LED bulbs - would this work?

wilco184 said:
Excellent news, Chris! :)

Can I please ask, out of interest, have you tried your modified relay with one or both of the original filament bulbs in place? If so, did it work correctly? I only ask because it's the only thing I can think of that may cause the extremely fast switching of the relay that I experienced when using the 0.33 Ohm shunt. In effect, I'm not sure if too high a voltage on the activation pin would cause some sort of fault condition.

Many thanks,

Matt.
Click to expand...

If you leave an original bulb in, the relay oscillates badly on switching. So yes, there is potentially too much voltage on the activation pin. It's LED or nothing with a .33 shunt. Out of curiosity, I disconnected the 2 220r resistors on the connector and it made no difference. My supposition is that the remaining side repeater takes enough current to start the flasher (on pin 9 iirc).

I'm coming to the conclusion that although this works for me, and it may work for others, the real solution is to tailor the shunt resistance based on the bulbs being used.

Chris
 
I'm not going to take credit for this TBH. All I did was follow the instructions of the guy on the A6 site. And initially the idea for modding the relay came from a site I found back in 2004/2005 of a a guy called Foxy.

If you are up for being a guinea pig Steve, I'll pull the trigger on the £25 relay on eBay, mod it in the same way and send it you. No guarantees though. I'll obviously test it here first.

Chris
 
KekseKaempfer said:
If you leave an original bulb in, the relay oscillates badly on switching. So yes, there is potentially too much voltage on the activation pin. It's LED or nothing with a .33 shunt. Out of curiosity, I disconnected the 2 220r resistors on the connector and it made no difference. My supposition is that the remaining side repeater takes enough current to start the flasher (on pin 9 iirc).

I'm coming to the conclusion that although this works for me, and it may work for others, the real solution is to tailor the shunt resistance based on the bulbs being used.

Chris
Click to expand...

Ah I understand, that makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up.

Will you be changing the side repeater bulbs too? I see that they're available on eBay, and not too expensive by the looks of things.

I'm looking forward to seeing your setup at ADI. :)

Matt.
 
KekseKaempfer said:
I'm not going to take credit for this TBH. All I did was follow the instructions of the guy on the A6 site. And initially the idea for modding the relay came from a site I found back in 2004/2005 of a a guy called Foxy.

If you are up for being a guinea pig Steve, I'll pull the trigger on the £25 relay on eBay, mod it in the same way and send it you. No guarantees though. I'll obviously test it here first.

Chris
Click to expand...

Hi Chris,

You can take the credit for doing something that I wouldn't have a clue about.
I am fine with electrical circuits, but electronics is a "black box" to me (literally in this case!!

I am happy to be a guinea pig. I am a realist and so there is no way I would expect any guarantees.

Just let me know if I need to get filament or LED bulbs for the repeaters and I will make sure I use the right ones (whichever it is I don't mind). I think I have chromed filament bulbs in the repeaters at the moment, but I have changed them so often that I forget what I finished up with!!!

Steve B
 
Steve.

I've done the second relay i bought, which happened to be the same as mine so I've modded it in the same way with a bit more care. I actually removed the shunt and soldered the new resistor in place so it can be returned to how it used to be. Tested it. Works for me. PM me your address. I'll post it off, see how you get on.

If you stick to filament repeaters for the moment, that's what I have. But you need to make sure that both indicators are LED otherwise the relay will probably resonate as you activate the indicator stalk. Not quite worked out why that is.

Chris
 
Hi Chris

looking forward to finally getting these LEDs in the indicators. The bulbs were not cheap and so I am glad Ivan now use them


Thank you so much.
Steve B
 
These are the bulbs I will be using, They do look very well made and I like the way that they look like traditional bulbs.

Bulb.jpg

Steve B
 
Tried to post today. Went into the local shop/post office and they wouldn't take the packet. So I asked to buy some first class stamps and they wouldn't sell them to me ???? "Bank holiday so the PO is closed" try again tomorrow.

Chris
 
KekseKaempfer said:
Posted Steve.
Click to expand...
Hi Chris
thank you.

I have been planning to take my RNSE out and my climate panel anyway.
So I can kill three birds with one stone.

I am also swapping the headlamps again (still tinkering with the DRLs and Bi-Xenons)

So this is good timing.

Cheers
steve B
 
Hi,

The flasher unit arrived and is now in the car along with the LED Indicator bulbs.

Thanks to Chris for sending this!!!

It works perfectly.
I had forgotten just how well hidden the flasher unit is on the double DIN dash!!!!

It is in a different location on the Double DIN and is even harder to get out.
RNSE out, Climate out, Ashtray out and even though undoing the two screws that hold the flasher unit in place, the electrical connecter just didn't want to budge!!!

But I am very happy now that those expensive (not THAT expensive but you know what I mean?) LED bulbs are now in the car instead of in the top drawer!!!

You can tell that the indicator bulbs are LED because of their "instant" light up. But other than that I didn't see a huge advantage until it dawned on me about the hazards. How many cars do you see at night pulled over with the hazards on and barely flashing because they have run the battery down. Now, with the tiny drain of the LEDs the hazards will probably last all night before they drain the battery!!!!

But I guess that the real reason for fitting them is because I like gadgets and new ideas and so I want to use LED bulbs throughout the car.

Now I need to find a way to use the Stop / tail LEDs I have sitting in the drawer. But I see no other solution apart from fitting resistors and that takes away the main advantage of the LEDs (low battery drain). Not only that but wiring them in would be messy and I don't like messy wiring (that is why I am a huge fan of Timmus' work!!!.

Steve B
 
KekseKaempfer said:
Need a video for this :)

As for your dis and rear bulbs. Did you see this link I posted on a different thread...

http://audisrs.com/archive/how-to-guide...-led-mod-bulb-warning-system__o_t__t_17760.html
Click to expand...

Yes, but I am assuming that this just stops the "bulb out" warning. The problem is with the stop lights, if they are LED the ABS thinks there is a problem and the error icons light up like a Christmas tree on the dash (as they do when the stop light switch fails)

Steve B
 
Birchall said:
Yes, but I am assuming that this just stops the "bulb out" warning. The problem is with the stop lights, if they are LED the ABS thinks there is a problem and the error icons light up like a Christmas tree on the dash (as they do when the stop light switch fails)

Steve B
Click to expand...

Ahh right. I see. So if I remove one of my bulbs I.m likely to get a warning? No DIS. I didn't know that.

Chris
 
With no DIS and therefore with no "Bulb out" warnings, when BOTH stop bulbs go you get several error Icons illuminated.
With just one stop bulb out you get no warnings (in a non-DIS car)

Steve B
 
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