appreciated.

Many thanks. 

[Kamikazekid]

6 hours ago, J.R. said:

I think the reason for the puddle lights shining a red light horizontally and a white light downwards is the UK vehicle construction and use regulations prohibit white lights shining to the rear.

 

In a worst case safety scenario opening a side door without looking/realising that a vehicle is passing from the rear I would definitely want the driver to see a red light and not a white one.

Agreed that a red light is probably the best option in the scenario you’ve described but most cars don’t have any lights in the doors hence the white/white wasn’t a deal breaker for me. The driver of the other vehicle would still see a light, plus anyone standing there or the door itself should be pretty visable with the interior lighting, ambient door card lighting and puddle lighting. Thinking about it now I might change my ambient lighting to red to compensate! 

[Kamikazekid]

5 hours ago, Gizmo said:

To get away from the red light looking pink (which will happen due to the white LED being much brighter) I fitted a set of these which use 4 red LEDs and 3 white LEDs:

 

 

 

These do look very good. Much better than the pink looking “red” ones. 

[Pacemaker]

18 hours ago, Gizmo said:

They still look pink IMO, that coupled to the fact they are €80 + postage (minus any discount... 20% at the moment) was a step too far for me, so I thought it was worth the gamble of trying the ones above at just £4 delivered to do all 4 doors 

 

(even today at just under £9 delivered they are a bargain)

 

Hi guys, Gizmo please tell me where did you found these modules with 4 red and 3 white leds? Can you share a link? Thanks!

[Gizmo]

I bought them from Aliexpress,

click on the hyperlink ‘of these’ in the post with the photos of them above.

[fencer]

Is someone able to provide a copy of the part of the workshop manual online that details how to remove the rear lights/replace the rear bulbs?

Edited 3 January, 2019 by fencer

[Apexor]

1 hour ago, fencer said:

Is someone able to provide a copy of the part of the workshop manual online that details how to remove the rear lights/replace the rear bulbs?

 

Don't have a link to the manual but I followed a youtube video (linked below). The plastic covers are very tricky to get back on so take your time.

 

Does anyone have a link to where the plastic water deflectors over the rear light fixings can be purchased? I damaged one of mine and it's not sitting back on properly. 

 

 

[Brackenwood]

Fencer, follow the instructions in the manual it is an easy job and takes only a few minutes. You can download the manual.

Edited 3 January, 2019 by Brackenwood
Clarity

[fencer]

17 hours ago, Brackenwood said:

Fencer, follow the instructions in the manual it is an easy job and takes only a few minutes. You can download the manual.

 

Yep, thanks. Manual downloaded and relevant parts copied below if anyone is yet to change their rear bulbs:

 

[j4m1eb]

So I bought a set of these https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2x-Error-Free-LED-Luggage-Under-Door-Courtesy-Light-for-Audi-A4-A6-S6-A8-S8/1433377495.html from an Ebay seller, they look great but if I turn on any interior light while driving (glove box, vanity mirror, courtesy light) the boot open warning goes off. Anyone else had this?

 

They fitted fine, but could it be they are different voltage or something?

[paul_7_7_7]

They are missing a diode that prevents them messing up the canbus. If you connect them one way they should work, connect the connector the other they should stay off, I'm guessing these will stay on both ways round. If you open up the originals carefully you will see the little black diode that is needed.

[Kamikazekid]

Interesting. I would assume they would only work one way out of the box as the power supply is DC and an LED is a diode (light emitting diode). DC current should only be able to pass in one direction. 

[paul_7_7_7]

32 minutes ago, Kamikazekid said:

Interesting. I would assume they would only work one way out of the box as the power supply is DC and an LED is a diode (light emitting diode). DC current should only be able to pass in one direction. 

 

They seem to put some circuitry in there to make connecting them easier - in fact it just causes problems.

[j4m1eb]

1 hour ago, paul_7_7_7 said:

They are missing a diode that prevents them messing up the canbus. If you connect them one way they should work, connect the connector the other they should stay off, I'm guessing these will stay on both ways round. If you open up the originals carefully you will see the little black diode that is needed.

 so shall I assume they are no good, and order some others? Nothing I can do to stop the error?

[paul_7_7_7]

48 minutes ago, j4m1eb said:

 so shall I assume they are no good, and order some others? Nothing I can do to stop the error?

Depending on how you are with a soldering iron it is very simple to add the diode (search for 1N4007 on ebay and you will find the part you need, about 99p for 10), just cut the red wire on the lead that came with them and solder the diode inline, wrap with heat shrink and you should be good to go. Direction of the diode is important as the connection to the car's original cable is one-way, the stripe on the diode is the negative terminal, so assuming the red wire connects to +ve on the car, you want to put the led in the red wire so the strip is closest the the light. If you get it the wrong way round the light just won't work and you will need to change it over.

[Tin82]

Has anybody fitted upgraded pubble lights? The white led’s shining down from the wing mirror’s?

I saw these on ali for a passat B7. Not sure if it is the same mirror though. 

 

€ 8,68  15％ Off | 2 Stks LED Side Onder Spiegel Puddle Licht Lamp Voor Vw Volkswagen CC 12-14 EOS Passat B7
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/c9opM136

[simichoil]

I just got my led LOGOs for the front doors. I am a little bit confused whether to leave them on the car or to get back to the old lights (led).

 

[JackySi]

6 hours ago, simichoil said:

I just got my led LOGOs for the front doors. I am a little bit confused whether to leave them on the car or to get back to the old lights (led).

 

That's some really AWESOME logo!!! Hat down to the designer!

[Brackenwood]

Simichoil

i felt the same when I fitted mine which say SKODA, as they are not as bright on the road, although quite cool. Might go back to the original fitting and just put led bulbs in.

[JR RS]

i like mine that says "SUPERB"

 

[Niyx]

Following this thread with great interest as the Sportline+ will show up shortly. Thank you all so much for the recommendations so far.

I've gone with the following for the LED bulbs and will follow up once both they, and the car arrive;

 

REAR (Reverse & Indicator)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2x-50W-1156-S25-P21W-OSRAM-10SMD-6000K-White-LED-Turn-Signal-Light-Backup-BA15S-Led/32359807413.html (2x amber, 2x white)

 

FRONT FOG
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2x-H8-H11-30W-CREE-LED-High-Power-Pure-White-6000K-Fog-Tail-Headlight-Bulbs-Auto/32566731161.html

 

INTERIOR (Glovebox)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/501-Car-Bulbs-Led-Error-Free-Canbus-Cob-Smd-Super-White-W5W-T10-Side-Light-12v/372402148467

The boot and door LEDs are, like others in this thread, from SuperSkoda
http://www.superskoda.com/Skoda/SUPERB-III/Superb-III-MEGA-POWER-LED-door-safety-lights-RED-WHITE-KI-R

 

Comments welcome on the list - as with others, I'll be doing the comparison as soon as I can.

[MartiniB]

30 minutes ago, Niyx said:

REAR (Reverse & Indicator)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2x-50W-1156-S25-P21W-OSRAM-10SMD-6000K-White-LED-Turn-Signal-Light-Backup-BA15S-Led/32359807413.html (2x amber, 2x white)

try to find model without leds on the top

 

35 minutes ago, Niyx said:

FRONT FOG
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2x-H8-H11-30W-CREE-LED-High-Power-Pure-White-6000K-Fog-Tail-Headlight-Bulbs-Auto/32566731161.html

with that design of leds light beam will be provided to all directions,
leds must be as small as possible - google for "philips led h8 bulb"

 

34 minutes ago, Niyx said:

boot and door LEDs

the same bulbs are 3x cheaper on Ali, links you can find in my posts

[Niyx]

8 minutes ago, MartiniB said:

try to find model without leds on the top

 

with that design of leds light beam will be provided to all directions,
leds must be as small as possible - google for "philips led h8 bulb"

 

the same bulbs are 3x cheaper on Ali, links you can find in my posts

Thanks very much for this - the last point is irreversible - the damage is done. The first two however, I'm glad you jumped in (I'll edit out the urls before I start sending people on a wild goose chase...).

Are there reasons as to why you wouldnt have front facing LEDs on the rear LEDs?

[MartiniB]

37 minutes ago, Niyx said:

Are there reasons as to why you wouldnt have front facing LEDs on the rear LEDs?

because these three small reflective rectangles, in the middle of the lamp,

are reflective from outside, but mat plastic in inside

[Niyx]

12 minutes ago, MartiniB said:

because these three small reflective rectangles, in the middle of the lamp,

are reflective from outside, but mat plastic in inside

 

Again, thanks.

 

I went through your previous posts in this thread and pulled out the bulbs (or near enough) that you used in your S3 - I've taken on board the front fog comment and gone with something much nearer to the philips, with a less aggressive light pattern, based on a previous comment on this thread.

 

Final question... would you suggest that both the reverse and indicator bulbs are "internally mirrored" (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2pcs-Amber-Yellow-Error-Free-BAU15S-7507-PY21W-1156PY-LED-Bulbs-w-Reflector-Mirror-Design-For/32316963252.html)

 

or, as you have linked earlier in the thread, indicators are mirrored,

 

and reverse are fully lit

(https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2x-50W-1156-S25-P21W-OSRAM-10SMD-6000K-White-LED-Turn-Signal-Light-Backup-BA15S-Led/32359807413.html)? 

Edited 1 February, 2019 by Niyx