Error free LED issues, resolved

Daveyonthemove

Daveyonthemove

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I recently fitted an Error Free (Canbus compatible) LED in place of my useless halogen reverse light bulb.
Unfortunately, upon starting the engine I immediately get a bulb error warning on the dash relating to this bulb.
Putting the car into reverse for a few seconds usually clears this fault but it's not a great solution, so I plugged in OBD11 and fired up the app on my phone and did some digging for a solution.

For anyone with the same issue, this seem's to have worked although you do this at your own risk!

09- Central electrics
Long coding
Scroll through pages until you see: Cold Diagnosis (insert light you have issues with)
Untick box
Save

I no longer have the bulb error warning when starting the car from complete shut down, so I have also unticked the box relating to the DRL and Side lights as I plan to replace them when the bulbs arrive.

I'll update this thread when the bulbs arrive and are fitted.
 
Daveyonthemove said:
I recently fitted an Error Free (Canbus compatible) LED in place of my useless halogen reverse light bulb.
Unfortunately, upon starting the engine I immediately get a bulb error warning on the dash relating to this bulb.
Putting the car into reverse for a few seconds usually clears this fault but it's not a great solution, so I plugged in OBD11 and fired up the app on my phone and did some digging for a solution.

For anyone with the same issue, this seem's to have worked although you do this at your own risk!

09- Central electrics
Long coding
Scroll through pages until you see: Cold Diagnosis (insert light you have issues with)
Untick box
Save

I no longer have the bulb error warning when starting the car from complete shut down, so I have also unticked the box relating to the DRL and Side lights as I plan to replace them when the bulbs arrive.

I'll update this thread when the bulbs arrive and are fitted.
Click to expand...
Fancy sharing the link of the bulbs @Daveyonthemove

Sent from my SM-N976B using Tapatalk
 
ch1z64 said:
@Daveyonthemove how bright are they on the reverse light 1 being *hite snd 10 brill
Click to expand...
They are more visible to others as the reverse light area is very small. I haven't used it in the dark yet so can't comment on how useful they are to reverse with, but i'll go out in an hour and take a look.
 
I've been out for a drive to find some dark areas and check the light output from the LED reverse bulb.
It is a vast improvement, the amount of light is much better and it can be used to see behind you, unlike the previous filament style bulb.
 
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Daveyonthemove said:
I've been out for a drive to find some dark areas and check the light output from the LED reverse bulb.
It is a vast improvement, the amount of light is much better and it can be used to see behind you, unlike the previous filament style bulb.
Click to expand...
Cheers for ur update
 
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I’m sure trups would have been able to get you one that would have worked without having to tweek vcds, would he not?
I’m guessing you’ll not know now when you’ve got a bulb out?
 
I bought bulbs from him in the past and they gave errors all the time. He was also difficult to reach for support, so I used ABD as they specify error free.
Sadly this isn't the case on my S3 but I found this work around.
I fault scan and run output tests regularly so I should notice a blown bulb.
 
Daveyonthemove said:
I bought bulbs from him in the past and they gave errors all the time. He was also difficult to reach for support, so I used ABD as they specify error free.
Sadly this isn't the case on my S3 but I found this work around.
I fault scan and run output tests regularly so I should notice a blown bulb.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, I’ve always found him to sort things out quickly when I had some bulbs go out that I got from him.
What did you have off him that gave errors just out of interest as I’m thinking of using him again for some others?
 
ab1702 said:
Fair enough, I’ve always found him to sort things out quickly when I had some bulbs go out that I got from him.
What did you have off him that gave errors just out of interest as I’m thinking of using him again for some others?
Click to expand...
I can't remember specifically which bulbs they were, but LED sidelights and DRL bulbs (my 2006 S3 has filament type DRL's)
 
An update to the LED lights situation.
The reverse light is still working perfectly and is not presenting any fault codes, as well as being much brighter and usable in the dark
I also bought these LED Sidelights (W5W) which have also been error free and give off really crisp white light suiting the Xenon bulbs really well. https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/501-twenty20-c3-canbus-led-assorted-colours.html

Unfortunately I have tried two different P21w LED bulbs from the same supplier and neither have worked without error, although they give off very good light and would be perfect for DRL's instead of the yellow filament bulbs:
https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/382-twenty20-cree-led-12v-p21w-canbus-bayonet-bulb.html
https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/382-led-car-bulbs-twenty20-elegance.html

However, I have found a solution that I am happy with.
The LED DRL's cannot be coded to prevent a fault code (I've tried several times and looked online for weeks) BUT they can be dimmed using VCDS/OBD11, so I have dimmed them down to 1%.
As the LED Sidelights work alongside them as DRL's and are bright enough to be seen in daylight, they almost hide the faint yellow glow entirely whilst keeping the error codes at bay.
To finish the look I'm going to install PIAA Xtreme white P21W bulbs so they are less yellow, but keep them dimmed to 1% and that should be the best solution (for me personally) to get the LED DRL look and not the awful yellow glow.

I hope this helps someone looking for a similar outcome and getting annoyed at constant bulb error warnings.
 
tcardio said:
see em tuning or deautokey
Click to expand...
As mentioned above, already bought bulbs from EM Tuning (Tupps?) and they didn't work.
I'm at a point where I'm happy with the bulbs so I won't be buying more. I'm sure for most people the Error free bulbs work fine, but for those that have the same issues I have had, this is an alternative solution.
 
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