Facelift lights rear

[MA3TDIQ]

Hi,

I did the rear facelift light upgrade 4 years ago and was very pleased it was all working well-made the car appear much newer.

Recently started getting bulb blown on DIS and noticed the inner part of the led light strip had stopped working on both sides.

Strangely, when I switch the lights on they come on for about 5 seconds and then go off again - see video.



I don’t think it’s a bulb issue as it’s happening on both sides at the same time!

anyone know what it could be? I have VCDS if I need to change any coding.

thanks!

 

[NHN]

If you fed the inners of the plate light, I'd check this connection.

When fitting these I always wire inners to outers as per factory.

 

[MA3TDIQ]

Just did a scan on the car- got a fault code with electrical circuit of the number plate-neither of them are working. Tried to change the bulb but made no difference.

I had installed a reverse camera (cheap Chinese cam from eBay) in one of the number plate light positions. The little LED next to the camera started to fail. Perhaps that is the cause of the issue? Strangely my reverse cam itself still works which baffles me a bit..

 

[MA3TDIQ]

If you fed the inners of the plate light, I'd check this connection.

When fitting these I always wire inners to outers as per factory.

yeah I had taken these of the plate lights I think. How did you wire them to outer?

 

[henkkeumus]

Just did a scan on the car- got a fault code with electrical circuit of the number plate-neither of them are working. Tried to change the bulb but made no difference.

I had installed a reverse camera (cheap Chinese cam from eBay) in one of the number plate light positions. The little LED next to the camera started to fail. Perhaps that is the cause of the issue? Strangely my reverse cam itself still works which baffles me a bit..

So you got a reverse camera, numberplate lights AND your foglights LED hooked up to 1 12V wire?
I think you pull too much power from there. Try disconnecting the cam and see if the lights stay on.

 

[MA3TDIQ]

No-reverse cam is powered from a separate feed which I took from the front of the car. It’s the inner lights only that are powered from the number plate lights. What I also find kinda strange is that my reverse lights are still working. They are also on the inner section of the lights

 

[MA3TDIQ]

Fog lights are also working fine

 

[NHN]

You didn't even bother to mention the camera install.

Remove this & recheck, clearly related.

 

[MA3TDIQ]

Managed to get this sorted now-issue was with the bulb in the Chinese camera had blown causing an short circuit in my number plate stopping the inner lights from working properly. Removed the camera for now and installed my old bulbs and all working ok.

I’m looking to upgrade these bulbs to LED as the halogen give very poor lights. Anyone know any good places to buy those?

Also, I will be looking to replace my camera with one that fits in the centre handle bit of the boot trim-anyone know where I can get one? Ideally one that I can connect to my existing wiring.

thanks for all your help guys!

 

[samisnake]

Also, I will be looking to replace my camera with one that fits in the centre handle bit of the boot trim-anyone know where I can get one? Ideally one that I can connect to my existing wiring.

all over aliexpress
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/328...earchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

 

[MA3TDIQ]

all over aliexpress
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/328...earchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

Would you perhaps know when buying these aftermarket cameras if the boot would still work properly?

 

[samisnake]

thats a vid of mine in action. boot still functions fine as that handle (original and camera one) simply pushes on a microswitch which is in the long black bar that houses the number plate lights. you could remove the handle and push on that microswitch with your finger to open it if you wanted to, so the handle doesnt actually change anything about how the boot operates.

what i would say is, having fitted two of them now, on my 11 plate and also a 06/56 plate is that the fitment of the handle might need some finessing. in that on the 11 plate the screw locations on the camera handle matched fine, but on the 56 plate i had to drill a hole in the handle for one of the screws.
also the striker on the handle that contacts the microswitch needed packing out to contact the switch properly. think we used a piece of plastic glued to the striker.

mines been on for 2 years now, no issues.

the wiring is exactly the same for both, so you wont have to rewire

 

[MA3TDIQ]

thats a vid of mine in action. boot still functions fine as that handle (original and camera one) simply pushes on a microswitch which is in the long black bar that houses the number plate lights. you could remove the handle and push on that microswitch with your finger to open it if you wanted to, so the handle doesnt actually change anything about how the boot operates.

what i would say is, having fitted two of them now, on my 11 plate and also a 06/56 plate is that the fitment of the handle might need some finessing. in that on the 11 plate the screw locations on the camera handle matched fine, but on the 56 plate i had to drill a hole in the handle for one of the screws.
also the striker on the handle that contacts the microswitch needed packing out to contact the switch properly. think we used a piece of plastic glued to the striker.

mines been on for 2 years now, no issues.

the wiring is exactly the same for both, so you wont have to rewire

That looks very cool. I am tempted to get the front facing camera too. What double navigation unit do you have - it looks quite cool with car play etc?
I still have RNSE which is good but it doesn't support CarPlay..

Where did you get the power for the front camera? and i didn't understand that microswitch?

 

[samisnake]

dont worry about the microswitch, was just mentioning it to explain how irrelevent the handle is to the opening/closing of the boot. the handle is essentially a big rubber and plastic button that hits a little button. kinda like how the rubber buttons on your keyfob are pushing on a switch. you can change the rubber button, but the switch remains the same.

headunit is an android double din. that ones from xtrons but theyre sold by a bunch of different companies. yeah ive got carplay on it using a carplay dongle. i dont use it personally, i hotspot my phone and use the apps on the unit itself (waze and deezer/spotify mainly) but i added carplay for the 2nd driver of the car. if you just want carplay, id say get a carplay unit from a brand like pioneer/kenwood/sony.

front and rear camera are connected to an auto switcher. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32601567723.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dr5HLe2

the auto switcher is connected to the headunit wiring harness, and then provides the power to the front camera. rear camera is powered at the rear.

bumper off, then camera is wired behind the bumper, across the slam panel (hidden behind bumper), inside of the pass wing, into the car via a grommet under the scuttle panel. i used a 4 pin extension into the car, so that the video/power/ground were on the inside of the car
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32981981562.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dr5HLe2


the cameras are cheap. i got the gloss version to match the grill, but the matt version is about half the price, if it matches yours
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Fron...370152?hash=item420072e0a8:g:JGQAAOSwh8tcz-X9
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/330...earchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_


when going into reverse, reverse camera comes on. come out of reverse, front camera comes on for 8secs then turns off. front camera can also be turned on manually using the switch (wouldnt bother installing it tbh, never use it). comes in handy when lining up in a parking bay, or looking to see how close you are to a kerb. slightly pointless, but its cheap and an extra feature