7 hours ago, WayTooTall said:

 

I swapped my reversing light bulbs for some LED replacements. Seem to get a good light from them, and that is only a VCDS tweak to tell the car that it has LEDs in them.

 

Done the indicators as well. (don't get me started on the what you have to do for the front indicators.)

I've been wanting to replace my reverse bulbs for some leds but don't have access to vcds to recode them.  Am I right in thinking that if I had led bulbs fitted they would show up a fault on the maxidot ?  If so, that would only happen for the short time the car is in reverse and would go off once out of reverse.  If that would be the case then a vcds recode wouldn't really be needed.  Or am I wrong !

Anybody   

You’ll probably get the bulb warning all the time as the canbus monitors all the lights. On my Mercedes it will tell you every time you start it up if a bulb is blown, no matter where it is.

Ok, thanks for the reply.  I'll probably give it a miss if it's going to display a fault all the time, even when not in reverse.  A few weeks ago I tried a couple of led bulbs that I had lying around in the numberplate lights.  I was pleased with the results but it showed a fault in the maxidot straightaway.  It didn't stop the bulbs from working but I didn't like the fault showing so I put the original bulbs back in and the fault disappeared.  Thanks again.

Worst “I drive a Mercedes” post ever...

Whaddya mean? Only mentioned it as I’ve no experience of a bulb blowing on the Skoda. Sadly the Benz does have a bit of bulb habit, number plates lights are a particular favourite!

I was just yanking your chain. Dry sense of humour here   (rare use of emoji right there here). 

Thought as much, just checking  It is funny though, everyone made lots of funny expressions and fired off anecdotes about wonky build quality on early 00’s Mercs when I bought mine and to my surprise and delight, bulb eating habit aside, it’s been one of the most reliable cars I’ve ever had. Interior quality is a mixed bag though. For some reason, Mercedes saw it fit to raid the Ford Transit parts bin for some of the interior switchgear on this £70,000 flagship car, but the handmade 370 bhp 5.4 litre V8 has enough charm to pull it back.

 

Now that’s how you do an ‘I drive a Mercedes’ post

12 hours ago, silverden said:

Ok, thanks for the reply.  I'll probably give it a miss if it's going to display a fault all the time, even when not in reverse.  A few weeks ago I tried a couple of led bulbs that I had lying around in the numberplate lights.  I was pleased with the results but it showed a fault in the maxidot straightaway.  It didn't stop the bulbs from working but I didn't like the fault showing so I put the original bulbs back in and the fault disappeared.  Thanks again.

Put reverse leds and rear indicators in mine yesterday and no fault codes so far...

Lovely bright white light compared tp the standard bulbs.

4 hours ago, Edz_VRS said:

Put reverse leds and rear indicators in mine yesterday and no fault codes so far...

Lovely bright white light compared tp the standard bulbs.

 

As a matter of interest what bulbs did you use and where did you buy them ?

I assumed putting in led ones would show as a fault.

6 minutes ago, fergiet said:

 

As a matter of interest what bulbs did you use and where did you buy them ?

I assumed putting in led ones would show as a fault.

Ones linked to on another page on here from aliexpress

    • Rear indicators
        ○ https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2pcs-Amber-Yellow-Error-Free-BAU15S-7507-PY21W-1156PY-LED-Bulbs-w-Reflector-Mirror-Design-For/32316963252.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.46.dmG1Ql&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_1_116_10065_117_10068_114_115_10069_113_9905_10017_10080_10082_10081_10060_10061_10062_10056_10055_10054_10059_10078_10079_10073_10070_421_420_10052_10053_10050_10051,searchweb201603_6&btsid=96afbece-b67f-4ef9-a8ff-ddccd8633f9cInstalled
    
    • Reversing lights
        ○ https://www.aliexpress.com/item/HotSale-2pcs-lot-super-brightness-High-Power-1156-led-30W-CREE-XBD-p21w-led-ba15s-Reverse/2036956876.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.2p5MhW
 

 

If the links aren't quite right there is another page... see below

 

Checked with obdeleven and no fault codes stored either. 

Edited 11 February, 20188 yr by Edz_VRS
Page link added

I was told that you can get the led bulbs with a resistor built in that mimics the power use of the standard bulbs so the car doesn't show a fault. However I personally think the coding solution is more elegant as you are using less power to run the leds without the resistors.