Halogen Taillights to LED

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bsingh123

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Has anyone done a halogen to led taillight upgrade? If so, was any coding or custom wiring looms required?
 
The electrical challenge with a move from old style filament based bulbs to LED equivalents is that the LED versions probably won't have enough electrical resistance so the car will sense a blown bulb and pop a warning on the dash display. The solution used to be to buy LED bulbs with built in resistors that mimic the old style bulb's resistance.

I'm new to B9s though - did any of them have old style bulbs or was it all LED from day 1?
 
cosmicblue said:
The electrical challenge with a move from old style filament based bulbs to LED equivalents is that the LED versions probably won't have enough electrical resistance so the car will sense a blown bulb and pop a warning on the dash display. The solution used to be to buy LED bulbs with built in resistors that mimic the old style bulb's resistance.

I'm new to B9s though - did any of them have old style bulbs or was it all LED from day 1?
Click to expand...
Apologies I should have stated this... I mean replacing the whole clusters with LEDs clusters off an S Line model
 
No coding needed if you just change the bulbs. Just make sure they are canbus safe with resistors built in. This is where you get what you pay for. I was happy enough with the rear lights except for the reverse lights. Now I’ve got led bulbs for my reverse lights, it’s like having lights at the rear to see where you are going. When installing change them round if they don’t work the first time. As the polarity only works one way. Ie Check them before putting them back in.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/282336362570
 
WesT-gefül said:
No coding needed if you just change the bulbs. Just make sure they are canbus safe with resistors built in. This is where you get what you pay for. I was happy enough with the rear lights except for the reverse lights. Now I’ve got led bulbs for my reverse lights, it’s like having lights at the rear to see where you are going. When installing change them round if they don’t work the first time. As the polarity only works one way. Ie Check them before putting them back in.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/282336362570
Click to expand...

The reversing light is probably the worse thing about the A4. In fact if it weren't for the fact that you need to keep your foot on the brake (at least creating a red glow), it'd be like reversing with almost no light at all. Even worse if it's raining. Given that I have to street park, I'm just glad it's a wide one-way street because if I had to get really close to the kerb, the wheels would've been marked by now......a lot!

So, how much brighter do you think these are @WesT-gefül ? Easy to change on the saloon?
 
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Paul Golding said:
So, how much brighter do you think these are @WesT-gefül ? Easy to change on the saloon?
Click to expand...

They are very bright. Trust me. Huge difference. Exactly why I did the upgrade on mine. They gave me reversing lights for visibility. It’s pretty straight forward. Getting the plastic clip off is the trickiest part. Look in your manual. That’s how I changed mine. As I said you’ll need to check the lights before put the bulbs back in the casing. LED’s only work one way.
 
Thanks for that. Just went to order and got this come up though 'This item doesn't fit Audi A4 2017 8W2, B9 [2015-2018] Saloon 2.0 TFSI 1984ccm 190HP 140KW (Petrol).'
 
Just remember to check the lights before you put them back in it’s casing. As the polarity only works one way. You’ll also need another person to confirm it Because you’ll have put it in reverse to check.
 
audi upgrades
I’ve done this myself. But I’ve only replaced the reverse bulbs on my saloon using the bulbs I linked further up. Not to be confused with the whole led cluster seen on other models.
 
Start your car when you can. Take a picture of the rear. Turn on your hazards and I’ll be able to tell. Post it here. If your indicators cascade you have led clusters.
 
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I think so because he quoted 2017 in relation to the eBay link when you look further up the thread. That video link he provided was b8 which threw me also.
 
WesT-gefül said:
I think so because he quoted 2017 in relation to the eBay link when you look further up the thread. That video link he provided was b8 which threw me also.
Click to expand...
That's an ooops on the video link, sorry. Couldn't figure out how to attach a video, so here's a series of pics if that helps.

IMG 2639
IMG 2640
IMG 2641
IMG 2642
IMG 2643
 
You’ve got the LED. Cluster. Also having privacy glass makes it difficult to see even with led lights. Next go into your car manual and see under the black edition what is the bulb replacement. W16W, T15 or not? @Darren92 can you confirm. Led replacement bulb type on a 2017 BE.

I’ll post a picture up of mine to show how bright they are later this evening
 
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Don't expect much of a improvement, I still have to use my brake lights to see when reversing under certain conditions...
 
Anyone on here willing to DM me their reg or vin (must have rear led clusters). I want to ask Darren92 to check what the bulb type is for those of you who have LED clusters as standard for the reverse lights. Thanks. It’s been bothering me all weekend to figure this out.
 
Confirmed. You can’t change the bulbs if you already have the led clusters as they are soldered to the PCB board. As per the topic it has to from halogen clusters (changing the bulbs from within halogen clusters to aftermarket led) This only relates to the bulbs on the point I was talking about earlier.

IMG 3397
 
Here are my reverse bulbs changed. I must stress this is only the reverse bulbs and I have the halogen clusters. As you can see they create a considerable amount of light from the led bulbs I linked further up. All the light you see is only coming from my reverse bulbs. The last two photos show you how far the light casts on the back wall and on the car. Also to the side. Notice the light intensity on the front doors of these houses.

3e7d4acf264b63cbc0651b0a5016eba8.jpg

e4ce09c44f92f0fb157a17bc982a2f18.jpg

ec62caa9832ef6b18ce01e449526dc21.jpg
 
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What a difference! Thanks for saving me from taking the cluster apart and scratching my head.

In case anyone seeing this has the older halogen clusters and wants some brighter reversing bulbs, I now have a pair (from the ebay link above) that you can have with my compliments :tearsofjoy:
 
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That’s very generous of you. Sorry about the situation as I thought you had the halogen clusters as per the title. What’s crazy to think is that if one of those bulbs fail on the led clusters you have to replace the whole PCB board. Although leds do last for many years.
 
Thanks guys, this is another 'mod' added to the list! :sob:
 
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Here is the list of bulbs for those with halogen clusters. Those of you with Avant can make a very cheap LED upgrade with W16W led bulbs. Below.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/282336362570

Note the saloon and Avant have different setups. Always look for canbus safe and check with the seller. You get what you pay for here when it comes to led replacements.

Here is a link for the turn signal bulbs PY21w upgrade. These will be next on my list. https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/253852747592

IMG 3408
 
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