Hi All, just fitted a pair of Osram Nightbreaker H8 35w bulbs into the front fogs.  While they look nearer to a white light than the originals the improvement wasn't really worth the cost.  The light was improved but mainly by adjusting the aim of the lamps. Taking the plastic suround covers off is a difficult job requiring considerable strength and nerve to do.  On my older Octavia there were holes provided to assist this to give something to leaver on. Not so on this model but I realised, once the cover was off, that the hole that is there is actually to allow adjustment with out removing the covers if you don't need to change the bulbs.  If you slide  Tx40 driver into the hole at the right angle it will locate in the adjuster.

 

I might consider upgrading the fogs to LED but is it true that the ECU would need reprogramming?

 

I have also swapped out the rear indicators and reverse lamp bulbs to LED ones and here the difference is very marked and was well worth it. I used a UK supplier rather than Alibaba and the cost for the four was £24.99 for the yellow and £22.99 for white. Supplier was ABD.co.uk and the lamps were 581 Twenty20 Impact  Cree LED Canbus Amber 12v PY21W & 382 Twenty20 Impact Cree LED Canbus white 12v P21W.  No errors shown and all working well.

 

I was pleased to find two youtube videos that that were a great help as they took me through both operations and the car was the exact same model as mine.

 

hope this is of use

Yes, changing any bulb type requires you to tell the car what you're changing it to, otherwise the canbus system will throw up an error.

 

The only bulbs which I didn't need to do it to were the rear indicators

OK Thanks.  I changed both rear indicator and reverse light bulbs to LED with no errors.  The LED bulbs were sold as 99% canbus OK which seems to be the case. Shame about the fogs though.

An Update on this topic.  Today I received a pair of LED H8 bulbs from ABD.co.uk as I really wasn't happy with the Osram Nightbreakers that were sold as a 150% brighter upgrade which they definitely were not. Having had the warning earlier about errors and having to reprogram the car I bit the bullet as these were sold as canbus ready.  Having changed the fog lamp bulbs once these were installed in about twenty minutes with no errors/warning lights showing.  I made sure to check all combinations of headlights on. dip/main/fogs only, but all worked perfectly.  The improvement was really good as the fogs are now the same bright white as the LED headlights and the range is much much better.

They were quite expensive at £49.99 but I guess you get what you pay for. I did look at Alibaba LED bulbs but they were so cheap I could not see they were going to do the job, and I wanted to do the job now not wait six weeks or more.  The service from ABD was again excellent as was the support when I needed to check something with them.  I have attached the description in case anyone wants to try them.

Just a postscript note on this.  I now have all the external lights running LED bulbs with no errors with the exception of the number plate lamps that are quite bright enough.  So, the car came with LED front side lights, head and dip lamps, rear lights, brake lights and offside rear fog light.  It now has LED rear indicators, reverse lights and front fog lights. It also has LED boot lamps in white and open door marker lamps in red from Superskoda.  I shall rest now.

good to see you've found bulbs which work

Great info, that is very good to know.

Nice one!

I also changed the back signal lights and reversing lights with LEDs and the improvement was significant. 

Think I know which YT vid helped you since it was probably the same for me.

For Fog lights I threw out the stock halogens as they were basically worthless and replaced with H8 Philipps Fog Leds (11366UE2X2) . No errors, No issues, HUGE improvement at night and when cornering.

I'd also suggest replacing your mirror turn signal LEDS with dynamic scrolling ones. They look sick!

 

Here's something that I'd like to know. 

How do you set the angle of the fog lights? My left one is way higher than the right one. Not sure if that's ok. Cars is LHD. 2017 pre-facelift.

Hi, to set the height of the fog lamps on the  2018 on facelift models there is a hole below the fog lights which has been given an angled slant.  On my car, which is the facelift version, you can insert a TX40 driver into the hole, which, if you get the angle right will engage with the adjuster socket allowing you to move the lamp aim up or down without removing the plastic cover. I appreciate you would have to do this blind but if you follow the angle correctly it should engage OK.  I was changing the bulbs when I discovered this and so was able to adjust the lamps before I refitted the covers.

 

When I adjusted the fogs on my previous car (2015 Octavia estate 1.4 TSi) I think the plastic fronts that surround the lamp have to be removed and the adjuster is then visible.  If I remember correctly, on this model there is a hole in the surround, but this is to insert the wire pull device that sits in the spare wheel kit, or the kit without the spare, which allows you to pull off the surrounds and is not for adjustment of the light.  Page 234 of the manual helps but I guess you already know how to remove the covers. 

 

Hope that is of use.

 

BTW, already done the indicators and your right, look great.

On 08/04/2021 at 21:40, oldaaman said:

An Update on this topic.  Today I received a pair of LED H8 bulbs from ABD.co.uk as I really wasn't happy with the Osram Nightbreakers that were sold as a 150% brighter upgrade which they definitely were not. Having had the warning earlier about errors and having to reprogram the car I bit the bullet as these were sold as canbus ready.  Having changed the fog lamp bulbs once these were installed in about twenty minutes with no errors/warning lights showing.  I made sure to check all combinations of headlights on. dip/main/fogs only, but all worked perfectly.  The improvement was really good as the fogs are now the same bright white as the LED headlights and the range is much much better.

They were quite expensive at £49.99 but I guess you get what you pay for. I did look at Alibaba LED bulbs but they were so cheap I could not see they were going to do the job, and I wanted to do the job now not wait six weeks or more.  The service from ABD was again excellent as was the support when I needed to check something with them.  I have attached the description in case anyone wants to try them.

 

Are you not bothered that they aren't road legal? In the event of an accident, you might well come unstuck with your insurance company, especially an accident at night where they could say lighting might have played a part. You cannot legally fit LED's in to a housing not designed for them and even if you had the right housing, these aren't type approved for road use.

 

Nothing in the UK MOT checks about LEDs in foglights, sidelights or control lights (turn/brake etc).  Headlamps are another matter, light source type mismatch is an immediate MOT fail. 

 

However, you can get much better lamps with much more focused LED strip on Aliexpress, for about 1/3rd to 1/2 price shown.  Examples I ordered in the past.

 

1 hour ago, dieselV6 said:

Nothing in the UK MOT checks about LEDs in foglights, sidelights or control lights (turn/brake etc).  Headlamps are another matter, light source type mismatch is an immediate MOT fail. 

 

However, you can get much better lamps with much more focused LED strip on Aliexpress, for about 1/3rd to 1/2 price shown.  Examples I ordered in the past.

 

No, but colour temperature is checked and I lost count of the times I was failed for LED sightlight bulbs until I gave in and just accepted I couldn't have them!

 

But yes, those LED headlight bulbs will be an instant fail under the new MOT regs and I'm suprised (or am I?) that the seller doesn't state this more clearly on their website!

 

Edited 11 April, 20215 yr by NikTheGeek

2 minutes ago, NikTheGeek said:

No, but colour temperature is checked and I lost count of the times I was failed for LED sightlight bulbs until I gave in and just accepted I couldn't have them!

 

But yes, those LED headlight bulbs will be an instant fail under the new MOT regs and I'm suprised (or am I?) that the seller doesn't state this more clearly on their website!

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/special-notice-01-21-headlamp-conversions

 

Never in all the years of having an MOT done on all my cars have any of them been failed for an LED bulb. All my cars have had brake lights, sidelights and indicators changed.

 

BUT I can understand a car failing if they've been failed if a halogen headlight has been changed to an LED or xenon bulb. On my other cars, I've replaced the headlight bulbs with Osram Night Breakers. 

12 hours ago, NikTheGeek said:

No, but colour temperature is checked and I lost count of the times I was failed for LED sightlight bulbs until I gave in and just accepted I couldn't have them!

 

But yes, those LED headlight bulbs will be an instant fail under the new MOT regs and I'm suprised (or am I?) that the seller doesn't state this more clearly on their website!

 

It is always good to have someone on here who is an expert,  The text you refer to clearly says headlamps which, on my car, are already LED.  It seems strange that you are so well up on this that you have "lost count of the times I was failed for LED sightlight bulbs".  I would have thought that once you were failed once that would be enough.

Thanks as always for your input.  It is always good to have different points of view.

1 hour ago, oldaaman said:

It is always good to have someone on here who is an expert,  The text you refer to clearly says headlamps which, on my car, are already LED.  It seems strange that you are so well up on this that you have "lost count of the times I was failed for LED sightlight bulbs".  I would have thought that once you were failed once that would be enough.

Thanks as always for your input.  It is always good to have different points of view.

 

No need to be rude, I was just trying to help. Firstly I thought, wrongly, that you were fitting the bulbs to your headlights, apologies. It appears you are fitting them to your fogs. However, the bulbs you have chosen are still not road legal even if they may pass a MOT test. But the post still might help someone stay on the right side of the law as most people buying LEDs are fitting them in halogen housings which you just can't do. Even if it passes an MOT, it's still illegal and potentially voids your insurance. That's why I gave up trying to fit LEDs to my cars after several attempts!

Edited 12 April, 20215 yr by NikTheGeek

Passing an MOT does not make a car 'road-legal'

 

I agree that the MOT is currently only targeting conversions on headlights as they tend to be the brightest and most likely to cause glare. That does not mean that converting other lamps is perfectly OK.

 

Currently, the UK regulations don't allow any LED/xenon lighting. The ECE regulations supplement/supersede these which is why LED/xenon can be used. If I remember correctly, the regulations stipulate that the bulbs must be ECE approved and match those used when the lamp was tested to get it's approval. Given there are no ECE approved LED bulbs, it basically means that fitting LEDs to any lamp designed for halogens effectively nullifies the lamps approval (regardless of use) making them no longer suitable for road use until the correct bulb is refitted.

 

Philips freely admit this on their packaging: https://www.powerbulbs.com/product/philips-x-tremeultinon-led-gen2-p21w-6000k-twin

 

You can see the ECE R27 and road symbols have crosses by them on the box and the powerbulbs website states:

Quote

These X-tremeUltinon gen2 LED bulbs are not ECE-certified as road legal and are intended only for off-road usage.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to tell you what you should do, only to explain why this kind of modification isn't road-legal despite being able to get through an MOT

 

From that you can make your own informed decision and understand what the repercussions might be.

Appreciate all the comments and warnings.  I shall remove all LED bulbs forthwith.  As for being rude I cannot see anything that I have posted that could be or was even intended to be taken as rude so please accept my sincere apologies if that was your take.