All LED bubs for 12V systems will have a "driver" because LEDs don't work on 12V. Probably as simple as a resistor to limit voltage but sometimes more complex - especially on the more expensive, higher power ones. As warrior193 said, the boot / interior lights are just dumb bulbs, not affected by CANBUS issues, unlike headlights / tail lights.

I usually get the flatter profile ones for this job. The last lot I bought did require a little trimming of the clear soft transparent plastic around them to fit the boot light holder but at £2.24 for ten I wasn't complaining.

I got the Aliexpress ones but had to go back to the bulbs.

In order to check if the trunk is closed, the car checks if the lights are one, yeah stupid but it is what it is.

The cheapo leds where letting a slight amont of curent pass, trigering the open trunk alerte.

When the car was shut my blinkers would go on anf off like when you open the trunk with the kessy

I've placed an order for bulbs ("XELORD" W5W T10 LED, supposedly 800lumens but I'll believe it when I see it, since most W5W LED replacement bulbs for which I saw lumen ratings were 450LM and 300LM). https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0DK8FV8V8?th=1 These bulbs have the word "CANBUS" printed on their stems. 🤞

We'll see. (If the new bulbs are bright enough, that is!)

Any guidance on how to remove the rear passenger seat over-door lights? https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/540252-add-morebetter-lighting-to-combiwagon-cargo-area/#findComment-6020021

Again, thanks!

-Jay

@nickytheshaft (great handle!) The Aliexpress ones .. the complete LED-from-the-ground-up replacement units? Or LED bulbs to fit into the stock plastic-lens-enclosed-T10 sockets?

-Jay

45 minutes ago, nickytheshaft said:

I got the Aliexpress ones but had to go back to the bulbs.

In order to check if the trunk is closed, the car checks if the lights are one, yeah stupid but it is what it is.

The cheapo leds where letting a slight amont of curent pass, trigering the open trunk alerte.

When the car was shut my blinkers would go on anf off like when you open the trunk with the kessy

3 hours ago, JayLibove said:

@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,

I went for 5mm wide x 500mm long 110lm/m 12w/m led strip. So it'll be about 6w 'extra' over the existing rwo w5w bulbs.

Edited Sunday at 17:024 days by skomaz

Ahhhhhh, nuts. These bulbs' metal fins are a bit too short/ the much wider diameter LED round blocks the fins from pressing far enough into the T10 socket to sit securely. Returning, continuing the search... (Also, still need guidance on how to get the over-the-rear-passengers'-doors lenses out of their holes without breaking something ... Bueller? Bueller? 😅).

-Jay

23 hours ago, JayLibove said:

I've placed an order for bulbs ("XELORD" W5W T10 LED, supposedly 800lumens but I'll believe it when I see it, since most W5W LED replacement bulbs for which I saw lumen ratings were 450LM and 300LM). https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0DK8FV8V8?th=1 These bulbs have the word "CANBUS" printed on their stems. 🤞

We'll see. (If the new bulbs are bright enough, that is!)

Any guidance on how to remove the rear passenger seat over-door lights? https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/540252-add-morebetter-lighting-to-combiwagon-cargo-area/#findComment-6020021

Again, thanks!

-Jay

39 minutes ago, JayLibove said:

(Also, still need guidance on how to get the over-the-rear-passengers'-doors lenses out of their holes without breaking something ... Bueller? Bueller? 😅).

-Jay

If they are the same as the ones in our old Fabia estate then if I remember correctly they are held in place in the metal holder in the roof lining by a spring loaded tab and once you've levered them out a bit from the metal holdér you can just about access the tab with a thin screwdriver and push it towards the light to help release them as sometimes the tab gets stuck behind the metal holder.

Also re bulbs try the flat one sided 'cob' bulbs rather than cylindrical ones... Auxito are a good make in my experience.

Edited Monday at 17:083 days by skomaz

Thanks. That's how I understood it, and I had also found a video that showed that. I guess it's just these had never been removed on my car, and they were really stuck in there. I sweated bullets getting each of them out, but finally did so.

And, of course, found that they use different bulbs entirely from the cargo area lights (which I have now successfully replaced; and, which, I notice, do have polarity and have to be inserted a specific way - despite what the product listing seemed to claim; I mean, of course, that makes sense, 12VDC, but, is it too much to ask for accurate product listings?).

Now to shop for bulbs for the rear door reading lights (C5W)...

23 hours ago, skomaz said:

If they are the same as the ones in our old Fabia estate then if I remember correctly they are held in place in the metal holder in the roof lining by a spring loaded tab and once you've levered them out a bit from the metal holdér you can just about access the tab with a thin screwdriver and push it towards the light to help release them as sometimes the tab gets stuck behind the metal holder.

Also re bulbs try the flat one sided 'cob' bulbs rather than cylindrical ones... Auxito are a good make in my experience.

Edited Tuesday at 16:522 days by JayLibove
Added type of bulb that I found in the rear passenger door reading lights

Over rear-passenger door bulbs replaced. I remain flummoxed at how difficult it was to get those light units out of their metal frames in the roof. Snapping them back in was a .. snap (you knew I was going to say that). I hope these new LED bulbs last a long time; I do NOT look forward to having to extract those things again!

Next stop: front reading lights! (I'll post a new thread).

Thanks again, all, for the guidance!

-Jay

p.s. Not sure if I posted the specifics:

Rear cargo area flat-ish lots-of-little-LED bulbs (flat-ish because they have both a flat section, with ten little LEDs on each side, and then perpendicular to that a round section with another six little LEDs on top, picture below):

https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0D7J2VJ2Z

"Astur group" "W5W LED Canbus Error Free 26 LED 4014 SMD 6000K Super Bright 360° Visibility Easy Installation LED Car Interior Light and License Plate Pack, White (Pack of 10 T10 Premium)" €10

Rear passenger seat over-door lights:

https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0FFY95763

"KATUR" "36mm Festoon C5W (4pcs)" - half of a barrel, with little LEDs strewn all across; non-polarity (can insert in either direction), just have to place the bulb into the C5W socked so that the LED-"festooned" (see what I did there?) side faces towards the lens inwards to the car cabin:

Ugh. The Astur group flat-ish multi-LED thingies are not dimmable, so if W5W is what the front centre console lights use, I'll need to find something else.....

(Still waiting for an answer from the KATUR vendor about whether those are dimmable).

KATUR have also responded - also NOT dimmable. Hm.

Anyone have experience with what happens when non-dimmable bulbs are put into the light sockets which the car tries to dim?

Huh. Amusing. Despite that the KATUR bulbs are "not dimmable", in fact, they DO fade out as expected.

Anyone know exactly how the MkIII Facelift Octavia does the fadeout? I assume it's by gradually reducing the voltage. (I'd seen a number of the replacement bulbs mentioning rather wide voltage ranges, but always starting at either 9V or 12V, so even if they might fade very slightly as voltage drops from 12V through 9V to off, I wouldn't expect such a nice, complete fadeout).

1 hour ago, JayLibove said:

Anyone know exactly how the MkIII Facelift Octavia does the fadeout? I assume it's by gradually reducing the voltage.

It's far more likely to be using PWM as that's used to dim all the other bulbs around the car.

Cool, thanks for the reference @PetrolDave ; I learned several new things today!

https://quinled.info/what-is-pwm-led-dimming/

https://www.suretron.com/blog/-what-is-constant-current-led-driver-how-does-it-work.html

https://quinled.info/2018/09/17/analog-vs-digital-led-strip/

18 minutes ago, PetrolDave said:

It's far more likely to be using PWM as that's used to dim all the other bulbs around the car.