I love my 2020 (MkIII facelift) Scout (combi/ station wagon), but the lighting in the cargo area has always been insufficient.

The only built-in lights in the cargo area are two small, dim white lights, near the rear, about halfway up each sidewall:

I'd appreciate ideas for adding more/better lighting to the cargo area. Ideally, integrated into the car's electric system, but battery-powered/ rechargeable standalone lights could be okay, too, as long as either way they can be installed quite well-fixed, so that they don't come loose/ fall off, or get in the way of cargo.

The first thought is, are there replacements for the two small built-in lights (as in the photo above) with MUCH brighter lights?

Then, my own brainstorming, just about where more lights might go:

In/on the cabin roof just before the upper seam of the tailgate? 

Embedded into the rear seatback just below the top? (embedded, so that when the rear seats are down to increase cargo space, stuff placed on top of the seat backs doesn't damage the lights and vice-versa?) 

In the plastic sides panels into which the cargo cover fits, just below the cargo cover's seating slots? (there actually seems to be space just inside those slots - they're deeper than the cover which came with my car needs).

Your thoughts, and especially specific existing products or services to do this, much appreciated!

thanks,

-Jay

Barcelona / west-Girona region, Spain

There are much brighter LED replacements that simply plug & play, I fitted two, plus one in the glove compartment of my Mk3 and they are a huge improvement.

Best to avoid the very cheap units from a certain Chinese online seller.

Thank you. If you'd be willing to provide a reference to a specific product, please?

57 minutes ago, Warrior193 said:

There are much brighter LED replacements that simply plug & play, I fitted two, plus one in the glove compartment of my Mk3 and they are a huge improvement.

Best to avoid the very cheap units from a certain Chinese online seller.

28 minutes ago, JayLibove said:

Thank you. If you'd be willing to provide a reference to a specific product, please?

https://www.kopacek.com/skoda/octavia-iii/octavia-iii-mega-power-led-cargo-trunk-light-ki-r-2

Edited Friday at 16:402 days by PetrolDave

Thank you, @PetrolDave .

I notice that no W5W replacement bulb that I find lists the lumens that it produces, and while several of them state that they're brighter than the originals, none give any details.

I found this older thread:

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/483053-interior-leds/

.. which suggests that replacing a bulb with one of higher wattage causes problems with the car's electronics, which makes me guess that there's a constraint on increasing the brightness of any bulb, which is that it can't meaningfully increase current draw (or even light-on/heat-up timing), so the only way greater brightness can be achieved is with more efficient bulb/gas technology. Do I have that right?

Now that this thread (thank you, both, again) and others have helped me figure out what to look for, I see that there are plenty of options .. but I find no way to compare them to determine which would produce the brightest results...

27 minutes ago, JayLibove said:

Thank you, @PetrolDave .

I notice that no W5W replacement bulb that I find lists the lumens that it produces, and while several of them state that they're brighter than the originals, none give any details.

I found this older thread:

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/483053-interior-leds/

.. which suggests that replacing a bulb with one of higher wattage causes problems with the car's electronics, which makes me guess that there's a constraint on increasing the brightness of any bulb, which is that it can't meaningfully increase current draw (or even light-on/heat-up timing), so the only way greater brightness can be achieved is with more efficient bulb/gas technology. Do I have that right?

Now that this thread (thank you, both, again) and others have helped me figure out what to look for, I see that there are plenty of options .. but I find no way to compare them to determine which would produce the brightest results...

Try the Kopacek bulbs - they are REALLY bright! (And don't cause any unrelated bulb failure warning like some cheap Chinese ones do...)

I'm having issues attaching a link to the type I used - but search for LED luggage trunk lights on Ebay.

These are LED, not filament lamps, so are significantly brighter.

I also fitted a single one into SWMBOs Mk3 Fabia and that lights up the whole trunk.

Thank you, @Warrior193 . Sadly, where I live in Spain, the search doesn't match anything; on ebay.COM (USA), the vehicle selection doesn't even offer the manufacturer Skoda 🤦. I'll probably go with PetrolDave's suggestion, so that's okay.

Um, "SWMBO"?

When you say that you "fitted" a single one into a Fabia, did you add a whole new light where the car didn't with a light/wiring, or you swapped in one of these for a standard light that did come in the Fabia originally?

Our Kodiaq was similarly afflicted. So I bought a length of self adhesive 12v led strip and stuck it to the underside of the fixed bit of the pull out load cover, fitted a small push battery connector to it (the sort you get for toy cars) then rigged up a wire through a small hole where the load cover fits into the side panel to connect to the existing boot light. It work perfectly with no fault codes and is much much brighter.

It's easy to do, removable and the led strips can be stuck pretty much anywhere... I just chose where I did as it seemed the most sensible but they could easily go on the side panels.

Edited Friday at 19:212 days by skomaz

1 hour ago, JayLibove said:

Thank you, @Warrior193 . Sadly, where I live in Spain, the search doesn't match anything; on ebay.COM (USA), the vehicle selection doesn't even offer the manufacturer Skoda 🤦. I'll probably go with PetrolDave's suggestion, so that's okay.

Um, "SWMBO"?

When you say that you "fitted" a single one into a Fabia, did you add a whole new light where the car didn't with a light/wiring, or you swapped in one of these for a standard light that did come in the Fabia originally?

Swapped the original light fitting.

Try searching for SEAT match.

+1 Kopacek.

12 hours ago, JayLibove said:

Thank you, @Warrior193 . Sadly, where I live in Spain, the search doesn't match anything; on ebay.COM (USA), the vehicle selection doesn't even offer the manufacturer Skoda 🤦. I'll probably go with PetrolDave's suggestion, so that's okay.

Um, "SWMBO"?

When you say that you "fitted" a single one into a Fabia, did you add a whole new light where the car didn't with a light/wiring, or you swapped in one of these for a standard light that did come in the Fabia originally?

She Who Must Be Obeyed.

@skomaz See, now, that's "Clever"! :-)

How did you connect the wire from the adhesive LED strip to the existing boot light?

Looking at an aftermarket replacement whole-assembly for the rear cargo area lights:

.. it looks like it might be possible to get a little harness extension, to plug in between the standard harness and the rear cargo area light, to provide another (female) harness plug into which to connect the wires extending from the LED strip. Are these harnesses standard, and is it easy enough to buy a harness splitter?

But then another thing occurs to me - I frequently remove the cargo area cover, because I often carry a bicycle inside the cargo area (I also have a bicycle rack, but there are times when I'd rather have the bicycle locked inside the car's cargo area, instead of locked onto an exposed rack); so, maybe with harnesses (and a big black and yellow zebra warning sticker so I don't just yank wires out of things 🤦) the LED-strip-on-bottom-of-cargo-area-cover would be practical for my particular use case.

Else, other ideas ? I suppose I could put up two LED strips, one on each side of the cargo area, along the long horizontal plastic pieces (into which the baby seat release latch is fitted in this photo):

Lastly, you indicated that the extra power draw doesn't cause any problems. Do you have a sense of whether that's because the car doesn't particularly monitor that circuit, or because the extra draw is within some (what?) limit?

What is the V*A of the LED strip that you added?

thanks again!

14 hours ago, skomaz said:

Our Kodiaq was similarly afflicted. So I bought a length of self adhesive 12v led strip and stuck it to the underside of the fixed bit of the pull out load cover, fitted a small push battery connector to it (the sort you get for toy cars) then rigged up a wire through a small hole where the load cover fits into the side panel to connect to the existing boot light. It work perfectly with no fault codes and is much much brighter.

It's easy to do, removable and the led strips can be stuck pretty much anywhere... I just chose where I did as it seemed the most sensible but they could easily go on the side panels.

LEDs typically draw lower current than filament lamps, plus I'm pretty sure the trunk lighting circuit isn't monitored on the canbus lamp failure system.

LEDs will typically be at least 3 to 5 times brighter for the same wattage filament lamp.

I have occasionally seen posts where some very cheap LEDs have caused issues with flickering or not switching off correctly, but if sourced from a reputable supplier, this shouldn't be a problem.

6 hours ago, JayLibove said:

@skomaz See, now, that's "Clever"! :-)

How did you connect the wire from the adhesive LED strip to the existing boot light?

Looking at an aftermarket replacement whole-assembly for the rear cargo area lights:

.. it looks like it might be possible to get a little harness extension, to plug in between the standard harness and the rear cargo area light, to provide another (female) harness plug into which to connect the wires extending from the LED strip. Are these harnesses standard, and is it easy enough to buy a harness splitter?

But then another thing occurs to me - I frequently remove the cargo area cover, because I often carry a bicycle inside the cargo area (I also have a bicycle rack, but there are times when I'd rather have the bicycle locked inside the car's cargo area, instead of locked onto an exposed rack); so, maybe with harnesses (and a big black and yellow zebra warning sticker so I don't just yank wires out of things 🤦) the LED-strip-on-bottom-of-cargo-area-cover would be practical for my particular use case.

Else, other ideas ? I suppose I could put up two LED strips, one on each side of the cargo area, along the long horizontal plastic pieces (into which the baby seat release latch is fitted in this photo):

Lastly, you indicated that the extra power draw doesn't cause any problems. Do you have a sense of whether that's because the car doesn't particularly monitor that circuit, or because the extra draw is within some (what?) limit?

What is the V*A of the LED strip that you added?

thanks again!

The LED strip came with short wire attached so I fitted the male side of a 12v battery connector to them and then fitted the female side to a length of bellwire that then feeds across to the side panel. This means that when the load cover is removed I don't have bare 12v terminals loose in the boot that could cause a short circuit. The bellwire was then fed behind the side panel to the existing light.

The connector had a clip on it to stop it coming undone but I cut that off so it just pulls apart if needed, or if I forget to undo it when I take the load cover out. I just put a bit of velcro on it to hold it in place and stop it rattling.

The bellwire is just connected to the original light just by baring some of the wire and wrapping it round the connecting tabs of the light fitting such that they make a good contact but are separated from each other and don't short each other out.

It's been in for about 18 months or so with no issues.

Edited Saturday at 16:451 day by skomaz

Tried to take some pictures for you...

I bought these

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006419747360.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.26.21ef1802RN8g9I

they fit in the rear of my boot near the back seat (2017 Superb Hatchback) and i got a spare set thinking about cutting a couple of holes in the tailgate trim and fitting them into the tailgate so once the tailgate is open light shines down

i later realised that id need a switch, so started looking for 12v led lights with a built in switch, these look promising as cutting 2 round holes will be tidyer than trying to cut straight lines, but i dont know how bright they would be

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165754443736

i was thinking of wiring the led lights into the wiring for the numberplate lights, as the extra lights would be powered off during the day,

So, in furtherance of the project plan to replace my Scout's front centre console lights, cargo area lights (both, Kopacek products), and rear passenger seat over-door lights (my car has a panoramic moonroof, so instead of another centre light set, each rear passenger door has a light just above it), this morning I dismounted one cargo area light -- pulling it out of the side wall was easy; disconnecting the light assembly from the plastic connector took some careful work, but I got it.

However, I was unable to remove the over-rear-passenger-door light. I found an Octavia II video and also a reference in another thread here to an instruction manual which show it being "easy" (insert a plastic shim or a thin flat-head screwdriver on the "0"/forward side of the lens, between the lens and the metal frame that is embedded in the roof of the car, and press in on the spring metal clip that holds it in place, and pull the lens down) ... but although I could see the metal frame, and I could slightly separate the lens from the metal frame (and, then, if I push the lens back up, it "clicks" back into place), I reached an amount of force with which I was uncomfortable, trying to pull the lens down, and I stopped.

Hard to see much in them, but below are photos.

The question is, how on an Octavia III Facelift do you remove the rear passenger seat over-door lights? (without breaking things...)

thanks,

-Jay

Separately, can someone point to a splitter cable, as in, unplug the rear cargo light, plug the splitter cable into the socket hanging from the wall of the car, plus the light into one of the two splits, and plug whatever else (e.g. an extension to a LED strip mounted on the cargo area cover) into the other split?

I think I found such a thing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/205130338596

The seller of that item (which has a 1.5m cable) offered me a 30cm version for about $20 (plus shipping from I don't know where), and I wonder whether I need to pay that much for a splitter cable?

thanks,

@JayLibove looking at your eBay link, the items being posted from Shenzhen, China, so more than likely the person is just reselling it from AliExpress quick Google on their site comes up with similar items for a lot cheaper but I don’t know how the price would change for your location

On 18/07/2026 at 11:29, Warrior193 said:

LEDs typically draw lower current than filament lamps, plus I'm pretty sure the trunk lighting circuit isn't monitored on the canbus lamp failure system.

LEDs will typically be at least 3 to 5 times brighter for the same wattage filament lamp.

I have occasionally seen posts where some very cheap LEDs have caused issues with flickering or not switching off correctly, but if sourced from a reputable supplier, this shouldn't be a problem.

Warrior193 is on the money here. I have no idea why Skoda - even now on brand new cars - are still fitting lights with W5W bulbs. Maybe they bought eleventy billion ten years ago. They're also guilty of changing the connector to the light unit randomly, too.

With a bit of cunning the light fitting can be disassembled to get to the W5W bulb. Not all LED bulbs will fit, but they're cheap enough to try 2 or three models. These photos are from a 2020 Octavia 4. The 2026 Kamiq I have also done was even easier to dismantle - just a snap fit thin plastic cover. But I like also the 12V Led strip idea.

My wife asked the same question, and I gave the same answer (Although with less cleverness than "eleventy billion" :-) ).

My April 2020 (last of the 2017-2020 Octavia III Facelift) Scout's cargo area bulbs are even simpler:

I believe that the bulb can just be pulled out. But I want more light than I assume a simple bulb replacement could provide, so I'll go with the whole LED-from-the-ground-up replacement plastic-and-light-source options.

This brings up the question: Okay, how much excess wattage do we have, now, swapping out the original halogen bulb unit, that we can add back on something extended from the original cargo area bulb socket? I believe that the original halogen bulbs are rated at 5W, correct?

The Kopacek replacement part doesn't mention its wattage; neither does a "RECAMBO" product; One AliExpress product mentions 0.75W.

Does anyone have the wattage of the replacement all-LED units?

@skomaz Do you happen to have the total wattage of the LED strip that you tacked on to your cargo area light socket?

I tend to see "6W/m".

I assume that there's a small amount of margin above whatever the manufacturer puts in, but I have no sense of how much margin.

thanks,

19 minutes ago, inspectorman said:

Warrior193 is on the money here. I have no idea why Skoda - even now on brand new cars - are still fitting lights with W5W bulbs. Maybe they bought eleventy billion ten years ago. They're also guilty of changing the connector to the light unit randomly, too.

With a bit of cunning the light fitting can be disassembled to get to the W5W bulb. Not all LED bulbs will fit, but they're cheap enough to try 2 or three models. These photos are from a 2020 Octavia 4. The 2026 Kamiq I have also done was even easier to dismantle - just a snap fit thin plastic cover. But I like also the 12V Led strip idea.

Thank you, @GREEBO_22 .

In typical AliExpress (not to mention, Amazon) fashion, when I do that search, I get thousands of hits, most of them irrelevant ...

The two kinds (because, of course, there are several vendors selling their name of obviously the same thing) that seem to match are either 1.8m or 3.0m long. (Of course, I could buy these longer ones, hack them up, and join shorter pieces back together, but I admit that I'm getting a bit lazy about the finer detail work at this point in my life...)

What would make this easier would be if I could find the correct technical name for the type of connector, but again in typical online marketplace form, most don't mention a standard at all, and those that mention standards 1. tend to mention more than one standard, and 2. never agree with each other ... 🤦.

So, anyone know what the connector type, that the Octavia III cargo area light assembly hangs off of, is officially called?

thanks!

-Jay

1 hour ago, GREEBO_22 said:

@JayLibove looking at your eBay link, the items being posted from Shenzhen, China, so more than likely the person is just reselling it from AliExpress quick Google on their site comes up with similar items for a lot cheaper but I don’t know how the price would change for your location

W5W incandescent bulbs are 50-80 lumens light output. You could put these LEDs in - £4 for ten - and the manufacturer claims 800 lumens. Tenfold increase in luminous flux. Current draw 0.6W. No need to fight the connector wars.

@inspectorman very cool.

I searched for T10 W5W LED and came up with a set of 10 which includes four WITH a "built-in IC Driver" and six more withOUT that.

The question is, for our current purpose (boot lamps in an Octavia) is there a need for/ benefit of the IC Driver, or does it not matter, or would it even cause a problem? (I'm guessing that it's needed, do avoid CANBUS problems?)

Thanks,

-Jay

13 minutes ago, inspectorman said:

W5W incandescent bulbs are 50-80 lumens light output. You could put these LEDs in - £4 for ten - and the manufacturer claims 800 lumens. Tenfold increase in luminous flux. Current draw 0.6W. No need to fight the connector wars.

Edited 21 hours ago21 hr by JayLibove
Added more detail