LED DRLs in a Fabia

[phoneman(ret)]

Hi,

 

I have a 17 plate Fabia 1.2SE TSI.  Has anyone fitted CanBus compatible LED bulbs to DRLs and if so which ones (some are more compatible than others). There seem to be quite a few to choose from - fitting LEDs to DRLs will NOT fail an MOT, unlike headlights.

 

Want to fit LED bulbs as I have seen a lot of VAG group cars that use P21W bulbs for DRL with one or even both lights out. Bulbs on all the time don't seem to last long.

 

I have been building towing electrics test equipment (for DIY and trade) for 20 years - before CanBus my towing  socket testers just used LEDs for monitoring circuits. When CanBus turned up, these suddenly didn't work - found out after a bit of "digging" that adding a 100 ohm resistor across the LED "fooled" CanBus into thinking a bulb was present and it would output 12V. But the downside was (not important for just testing) that you got a bulb failure warning - not enough current being pulled. Owners of newer caravans with LED lights even have had to add an additional unit (Sargent). 

 

Cheers,

Lloyd

 

 

Edited 13 March, 2023 by phoneman(ret)

[nta16]

382 in old money, contact the people in link below if you want to be sure but the link is to their canbus P21W (382) offering, I found them very good when buying LED bulbs for my "classic" (over-priced, over-valued old) car ("classics" causing the LEDs to be OK for MoTs headlights) but I've not used any LEDs on modern cars.

 

Bear in mind VW (and other German marques) were obsessed with over-complex computer systems (helps with any hidden cheating I suppose) and I've found just using the standard (presumably factory) incandescent bulbs on my wife's 2015 Fabia that the computer programs can possibly get their knickers in a twist or be over, or under sensitive.  Once it claimed a fault with a rear brake light that I was unable to prove and another time I noticed one of the DRL incandescent bulbs was darker than the other a week before the warning system threw up a display.

 

ETA: I've just noticed one of the two 5 star reviews is from a Skoda Superb owner - 

"These work perfectly for my Skoda, the DRL lights now colour match the o/e HID headlamps, looking much better, and no error codes. (Previous ebay COB lights were useless, failing in a week, and heat damaging the sockets)".

 

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/products/strong-canbus-drl-daylight-running-light-white-led-1156-p21w-382  

Edited 13 March, 2023 by nta16
ETA:

[phoneman(ret)]

Hi,

 

Sorry for the delay in replying and thanks Nigel for the information.

Looks as if access to the DRL bulbs is via a cover in the front of the wheel arch (thought only Vauhall Astras were that odd). May have a look at removing the headlight unit complete (on the Scout, unscrew one plastic nut, pull a release lever and out it came) much easier than grovelling about under the wheel arch !

I want to change the main/dip bulbs as well (H4) for something a bit brighter - first time I drove in the dark, only just realised headlights were on, 14 years of HID lights ! - so if it will come off easily, I will give it a try. Will swap one DRL for LED and see if the bulb monitoring complains, if OK, will then swap the other.

Will post the results of my attempts (if successful !) so anyone else could have a go.

Next job is the missing ? cruise control.

 

Cheers,

Lloyd

[nta16]

Llyod, I replaced both incandescent DRL bulbs on my wife's car and just that was a fiddle so I'm not sure how you'd get to the other bulbs from there.  Removing the whole headlight unit I'd wonder about alignment when removing/refitting, but I could be wrong.

 

I noticed one DRL light wasn't as bright as the other but Sod's Law it was a bulb I'd run out of and as I don't drive the car usually I forgot about it, a week later the car's computer noticed and threw up a warning.  The bulb I took out by then was the blackest I'd ever seen, whether that was caused by the bulb or the car's wiring, connection or computer I don't know.  Of the two DRL bulbs I replaced one was original factory the other wasn't, which was which I forget now so whether one of these bulbs going is another VWSkoda German engineering thing I don't know.

 

I'm not sure just putting in one LED one side is a good idea generally even for testing but again I might be wrong.

 

Have a look at Classic Car LEDs for reliable good quality LEDs. - https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/

 

Yes please do tell us how you get on.

Edited 3 April, 2023 by nta16
spelling

[JGrindel]

To remove the whole headlight is a full bumper-off job so no point in doing that. 

 

The access panel in the wheel arch makes the job super easy, however, I have small hands. (this is how I did it on our old SE Fab) - use the ring pull from your spare wheel kit to remove the cap.

 

If you fit poor/cheap CanBus LED bulbs it will throw an error due to the lower resistance LED bulbs have. You can change the coding for the car to accept LED bulbs so it won't throw an error code but I haven't tried this on the mk3 DRL just number plate lights for older gen Skoda's which didn't come with LED from the factory.