High level brake light - how many LEDs?

[iscacamper]

Just a quick question. I have a 62 Octavia Estate (Elegance). Can anybody please tell me how many LEDs should be illuminated in the high-level brake light strip?

I am seeing 12 LEDs light up, but it looks like there should be 14. See the attached photo for details.

 

Many thanks.

[Guest]

12 is correct.

[J.R.]

Twenty twelve according to Diane who knows about these things.

[iscacamper]

Thanks. The reason I ask is that I have an intermittent bulb warning light and the garage tells me it's an intermittent fault with the LED brake light unit.

[Guest]

I'm not sure if your high level light is monitored, certainly on a 2006 it isn't, having noticed mine had failed and required repair.

 

Unless you see the results of a scan I'd suspect a dying incandescent bulb or dodgy bulb connection, just remove, clean contacts and replace and see if there's further issue.

[J.R.]

Current consumed by the LED array is probably too low for the volt drop monitoring system, I would be very surprised if it were to react to the failure of one LED unless it was shorted, I'm with MicMac on this one.

[iscacamper]

Thanks. I’ll query this again with the garage before going any further.

[pikpilot]

My car doesn't tell me which bulb has failed, but I use the Carista app through the diagnostic port to tell me which one. Never fails. Other apps are available.

[vehdyn]

My failed light warning lamp on my dashboard has recently lit up (23 June 2020), every time I hit the brake pedal. Sure enough it is the 3rd brake light that is not functioning on my 2012 VRS Octavia estate. I was dismayed to find no relevant instructions in the bulb replacement section of the car handbook; presumably Skoda assumes this unit will last the life of the car. I'm even more dismayed that I have to dismantle the interior trim of the tail gate in order to replace the unit.

[pikpilot]

The third brake light on the estate is a sealed but a replaceable unit. There are other posts in this forum that show how to access the unit on the estate (with photos).

Try the search function at the top right OR use Google to search using Briskoda+octavia 2+ any terms you choose

 

Basically, you remove the rubber closing handle, unclip the large panel on the boot then unclip the connector, unbolt the lamp and replace. You may break a few of the trim clips in the process but you can replace these cheaply through a Skoda garage.

[Guest]

@vehdyn

 

As a test, have the brake pedal depressed and visually confirm high level brake light isn't working then give it some hard slaps (like old TVs used to get!) to see if it flickers at all.

 

First failure on my car's was corrosion at the power connector, easy cleaning fix.  The later second failure was corrosion of the power socket pins/solder joints on the LED PCB,.  I split the unit open, cleaned and resoldered the pins, glued the two halves back and sealed with a smear of silicone RTV, connector got PJ grease.

 

Job's a goodun.

[Golf-Fiend]

14 hours ago, MicMac said:

@vehdyn
 

...connector got PJ grease.

 

Job's a goodun.

How long without washing your PJs does it take to get enough grease for this? I assume it’s from the elasticated waistband area?