Birchall
Dick Chown Award 2016
Hi,
I have been trying to get as many LED bulbs as possible for the "project".
It has been a frustrating and expensive experience so far.
The interior bulbs are reasonably easy, the festoons are fine and the interior does look really good all lit up in th bluey white bright light!!!
The main problems are with the main bulbs (stop and tail, indicator etc.) is that the LED bulbs draw so little power (this is the main benefit) that the car thinks the bulb has blown.
I have DIS and so when I fit the main bulbs I get the "bulb out" warning.
Worse still the indicators flash rapidly because they depend on the wattage of the bulbs for the speed of the flash.
There is a solution and that is to fit resistors to "mimic" a real bulb by increasing the wattage required.
But this surely defeats the object? LED bulbs draw little current and light up instantly, adding a resistor reduces those benefits.
The other option for the indicators is to use a different type of flasher unit, one that flashes at a constant rate regardless of the current being drawn, but finding one of these for the A2 is a challenge.
There have been some interesting developments on LED headlamp bulbs, with H7 (A2 headlamps) available
I have ordered a set to see if they are any use, I am absolutely convinced they wont be good enough for the headlamps, but the H7 bulbs are also used in the fog lamps and so they won't be wasted.
I have been getting a huge amount of help from Trups at EMtuning with the LEDs and we are sorting out a full kit. Interior and exterior, but he also has a "special LED headlight conversion that is plug and play and this definitely works, the unit I am buying has been used on his own car for some time now!.
I did have a stroke of "eBay luck", I noticed a pair of Cree (the brightest and best LEDs) reversing bulbs in an auction that was about to close (had 2 hours left) and nobody had bid and the price started at 99p. So I bid and won them. 99p, post free BARGAIN!!!
I have fitted a set of these reversing lights in the wife's tdi 90 and they look good, very bright and a nice bluey white light. My wife's A2 doesn't have DIS so no need to worry about "bulb out" warnings.
I will let you know how this progresses when I get the full kit from EMtuning !!!
Steve B
I have been trying to get as many LED bulbs as possible for the "project".
It has been a frustrating and expensive experience so far.
The interior bulbs are reasonably easy, the festoons are fine and the interior does look really good all lit up in th bluey white bright light!!!
The main problems are with the main bulbs (stop and tail, indicator etc.) is that the LED bulbs draw so little power (this is the main benefit) that the car thinks the bulb has blown.
I have DIS and so when I fit the main bulbs I get the "bulb out" warning.
Worse still the indicators flash rapidly because they depend on the wattage of the bulbs for the speed of the flash.
There is a solution and that is to fit resistors to "mimic" a real bulb by increasing the wattage required.
But this surely defeats the object? LED bulbs draw little current and light up instantly, adding a resistor reduces those benefits.
The other option for the indicators is to use a different type of flasher unit, one that flashes at a constant rate regardless of the current being drawn, but finding one of these for the A2 is a challenge.
There have been some interesting developments on LED headlamp bulbs, with H7 (A2 headlamps) available
I have ordered a set to see if they are any use, I am absolutely convinced they wont be good enough for the headlamps, but the H7 bulbs are also used in the fog lamps and so they won't be wasted.
I have been getting a huge amount of help from Trups at EMtuning with the LEDs and we are sorting out a full kit. Interior and exterior, but he also has a "special LED headlight conversion that is plug and play and this definitely works, the unit I am buying has been used on his own car for some time now!.
I did have a stroke of "eBay luck", I noticed a pair of Cree (the brightest and best LEDs) reversing bulbs in an auction that was about to close (had 2 hours left) and nobody had bid and the price started at 99p. So I bid and won them. 99p, post free BARGAIN!!!
I have fitted a set of these reversing lights in the wife's tdi 90 and they look good, very bright and a nice bluey white light. My wife's A2 doesn't have DIS so no need to worry about "bulb out" warnings.
I will let you know how this progresses when I get the full kit from EMtuning !!!
Steve B
