A3 8VS LED Tail Light Upgrade Issue

John G A3 said:
I am going to attempt this upgrade and my current lights are halogen, if anyone is interested I'm a thinking of manufacturing an adapter harness using a 3D printer and a bit of cunning. If you are interested reply to this and when I get round to it I will make more than one.
Click to expand...
Hi pal did u manage to make them lights work I’ll be interested
 
Looks like a lot people still stuck on these .. had a garage charge £150 to do them need to run wire up from outer lights to tailgate (to inner light).. there is an easy way round this
 
On the outside taillight the brake and driving lights use the same wire.
On the inside the fog lights and driving lights use the same wire.

You have to remove the driving lights from the outside lights adaptation.
You have to remove the fog lights from the inside light adaptation

Next you need to run 2 wires from inside to outside.
1 Turnsignal (as the inside lights have no turnsignal on halogen)
2 Drivinglight from inside to outside

Now you have 2 reverse wires and 0 foglight wires from BCM
Wiring: remove 1 wire and connect left and right reverse light together.
The loose *ex reverse) wire we hook up to the foglights. (both)
Code 1 of the 2 reverse light as fog lights. ( ths may couse the cluster to get the reverse light error when foglights are out.)

Last : As the led might trigger a lamp out, you can try to change the lasttype.
 
Last edited:
DJAlix said:
Have the coding information within a spreadsheet as I have assisted with retrofits of this kind. PM me your email addy and will send it over.
Click to expand...
Hello DJAlix. I have the same issue with a3 17´ from hallogen to led. I got installed and it works fine except brake light. When i start the car with day light running (also low and high beam ) brake light turns on ,but not as bright , as when pressing brake pedal. I have checked Volts on brake wire and it is 5V when i start the car and 12 v when brake pedal is pressed. Is it possible to code by turning off 5V ? Thanks
 
Mariussthlm said:
Hello DJAlix. I have the same issue with a3 17´ from hallogen to led. I got installed and it works fine except brake light. When i start the car with day light running (also low and high beam ) brake light turns on ,but not as bright , as when pressing brake pedal. I have checked Volts on brake wire and it is 5V when i start the car and 12 v when brake pedal is pressed. Is it possible to code by turning off 5V ? Thanks
Click to expand...
this is information I no longer supply. In order to assist I would need to see your installation.
 
DJAlix said:
this is information I no longer supply. In order to assist I would need to see your installation.
Click to expand...
Is this because of different ways to wire the car?

As for prefacelift (did not look at facelift yet) the outside driving- and brakelights use the same wire/bulb, and inside the driving and foglights use the same wire/bulb.

This means that to perform as led lights you need to remove brakelight or driving light from the outside wire/bulb, and remove driving light or fog light from the inside wire/bulb.

This means you can wire in so many diffent ways coding help is almost impossible. You need to do both yourself or leave it to retrofitter.

For driving lights you need to make sure the 5v output becomes 12v.
All these options are in BCM (09).
 
m rol said:
Is this because of different ways to wire the car?

As for prefacelift (did not look at facelift yet) the outside driving- and brakelights use the same wire/bulb, and inside the driving and foglights use the same wire/bulb.

This means that to perform as led lights you need to remove brakelight or driving light from the outside wire/bulb, and remove driving light or fog light from the inside wire/bulb.

This means you can wire in so many diffent ways coding help is almost impossible. You need to do both yourself or leave it to retrofitter.

For driving lights you need to make sure the 5v output becomes 12v.
All these options are in BCM (09).
Click to expand...
Partly...

I have seen so many different ways to do this retrofit that there is not really a single solution to fix, and extracting all the needed information can takes ages. Its just easier and faster for me to see whats going on and fix in person rather than sit here for 2/3/4/5 hours trying to workout 1) what someone else has done physically 2) whats been done via coding 3) work out a fix 4) guide someone through that fix.
 
m rol said:
Is this because of different ways to wire the car?

As for prefacelift (did not look at facelift yet) the outside driving- and brakelights use the same wire/bulb, and inside the driving and foglights use the same wire/bulb.

This means that to perform as led lights you need to remove brakelight or driving light from the outside wire/bulb, and remove driving light or fog light from the inside wire/bulb.

This means you can wire in so many diffent ways coding help is almost impossible. You need to do both yourself or leave it to retrofitter.

For driving lights you need to make sure the 5v output becomes 12v.
All these options are in BCM (09).
Click to expand...
Fog light works with no any problem at all.

And it is 2 separate cables for tail light and brake light. When i start the car , tail light cable gets 12v and brake 5v. They are separated now, but i checked the halogen tail light and yes ,the outside halogen bulb is tail/brake. So when it is only tail light on -5V is on, when i press brake 12V is on and bulb was lightning brighter.I have not done any coding. It stays original now . I am going to try code it on monday an see if it will be posible for me to remove 5v and get 12v when brake is pressed .
I am from Sweden and here are not so very much retrofitter att all. Not for Audi :)
Thanks you guys.!
 
In 09 (bcm) search in adaptation for brake lights..

Keep channel open and remove driving light in this light. (The top nr.1 needs to be filled in. So if you remove drivinglight from position 1 replace with brakelight from pull down window. ) Now you have 1 dedicated brakelight.

For the 5v look at the dimming part of this light. You can adjust all lights from 0 to 127% ( i guess this is for suplying 12v to led lights instead of 14,4v from dynamo.) Here some will be arround 45% or something.


Strange you say the brakelight is at 5v (the driving light is the one dimmed)
 
Here part of a adaptation channel , light 18blk, turn signal.

ENG116954-ENG116224-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Dimming Direction CD 18,maximize ,16
ENG116954-ENG116228-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Dimming Direction EF 18,maximize ,16
ENG116954-ENG116232-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Dimming Direction GH 18,maximize ,16
ENG116954-ENG116219-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Dimmwert AB 18,127 ,16 (dim value for channel a and b)
ENG116954-ENG116223-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Dimmwert CD 18,0 ,16
ENG116954-ENG116227-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Dimmwert EF 18,0 ,16
ENG116954-ENG116231-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Dimmwert GH 18,0 ,16
ENG116954-ENG116216-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Fehlerort mittleres Byte DTC-DFCC 18,16 ,16
ENG116954-ENG116570-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lampendefektbitposition 18,08 ,16
ENG116954-ENG116214-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lasttyp 18,38 - LED Blinkleuchten ,16 (change here if light out error)
ENG116954-ENG116220-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtansteuerung HD AB 18,Always ,16
ENG116954-ENG116217-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtfunktion A 18,Blinken links Hellphase ,16 (here you have the first position, if you change this to brake lights the blinken links , or turn signal left will become a brake light)
ENG116954-ENG116218-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtfunktion B 18,not active ,16 (nr 2 for multi purpose lights)
ENG116954-ENG116221-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtfunktion C 18,Blinken links Dunkelphase ,16
ENG116954-ENG116222-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtfunktion D 18,not active ,16
ENG116954-ENG116225-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtfunktion E 18,not active ,16
ENG116954-ENG116226-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtfunktion F 18,not active ,16
ENG116954-ENG116229-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtfunktion G 18,not active ,16
ENG116954-ENG116230-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtfunktion H 18,not active ,16
 
m rol said:
Here part of a adaptation channel , light 18blk, turn signal.

ENG116954-ENG116224-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Dimming Direction CD 18,maximize ,16
ENG116954-ENG116228-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Dimming Direction EF 18,maximize ,16
ENG116954-ENG116232-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Dimming Direction GH 18,maximize ,16
ENG116954-ENG116219-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Dimmwert AB 18,127 ,16 (dim value for channel a and b)
ENG116954-ENG116223-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Dimmwert CD 18,0 ,16
ENG116954-ENG116227-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Dimmwert EF 18,0 ,16
ENG116954-ENG116231-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Dimmwert GH 18,0 ,16
ENG116954-ENG116216-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Fehlerort mittleres Byte DTC-DFCC 18,16 ,16
ENG116954-ENG116570-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lampendefektbitposition 18,08 ,16
ENG116954-ENG116214-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lasttyp 18,38 - LED Blinkleuchten ,16 (change here if light out error)
ENG116954-ENG116220-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtansteuerung HD AB 18,Always ,16
ENG116954-ENG116217-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtfunktion A 18,Blinken links Hellphase ,16 (here you have the first position, if you change this to brake lights the blinken links , or turn signal left will become a brake light)
ENG116954-ENG116218-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtfunktion B 18,not active ,16 (nr 2 for multi purpose lights)
ENG116954-ENG116221-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtfunktion C 18,Blinken links Dunkelphase ,16
ENG116954-ENG116222-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtfunktion D 18,not active ,16
ENG116954-ENG116225-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtfunktion E 18,not active ,16
ENG116954-ENG116226-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtfunktion F 18,not active ,16
ENG116954-ENG116229-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtfunktion G 18,not active ,16
ENG116954-ENG116230-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lichtfunktion H 18,not active ,16
Click to expand...
Thank you!.
I will try that !
 
First make adaptation log from cars current setup.

Write down all purpose of the lights.

You will find you need driving light left and right on 2 channels (parking lights with turnsignal lever) and there might be other.
 
m rol said:
First make adaptation log from cars current setup.

Write down all purpose of the lights.

You will find you need driving light left and right on 2 channels (parking lights with turnsignal lever) and there might be other.
Click to expand...
ok.Thanks
 
ENG116954-ENG116216-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Fehlerort mittleres Byte DTC-DFCC 18,16 ,16
ENG116954-ENG116570-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lampendefektbitposition 18,08 ,16

If you change the whole perpuis off the wire/bulb you can try to play with these settings for error settings in dis.

For prefaclift i would suggest to keep brakelights on outer lights (code drving lights out) Get them from inside driving lights. (these are the stromgest light with 21watt and this way it wont affect BCM_)
Turn signal: Get the inside turnsignal from outside.
Fog light: As you code foghlights out. Code foglghts on 1 off the revers wires.
That leaves 1 revrse wire to hook 2 reverse bulbs. And 1 foglight to hook on 2 fog bulbs (some countries ony allow 1 fog light)
 
m rol said:
ENG116954-ENG116216-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Fehlerort mittleres Byte DTC-DFCC 18,16 ,16
ENG116954-ENG116570-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lampendefektbitposition 18,08 ,16

If you change the whole perpuis off the wire/bulb you can try to play with these settings for error settings in dis.

For prefaclift i would suggest to keep brakelights on outer lights (code drving lights out) Get them from inside driving lights. (these are the stromgest light with 21watt and this way it wont affect BCM_)
Turn signal: Get the inside turnsignal from outside.
Fog light: As you code foghlights out. Code foglghts on 1 off the revers wires.
That leaves 1 revrse wire to hook 2 reverse bulbs. And 1 foglight to hook on 2 fog bulbs (some countries ony allow 1 fog light)
Click to expand...
Thanks man. We Will try it tomorrow.
 
m rol said:
ENG116954-ENG116216-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Fehlerort mittleres Byte DTC-DFCC 18,16 ,16
ENG116954-ENG116570-Leuchte18BLK HLA60-Lampendefektbitposition 18,08 ,16

If you change the whole perpuis off the wire/bulb you can try to play with these settings for error settings in dis.

For prefaclift i would suggest to keep brakelights on outer lights (code drving lights out) Get them from inside driving lights. (these are the stromgest light with 21watt and this way it wont affect BCM_)
Turn signal: Get the inside turnsignal from outside.
Fog light: As you code foghlights out. Code foglghts on 1 off the revers wires.
That leaves 1 revrse wire to hook 2 reverse bulbs. And 1 foglight to hook on 2 fog bulbs (some countries ony allow 1 fog light)
Click to expand...


Thanks a lot for your help! My buddy couldn't do the coding, but i found a local guy in Stockholm(thank you Andreas!), he was doing very good with VCDS coding, and we sorted this out. He has done coding and dimmed down tail light on the channel, so now its only brakes on, works perfect!
Another question is : we found out that tail lights channel are dimmed on 29% (this value comes for hallogen lamps from the factory). Do you have any idea, what dimming value it should be as original for the led ? ( I think, my tail lights are not bright enough on 29 value, but we did not want to make them too bright too.
I guess , we might have to check other values too( brake,reverse, fog etc.) but i have no clue what they should be.
 
DJAlix said:
Have the coding information within a spreadsheet as I have assisted with retrofits of this kind. PM me your email addy and will send it over.
Click to expand...
DJAlix said:
Have the coding information within a spreadsheet as I have assisted with retrofits of this kind. PM me your email addy and will send it over.
Click to expand...
can I also have the spreadsheet? a.mazreku@icloud.com
 
audifansam said:
No major modification. Need to update the coding after installation.
Alex was a tremendous help in this.
Click to expand...
Brother I’m going through the exact same problems inner brake light is running at night then gets bright when I press how do I code that light off as a running light leave it as brake and indicator
 
DJAlix said:
So many ways to complete this retrofit so hard to say. If you can visit me in London then I can assist.
Click to expand...
Maybe you still have the email with audifansam deep down your email I’m willing to pay for that spreadsheet brother I see you’ve helped many people. So you deserve the money for the help. Lmk
 
audifansam said:
Hi Everyone,
I just Upgraded stock Halogen Tail Lights to LED Tail Lights on my new A3 8VS.

The new lights look great and work like a charm.

There is a slight problem with the way the new LED Tail Lights operate.

The stock Halogen Tail Lights had a common bulb and a common wire for Headlights and Brake. The bulb would glow when the Headlights were switched ON (Parking, Low Beam, High Beam) and the same bulb would glow brighter when the Brakes were applied.

Now, I have the same thing happening to the LED Tail Lights. The Brake Light portion of the Tail Light turns ON when the Headlight is switched ON (Parking, Low Beam, High Beam) and when the Brakes are applied, it glows brighter.

Is it possible to fix this????

Looking forward to fix this with your help !!!
Sam
Click to expand...
Hey brother I have same a cat issue please help!!!
 
DJAlix said:
So many ways to complete this retrofit so hard to say. If you can visit me in London then I can assist.
Click to expand...
If it was a supplied and fitted is there a rough estimate it would cost to upgrade the old halogen to facelight LED tailights on a Audi A3 8V? Thanks.
 
GeneralA3 said:
If it was a supplied and fitted is there a rough estimate it would cost to upgrade the old halogen to facelight LED tailights on a Audi A3 8V? Thanks.
Click to expand...
I ask £200 to fit. no modules are used, I rewire the car as per factory.

supply and fit works out around £850 using new parts.
 
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DJAlix said:
I ask £200 to fit. no modules are used, I rewire the car as per factory.

supply and fit works out around £850 using new parts.
Click to expand...
Thanks good to know will be in touch. Sorry OP for hijacking thread but one last thing if I supply bi-xenon headlights what would the price be to fit those? Thanks
 
GeneralA3 said:
Thanks good to know will be in touch. Sorry OP for hijacking thread but one last thing if I supply bi-xenon headlights what would the price be to fit those? Thanks
Click to expand...
Am not in the position to be working on headlights at the moment, sorry
 
Mariussthlm said:
Fog light works with no any problem at all.

And it is 2 separate cables for tail light and brake light. When i start the car , tail light cable gets 12v and brake 5v. They are separated now, but i checked the halogen tail light and yes ,the outside halogen bulb is tail/brake. So when it is only tail light on -5V is on, when i press brake 12V is on and bulb was lightning brighter.I have not done any coding. It stays original now . I am going to try code it on monday an see if it will be posible for me to remove 5v and get 12v when brake is pressed .
I am from Sweden and here are not so very much retrofitter att all. Not for Audi :)
Thanks you guys.!
Click to expand...
Use obd 11 and change the lichtfunktion of the correct Leuchte just got mine coded up yesterday , my brake lights were running with tails - believe it’s la72 you’d have to change
 
Hey can anyone help men with coding, my brake lights stay on with driving lights and the fog lights are on also, some coding was done but it was not finished. Can my bcm be limited and that be the problem or the coding?
The fitter said that he cant find in vcds the adaptations. Every feature on the lights is working so i guess the wiring is good
 

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viktorSerbia said:
Hey can anyone help men with coding, my brake lights stay on with driving lights and the fog lights are on also, some coding was done but it was not finished. Can my bcm be limited and that be the problem or the coding?
The fitter said that he cant find in vcds the adaptations. Every feature on the lights is working so i guess the wiring is good
Click to expand...
Hi.. have you managed to get this fixed?
 
viktorSerbia said:
noo... not yet. A shop is asking 150 euros to fix it and i dont want to pay that much
Click to expand...
I have 2013 A3 8V. So.. I changed from Halogen Taillights to PreFL LED Taillights few days ago and had same issue as you, Brake light with Driving/Tail light, and Fog with Driving/Tail light. I used harness from AliExpress. That is because Halogen are set like that.
On Halogen, you have 3 Red lights/Bulbs in total.
1-Outer Tail becomes Brake with increase in brightness and
2- inner most Tail becomes Fog with fog switch On by increase of brightness.
3-One Driving/Tail bulb stays as that, so no change.
You need Vagcom to correct settings for each channel.
3-The channel that does not have Brake nor the Fog in it, can be the Tail/Driving in LED Taillight..
2-The channel with fog, need to remove Brake from that.
1-The channel with Brake, need to remove Tail/Driving from that.

And you mentioned some coding was done.. if you switched from Halogen to PFL LED Taillight, then this is the main coding. I had no bulb faults after change so I did not need to code apart from the issues you seem had as well, with Brake, Fog and Driving/Tail... I mean to say, it seems you have had no coding Done that needed to be done, but I don't know what precisely you changed to and what harness etc you used. So I could be wrong.
I believe FaceLift LED Taillight with Dynamic indicator has one extra wire that needs to be wired up to supply and does not need coding. The channels for indicators, I think need to be changed to LoadType as LED so they sync as they blink/swipe...


On mine, 3- TailLight only channel, I changed it to TailLight + Brake with increase in brightness, because I thought it will look good..

I can specify channel, if you did same change as me.
 
viktorSerbia said:
noo... not yet. A shop is asking 150 euros to fix it and i dont want to pay that much
Click to expand...
You should check first how the lights behave when you press Brake pedal and Turn fog lights On to see if it's same issue as I had, along with driving lights On.
 
m rol said:
First make adaptation log from cars current setup.

Write down all purpose of the lights.

You will find you need driving light left and right on 2 channels (parking lights with turnsignal lever) and there might be other.
Click to expand...
Hello dude, I heard you installed the virtual cockpit to the 2015 Audi a3. I have the same car and I have all the parts I need to install. However, nobody does the installation here in Canada but I have no experience in doing this job. I would really appreciate it if you could spare some time to answer some of my questions. Please reach me out at abduyildirim4@gmail.com
 
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