Now that the darker mornings are behind us I am looking for a bolt on solution for my DRLs. The S2 uses the fog light unit for DRL and as most have commented, with today’s super bright LEDs they don’t really shout, I am here to other drivers. I wanted something to be noticed especially on motorways where I spend 95% of my trip. What’s stopping me getting a set of cheap eBay LED strips attaching to the bumper(screw on better than stick on for me) near the original fogs and slicing into the existing DRL light cabling? 

I want an inexpensive solution and one which won’t cause problems to the car inc warning lights. Any suggestions?

I don’t want to use the headlights for this purpose,  as they are Xenon and bulbs cost a fortune, lol 

It depends on how much tolerance there is for the bcm monitoring. ie how much extra drain before the bcm complains.

Unless of course monitoring is disabled which I have never thought would be a useful thing to do.

Personally, I think most aftermarket LED strips look pretty rubbish and I see plenty that have failed so I wouldn't bother.

 

On my FL MK2 Octavia which uses a similar arrangement, I replaced the P21WLL bulbs with quality LED versions and re-coded the BCM for LED's which have been perfect.

 

TBH, no matter what your DRL are, people still won't notice you...

 

1 hour ago, superbdreams said:

It depends on how much tolerance there is for the bcm monitoring. ie how much extra drain before the bcm complains.

Unless of course monitoring is disabled which I have never thought would be a useful thing to do.

I didn’t really want to have anything done to coding or VCDS changes, if it can be avoided: to avoid any other issues. Worthy observation though thanks. 

1 hour ago, langers2k said:

Personally, I think most aftermarket LED strips look pretty rubbish and I see plenty that have failed so I wouldn't bother.

 

On my FL MK2 Octavia which uses a similar arrangement, I replaced the P21WLL bulbs with quality LED versions and re-coded the BCM for LED's which have been perfect.

 

TBH, no matter what your DRL are, people still won't notice you...

 

I was looking a more of an 8 light LED unit than those strip lights. 

Maybe like the below 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F302757086903

Clipped to the lower bumper grill somewhere?

I have too many people pulling out on the motorway,lol 

Avoiding the 1 or 2 with these, hopefully will worth the investment. Again avoiding any coding if possible 

Given the price of those and that others a selling similar units for half the price, I'd be very surprised if they were actually any good or lasted very long.

 

25 minutes ago, langers2k said:

Given the price of those and that others a selling similar units for half the price, I'd be very surprised if they were actually any good or lasted very long.

 

My fear as well. Don’t want to be replacing them faster than a H7 bulb that lasts 10k plus in a headlight. Fit use and forget is what’s preferred as they have bulbs/LEDs that cannot be replaced usually. 

5 hours ago, gav_is_con said:

Maybe like the below 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F302757086903

 

Hmmm.... "The installation is SUPER EASY. The negative wire need to connect to the negative side of battery. The positive wire need to connect to the positive side of battery"

 

I don't think you want to take that too literally....?!       

 

It claims "waterproof" but i would want to see a proper IP rating on a unit subjected to water spray that low on the front of my car. Especially if I had wired it directly to my battery   )

None of those cheap DRLs  will technically get through an MOT as they are not "E" marked 

But that's a WHOLE different argument 

I got round ones with angel eye and fog light combined with "E" marking from eBay but they were about £25 (for the wifes Meriva and sons Fiat Punto)

Edited 9 April, 20197 yr by DEL80Y

5 hours ago, TheRobinK said:

 

Hmmm.... "The installation is SUPER EASY. The negative wire need to connect to the negative side of battery. The positive wire need to connect to the positive side of battery"

 

I don't think you want to take that too literally....?!       

 

It claims "waterproof" but i would want to see a proper IP rating on a unit subjected to water spray that low on the front of my car. Especially if I had wired it directly to my battery   )

 

That will in still plenty of confidence. as will "The worst hurst to a seller"

4 hours ago, DEL80Y said:

None of those cheap DRLs  will technically get through an MOT as they are not "E" marked 

But that's a WHOLE different argument 

I got round ones with angel eye and fog light combined with "E" marking from eBay but they were about £25 (for the wifes Meriva and sons Fiat Punto)

@DEL80Y so you upgraded 2 cars how about your S2. Happy with your DRLs? Have you not considered an upgrade ?

As per Langers2k, I have upgraded mine and my wife's DRL's to the 50w CREE LED that you can get off fleabay. Been in approx. 2yrs now with no issues and MUCH more light than the standard filament bulbs, and they look better too in my opinion.  I did have to add in-line plug-and-play resisters to my S2 as my BCM doesn't have the capability to code out - no such issues with my wife's Fabia as they weren't detected anyway.

2 hours ago, MarkTB said:

As per Langers2k, I have upgraded mine and my wife's DRL's to the 50w CREE LED that you can get off fleabay. Been in approx. 2yrs now with no issues and MUCH more light than the standard filament bulbs, and they look better too in my opinion.  I did have to add in-line plug-and-play resisters to my S2 as my BCM doesn't have the capability to code out - no such issues with my wife's Fabia as they weren't detected anyway.

This is not as easy as I envisaged hence requesting the Brisky view first. 

@Gizmo rightly told me at Cosford I may not be happy with the brightness of the DRL bulbs. I just put up with it since. 

@MarkTB can you link me the bulbs and resistors. Maybe that’s the solution that involves no coding changes. I like plug and play, no heat related issues using LED in lights then like some of those H7 bulbs you get ?

 

On the Motorway in the not dark mornings the drivers will see you perfectly well behind you with the Daytime / Daylight Running lights that are fitted, if they bother looking behind.

Everyone is going in the same direction and it is daylight / daytime and good visibility if not lighting up time, and there are no pedestrians / cyclists etc.

I'm thinking about fitting a couple of these on my car. Just so I can bring attention to my presence  and be the brightest guy on the motorway 

 

 

Does anyone know if my battery can take the extra load? 

12 minutes ago, Skoffski said:

On the Motorway in the not dark mornings the drivers will see you perfectly well behind you with the Daytime / Daylight Running lights that are fitted, if they bother looking behind.

Everyone is going in the same direction and it is daylight / daytime and good visibility if not lighting up time, and there are no pedestrians / cyclists etc.

I would agree with you on the whole. The brighter the lights like these LEDs fitted to cars from new the more likely people are to pull out in front of you. Anyway that’s my view. 

Don't agree with me, i hate those DRL's and especially upgraded ones, and those that have front lights and no rears on.

So don't be tight then, get on those fancy dipped beams.  All the gear, so just use it.

The worst one's are those that think they have their lights on (DRL's not for you guys though) because their dash lights come and drive round with no dip beams or rear lights. 

I became the light police on occasions people with DRLs on and no rear lights in the dark. A few flashes or other light gestures, does not always work. 

Not sure what’s happening presume light switch not on Auto  or they have to rely on putting them on themselves.

At least the Superb 2 tells you in the cluster if your dipped lights are on. I dislike the trend on new cars of not doing that and only having the light selector knob, which is often down on the right and out of sight. 

 

Now for my grumpy old man moment- FFS, if its now so important to have safety aids like blind spot detect, lane keeping assist, emergency city breaking, ACC with traffic following functions, cameras all over the place - why cant it be made fekin obvious to them that its dark and they're only on DRL's..?

@gav_is_con
I fitted them to the other cars because both didnt have fog lights or DRL So was a win win.

I fitted my S2 with Cree leds for both my DRL and Foglights

13 hours ago, DEL80Y said:

@gav_is_con
I fitted them to the other cars because both didnt have fog lights or DRL So was a win win.

I fitted my S2 with Cree leds for both my DRL and Foglights

Worth doing that upgrade 

On 11/04/2019 at 00:29, TheRobinK said:

Now for my grumpy old man moment- FFS, if its now so important to have safety aids like blind spot detect, lane keeping assist, emergency city breaking, ACC with traffic following functions, cameras all over the place - why cant it be made fekin obvious to them that its dark and they're only on DRL's..?

If your car has lane keep and acc and all that jazz it's more than likely to have automatic lights. Ppl need to just leave them on auto

4 hours ago, StealthRS245 said:

If your car has lane keep and acc and all that jazz it's more than likely to have automatic lights. Ppl need to just leave them on auto

We must lay some responsibility with the driver. They should know to check the lights are on, but when your DRL is bright it’s hard to know sometimes. Best gotcha is when car comes back from the garage, they usually turn Auto to off. 

Hi for my twopenneth I have used these; some fleabay items without fault for the last 3 years they are plenty bright and as they are 21w they do not throw any errors. My ones are no longer available from the seller I used  type in  BA15S 50W DRL CREE SMD LED LIGHT CANBUS ERROR FREE 382 P21w WHITE BULB XENON to search for the required items. Good luck, there are some 50w ones too  but they maybe too bright.