The A3/S3 LED Project - Completed - Pics

[tobycruse]

Since receiving my car the one thing that has annoyed me is the use of filament bulbs in the interior. The car has LED DRL's, Xenon main beams and a black and white LED dash but the rest of the rest of the lights are the not so high tech looking filament bulbs. I set out to change this! It took time and a fair bit of research but here is the end result. Enjoy!

 

[Fast,not furious]

Yup! Spot on mate!
Tell us what you used

 

[tobycruse]

The "how to" guide will be on here soon! So watch this space.
To get the system to work it was nessesary to use 2W 120 Ohm resistors, will explain how they were used in the guide!

 

[Sem]

Looks very nice mate, look forward to the 'how to' guide.

 

[SteveTDCi]

like the puddle lights

 

[ckh]

looks great!! looking forward to your guide!

 

[kaz219]

Looks awsome!

And also, awesome looking S3....love those bucket seats!

 

[Astakos]

Hi there Toby. Fantastic job mate!!
Looking forward to reading your "how to" !!

By the way, have you done anything regarding license plate's bulbs? Any pics?

P.S. I love your buckets!!!!!

 

[tobycruse]

Hi there Toby. Fantastic job mate!!
Looking forward to reading your "how to" !!

By the way, have you done anything regarding license plate's bulbs? Any pics?

P.S. I love your buckets!!!!!

Yes, the license plate bulbs are LED's also. This was a slightly more difficult job as the resistor i origionally used got so hot it melted the plastic around the LED. I have since use the higher rating 120 Ohm resistor with no problems! I will be posting pics of the number plate setup as soon as i can edit my number out of it! Suffice to say, it looks the part!

 

[Astakos]

Yes, the license plate bulbs are LED's also. This was a slightly more difficult job as the resistor i origionally used got so hot it melted the plastic around the LED. I have since use the higher rating 120 Ohm resistor with no problems! I will be posting pics of the number plate setup as soon as i can edit my number out of it! Suffice to say, it looks the part!

Cheers Toby!

Sounds amazing!! :icon_thumright:

Looking forward to your write-up as to where we can buy these sort of bulbs you have used!

 

[Staz]

Looks good Toby. I'm waiting for a delivery so I can start to do mine also.

How hot do the 120ohms get? I am thinking of using 3x 330 ohms to spread the heat.

 

[N8]

Looks the part Toby, hurry up with the guide. I'm so jealous of those buckets...

 

[NHN]

Love the sig Leon, sandwich, lol

 

[Staz]

Love the sig Leon, sandwich, lol

I wish!

So anyway Toby any news on the heat?? I dropped into Maplin today and asked the dude there for some suggestions on dealing with the heat issue. I asked about some metal containers to enclose the resistor(s) in and dissipate the heat. He said you could try one of the normal plastic boxes and fill it up with silicaset. He didn't have the box I needed in as it was a small shop but I might give that a go. I have the LEDs here waiting to go.

Got to wait a couple of weeks though as my bird is here visiting and she won't be impressed if I spend time with the car alone! I will do the door ones as soon as they arrive though.

 

[Astakos]

Hi lads!

Can anyone advise, toby or staz, as to where can I order these LEDs that you have used?

Cheers!

 

[Caesium]

The interior lamps are a straight swap as they do not have bulb failure monitoring, the numberplate lamps do so they will have to have a 150ohm or greater resistor in line to create a load so that the DIS does not display a warning.
The actual resistance of a 12v numberplate lamp is 28.8ohms, but you don't need a resistor that goes that low.

You can work it out with an ohms law calculator here http://www.the12volt.com/ohm/page2.asp scroll down to the two values you know, which in this case is voltage and wattage and the resistance will be calculated for you.

On my car 150ohms was sufficient to remove the bulb failure monitor, I soldered the resistor across the bulb contacts.

I got my LED's from www.ultraleds.co.uk

 

[Staz]

150ohm or greater resistor

Or lower you mean surely?

Hi lads!

Can anyone advise, toby or staz, as to where can I order these LEDs that you have used?

Cheers!

I followed the links provided by Mattandrew on this thread to get my LEDs:

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=60466&highlight=bimmian

 

[Caesium]

Or lower you mean surely?

Yes, a lower resistance is correct.

 

[Staz]

So how much heat do the 150s give off Chris?

 

[Caesium]

they do get pretty hot, as hot as the bulb gets. But on my car the resistor is in free air with nothing around it so it should be fine. Its been in for about 2 weeks now with no ill effects.

 

[mattandrew]

Here half of my guide and heres the bulbs which toby used

See this thread for more info
http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=60466


Footwell Lights
A few months ago I started to install some LED lights in the footwell lighting, first I installed the passenger LED and it worked fine but when I installed the drivers they both went out. This caused an error in VAGCOM, must of been to do with current draw or something similar. For the last 3 months I have had one normal bulb and one LED. Been having a play around tonight and not sure what I did to sort the problem but they both now work. I had a play in VAGCOM but didnt change anything. I also found a setting in VAGCOM to make the footwell lights brighter

Heres how they look

This is the bulb I used, its the wedge type as used in the side lights. The reason I used this type of bulb is because it directs the light out of all four side and the end of the bulb. A lot of the LED wedge bulbs only have the led's in the end of the bulb, this is no good for the footwell as the light given off does not shine through the lense and into the footwell and it is very dim.

Here they are on ebay £5.70 delivered for two, same seller I purchased from
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2pcs-501-W5W-R...d=p3286.c0.m14

Main light and map reading

I used two LED festoon bulbs for the main light and they work a treat, you can either use 42mm or 44mm festoon bulbs

£8.50 for two delivered
http://cgi.ebay.com/1pc-264-Festoon-...742.m153.l1262

The map reading lights were a bit more tricky, the problem was finding a bulb which would direct the light down, the first couple of bulbs I tried looked ok but did not give enough glow as the LED was in the end of the bulb.
Heres the bulbs I used, as you will see the LED is on the side of the bulb

When the bulb was first inserted the light shone to the side as the locating pegs were in the wrong place on the bulb, I managed to slide the plastic behind the bulb holder back, turn the bulb and jam it in place. It makes more sense when you have a closer look at the fitting, it been in place a few months now with no problems.

Heres mine same seller £9.10 delivered for 4 delivered
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2pcs-BA9S-T4W-...d=p3286.c0.m14


Or these £11.70 for 4
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2pcs-BA9S-T4W-...d=p3286.c0.m14

Rears
When I changed the rears (same bulb as front map lights) I had issues with all the interior lights been on very dim, even when all doors are shut, at the minute I still have the standard bulbs in the rear. Think if i install a resistor on the rear supply it may solve the issue.

Nnmber plate
36mm festoon like these, two for £6 delivered
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2x-XENON-WHITE...QQcmdZViewItem
Ive not fitted them yet as they may need a resistor in line, ill let you know how I get on.

For under £30 you can get the full setup - footwell, map, centre, rear and number plate


Matt

:thumbsup:

 

[maars]

Is the orange light in front of the ashtray standard?

 

[maars]

OK, cool. I don't have either. Can it be retro-fitted? If so, how?

 

[Astakos]

Thanks Staz, Matt, A4quattro for your info.

Unfortunately I cannot get these bulbs Matt from e-bay as there is no buy now option.

Any ideas?

 

[Staz]

Thanks Staz, Matt, A4quattro for your info.

Unfortunately I cannot get these bulbs Matt from e-bay as there is no buy now option.

Any ideas?

Yeah those auctions finished ages ago! You need to look at the seller's shop and find those same products currently on sale and buy them.

 

[Astakos]

Yeah those auctions finished ages ago! You need to look at the seller's shop and find those same products currently on sale and buy them.

Thanks Staz. I'll give it a go.

 

[tobycruse]

Ok guys, sorry to keep you all waiting, i have written the "how to guide" but i just need to add the pics now. Hoping to post it up in the next 48 hours!

The bulbs are all ebay bought, some from hong kong and some from the USA, you have to shop around!

The only thing i want to know is whats the highest resistance you can put in parallel to fool the DIS. As greater resistance = less heat = no melting bulbs!

 

[NHN]

I'd be more worried about melting whats surrounds the bulbs fella, screw the bulbs, lol

 

[Staz]

I think that's what he meant dude!

Toby you'd have to do the potentiometer method to find that out, unless you have a friend in Ingolstadt.

 

[Caesium]

well 150ohms is the highest resistance value I could find that would work in a BMW, my friend has the A6 and he used 120ohms without problems.
Buy a pack of resistors from maplin and try from 200ohms down until the DIS goes off.