L.E.Ds

Dazmo

Dazmo

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I know this is a much talked about subject but i thought i would ask anyway!

Does anyone know where i can buy a set of number plate L.E.Ds with built in resistors?

I bought some error free canbus ones and they look great but unfortuantly the damn things keep giving me bulb errors and i cant be ***** with wiring up resistors and taking half my boot apart

Somebody must make them with built in resistors!
 
I have tried 3 different types of LED bulbs including these: LED Number License Plate Lamp Light-Audi A3 A4 A6 A8 Q7 on eBay (end time 26-Jan-11 15:16:14 GMT) which claim to have resistors built in, but they still give an error (look great though).
I have also tried LED festoon bulbs with a 150 ohm resistor soldered in, but these sometimes give an error and sometimes don't.

To 'trick' the CAN-bus I think you need to get a resistance reading for a 'normal' filament bulb and then use a resistor which makes up the difference between this figure and an LED one. You don't have to take the boot apart - you can solder the resistor in parallel to the bulb within the holder.

I am not convinced that anyone makes a non-error LED.

Hope this helps!
 
how can you find out the resistence of a normal bulb and the l.e.d bulb just thinking that way the resistence needed to be made up by the risitor could be figered out??
 
Getting a resistor that fixes the issue isn't the problem but the heat is. I bought a number of resistors from Maplins to test and although they worked, they were far too hot to touch (I wrapped the resistor around the metal prongs).

The only ones that, as far as I am aware, do not give errors are the ones sold by Dectane....but they are very expensive for what they are.

https://www.dectane.de/product_info....html&XTCsid=d91caff9509782478379d09483106f40
 
jay01704 said:
how can you find out the resistence of a normal bulb and the l.e.d bulb just thinking that way the resistence needed to be made up by the risitor could be figered out??
Click to expand...
Try this. Ohm's law calculation calculator calculate ohms formulas - voltage current resistance formula - magic triangle equation tip online voltage volts resitor resistance amps amperes audio engineering E V I R calc conductivity resistivity - sengpielaudio S
I'm having a play to try cancel the BOW on my B5 after fitting LEDs to the 3rd brake light.
 
The Dectane ones look identical to the ones sitting on my kitchen table, bought from eBay as above.
Someone told me that the resistances needed can vary from car to car as well because the CAN-bus is set to 'OK' after it has been built and checked, rather than given a default setting. Not sure if this is correct though.
I thought about ordering the Dectane ones but it's a lot of money and hassle if they don't work!
 
The only thing I can say is that I haven't read any posts from people saying the Dectane ones fail.

When I tried it with various bulbs off ebay, I could fit one with no error, only when putting the second one in did I get the error. I tried 2 120ohm resistors and they knocked the error on the head but burnt my fingers when removing them.
 
What was the power rating of the resistors you were using?

It's likely that they weren't rated high enough to dissipate the power demanded of them, higher wattage resistors would work, however they are much more bulky and you'll have a hard time finding space for them. It would be a worthwhile experiment to find the highest value of resistor you can fit without the error coming up, as this would reduce the level of power and thereby heat to be dissipated, you would then be able to determine a resistor network to give you good power dissipation for the right resistance.
 
Well i think im going to risk a set of these if they do genuinly work!

My only concern is that with so many L.E.Ds i dont want the back of the car looking like a flood light!
 
hmm yes the floodlght effect hopefully wont blind people if so though:scared2::idea::cool:
 
I used 2W resistors and got several of different ratings, they all were scarily hot after a few minutes.
 
I found a link to a guy who had the same issues with the resistors over heating.
He made a heat sink and added a fan to help keep it cool.
He said it worked really well and mounted it in his boot.

I'm having issues finding the link now.
 
the way other people have done it is to put the resistors in the boot but I couldn't be faffed removing the boot liner etc.
 
2W should be enough to dissipate the power the resistors will be pulling, 12V across a 120 ohm resistor would give you a power draw of 1.2W, easily within the capabilities of the resistors, did you say you were putting them in parallel with the bulbs? If so that could be your problem, resistances in parallel will effectively mean the car will see a lower resistance value, enabaling more current to flow, where as if they were in series, the resistances would stack, reducing current and also heat, might be worth a try if you can somehow fit them in series, although I still think that two resistors of double the resistance in parallel would give you the lowest heat possible for a minimum of additional fuss, as the current through each would be halved, and so too would the power dissipated by them.
 
damb will we ever have led with no errors audi = mod haters
i reckon its cos they dont want us to do extras for the fraction of the cost theyed charge if cars bought that way c#%$s
 
Yeah - they look identical to the ones I bought and they gave me an error...
 
Yep i have errors form those £30 ebay ones too, will be getting my money back!
 
hmm is it ever gunna happen when will we get led this is just not fair lol
 
The way we get around this in the truck industry is to wire in a normal bulb and hide it away from site so that the wattage drawn from the bulb is seen and the ECU shows no fault, the LEDs are then fitted into the normal bulb holder.
 
i have tried literally all the market has to offer in my guide to the LEDS in the indicators and number plate lights.
resistors work for the front and side indicators but not for the number plate lights.
the only ones that work were the Decane ones, £30, nice and neat, trust me its a lot of faffing about
audi3.jpg


my car with them fitted
 
doug.p said:
i have tried literally all the market has to offer in my guide to the LEDS in the indicators and number plate lights.
resistors work for the front and side indicators but not for the number plate lights.
the only ones that work were the Decane ones, £30, nice and neat, trust me its a lot of faffing about
audi3.jpg


my car with them fitted
Click to expand...

So are you saying the decane number plate leds work with the b7?
 
yes indeed in my B7 the only thing that worked were the dectane ones here:

https://www.dectane.de/product_info...e-audi-a3-8p--a4-b6--a4-b7--a6--a8--uva-.html


they are ok for B6 & B7
my findings are that the B7 is much fussier with what you can get away with than the B6.
the other option is to use normal LED's and have VAG turn the warning light off, but with the resistors needed it gets messy, the dectane ones are a whole unit and very neat, but you pay for it
 
Hi all

New here, I've been reading what you all have to say. I've got an Audi A4 B7 s-line on a 57 plate. First I bought these LED bulbs for the number plate
Audi LED Number Plate Bulb Canbus No Error Warning on eBay (end time 06-Feb-11 09:54:07 GMT)
but they made the warning light come on
then these which i paid over £30 for
Audi A3 A4 (B6 B7) License Number Plate LED Light Bulbs on eBay (end time 03-Mar-11 21:56:45 GMT)
and these also made the warning light come on, so not to happy after spending over £40 on LEDs.

I want to try the dectane ones but i dont really want to shell out even more. Is there any more conformation that these work on the B7's???????

Thanks Rob
 
The ebay ones didnt work for me so sent em back
Dectanes are on way to me....really expensive..49.75 just charged to my bank after Euro conversion...
Doug. P - Not sure where you got 30 quid from..

anyway..looking fwd to fitting them
 
Hi i_M I would be interested to know whether they give you an error or not... cheers
Jonny
 
i purchased mine about a year ago - so maybe the exchange rate had something to do with it ?
but inc P&P they were £38 - just checked my statement
 
and no - definatly 100% no errors on mine with them
 
damn GBP ! hehe

Decatane list them as inclusive of tax...then add tax at checkout and a chunky shipping charge...
 
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