[aku-aku]

At long last, the replacement combined DRL/indicator has arrived - see this post for what they are.

One thing I'm considering in order to make the setup a little more road-legal is to figure out if there's an unused contact on the headlamp connector that I could use, so that I could wire them to the xenon shutter contacts (unused on a car with halogen headlamps, of course) and get correct DRL behaviour - the EU rule says that DRLs should go off when headlamps go on; they're currently run off the parking light circuit so that doesn't happen. The xenon shutter feed also has the benefit of not having bulb monitoring, thus making it an ideal candidate for LED lighting

My quest for reasonably-priced LED replacements for the fog lamps and the full beam goes on - I have been trying and returning several more kinds, all of which claimed they were error free and all of which resulted in bulb out errors - except one set of H7 LEDs, which had no bulb out warning but which were a little too big for the housing, touching the back of the cover when installed. The fog lamps will be harder to solve as they should be fanless - it's not so bad having a fan inside the lamp housing, but in the dirt of the engine bay I suspect it would be prone to early failure.

This is the LED that had no bulb out warning, but which sits too close to the back of the main beam housing. The beam pattern on this is much more focused than the halogen - it has a very bright spot in the middle of the beam and virtually nothing else. The standard halogen bulb spreads the light much further. I'm now trying some other LEDs from the same manufacturer that should be a full centimetre shorter behind the fitting, and hence should fit without any issue - but finding LEDs that have a suitable beam pattern when installed in reflector lamps, fit in the housing and don't cause errors seems to be something of a tall order.

 

[voxmagna]

Turning off the cold bulb monitoring with diagnostics solves half the problems of bulb failure warning (key on check). Simulating the load with a fixed resistor can work, when the lamp is running but it's not a neat solution. If the hot and cold bulb monitoring are similar they are sampling the lamp running current every 300-400 milliseconds. I've got some ideas but no practical solution yet to syncing a load, concurrent with the sample time, but I haven't given up.

 

[cb391]

Do you have any photos of the LED bulb and its fitment issue in the projector housing. I haven't had any fitment issue in the high beam housing with the LED bulbs, only the projector housing.

 

[aku-aku]

I don't have a picture of the Infitary bulb. It was in the high beam that it didn't fit.

Pictures of my Narva LEDs in the projectors are here - the third picture along is the LED in the projector housing; to help you orient the picture correctly, the orange connector is the indicator.

 

[aku-aku]

For those of you who want combined indicator/DRLs that are actually DRLs, here's what I found out about how to run the DRLs over the xenon shutter connection without making any holes in your headlamps or modifying any existing wiring. (DRLs are only DRLs if they are only on at daytime, not at night, and not when low beam headlamps are on - at least in the European Union. And when it's raining, you must have low beam on and not DRL.) This information may also be useful to those who want to retrofit DRLs outside the headlamps but want them to behave correctly.

Note that DRL over xenon shutter is only available on certain versions of the central electrics control module (CECM) and early versions of the Eos will likely need an upgrade. This information only applies to early versions of the Eos with mk5 electrics with halogen headlamps. If you have the later electrics with a single body control module (BCM) you will probably have more and better options for installing DRLs.

Having investigated, pin 4 on the halogen headlamps is currently unused. It should be possible to wire a connector to pin 4 on each headlamp from the xenon shutter contacts on the CECM. The left side is pin 6 on connector D (confusingly labelled T11c on wiring diagrams) and the right side is pin 5 on connector A (confusingly labelled T11b on wiring diagrams). The pins on the CECM are 1.5mm Micro Timer contacts a 1.5mm version of MCP contacts and the pins on the headlamps are 2.5mm JPT contacts. For the headlamps you will need both male and female connectors; for the CECM plug female connectors only.

It is possible to get to the headlamp socket without removing the headlamp - the socket can be pulled out, and is held in place by tabs on the top and bottom. I inadvertently removed mine by levering the plug when trying to remove it - it may be easier to push through from the inside of the headlamp. The headlamp socket has a purple secondary lock for the connectors which needs to be slid across in order to add the pin. The plug also has a secondary lock on it, and it has a rubber bung where the wire for vacant pin 4 should be inserted. This can be pushed out from the pin side with a fine screwdriver.

 

[aku-aku]

I now have an LED solution for the high beam housing. These cost under US$10 for the pair, and they fit nicely in the high beam housing without touching the plastic edge and don't throw any bulb out warnings. I tested them on a hot day, and they got quite hot quite quickly and the fans were audible from inside the car. Since this is for high beam, though, I think these will be OK: you only need high beam at night, and I don't do the kind of driving where high beam is required for extended periods. We'll see how long they last, but given they won't be used that much I think they should be good for my use.

The light source is bigger than the same-size-as-the-halogen LEDs that the expensive Narva LEDs I have in the low beam have, and that probably leads to the beam pattern being different (larger) than the halogen bulbs. I believe the same manufacturer has a slightly more expensive version with the smaller light source that should be good for low or high beam and have a beam pattern close to the original. Overall they're a very cheap upgrade and I'm looking forward to trying them out in earnest. Just the fogs to go (and fixing the DRLs so they work properly) before the upgrade is complete.

 

[aku-aku]

As for the fog lamps - given my success with the Infitary LEDs above, I decided to get the HB4 version of the ones above that wouldn't fit in the main beam housing. It's a tough job to find fanless HB4 LEDs, and since Infitary have mastered the art of convincing the CECM that their LEDs are working bulbs, under $10 got them the same colour as the rest of the lights. Honestly that was the most annoying one, as the cornering lights were a different colour to everything else, and now they match.

Fortunately, the updated CECM I installed uses PWM to fade the fog lights when switching cornering lights off, so they dim correctly.

 

[MexicoMatt]

Hi All, not sure if this is the correct place to post, as I see there are a lot of threads about LED Headlight/fog lights conversion. I will try to be brief, I have 'converted' all my front-end bulbs to LED and as happy as I am with them, I am getting the same problems everyone is.
TL;DR; (skip the next paragraph, unless you are interested which ones I have)
For the Low / High Beams, I am using Fanless H7 with 'CANBUS Decoders' from Lightec. (NEW! CANBUS H7 SUPER SLIM LED CONVERSION CAR HEADLIGHT BULBS KIT XENON WHITE V10 | eBay ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649) which due to their size fit perfectly (I previously tried some Koomtoom's with fans, but they got very hot and were touching the plastic enclosure (in the projectors) I was worried they would melt it). They came with 'decoders' (to not give errors) but they don't work, well not completely, no error on startup but while driving errors coming and going every few minutes. For the High Beams, even though you could cram in the cables and the decoders into the enclosure, I bought some LED dust covers on amazon, the ones with a hole in and are expandable in order to keep the end of the LED and the decoder etc 'outside of the enclosure, currently, I have the decoder zip-tied and tucked in the side of the headlight. I have tested them after about a 20 min drive and they don't appear to get THAT hot.
For the DRLS I have put in some 2825 LEDs, not sure which ones as I got some on eBay and had issues so the seller sent me some different ones, I will see if I can find the link, but they have LEDs facing all directions.
For the FOG Lights I got some HB4s also from Lightec (2x HB4 9006 HIGH POWER CANBUS 72W 16000LM LED CAR HEADLIGHT FOG LIGHT BULBS KIT | eBay), again claiming to be CANBUS error-free (no decoder) but yesterday I did get one error and then it went away. Although after reading this I am noticing people saying the fogs should be FANLESS, and these are not so not sure if that is going to be an issue later.

The seller has suggested some other H7s, that he is claiming to be 100% Error-free on my EOS, but they are more money, and not sure if they would fit anyway.

Basically after all that - sorry again - I am figuring that it would be easier to 'disable' the 'checks' (I am understanding there are two, one on startup and one during use) on the relevant lights, I have read in various places that this is possible (indirectly) using VCDS or OBDEleven, of which I have neither (nor do I know anyone that does). I currently have a friend's Bluetooth OBD11 dongle (not made by OBDEleven, it's a generic one I think), a compatible tablet and a fully functional trial version of Carista, (which I have used to make the alarm chirp when locking doors), but not sure it can be done with that. Is there any app out there I can get that would work with the dongle/tablet I have or do I have no option other than sourcing VCDS or OBDEleven? Anyone in HANTS, UK with one that can help me out?
Cheers, and thanks for reading.

 

[aku-aku]

I ended up getting some HB4 bulbs with fans because I got tired of trying fanless ones and finding they don't work. The reason I wanted to go for fanless is because they're in the open engine bay rather than behind covers that protect them from dust and water, and fanless bulbs should be more reliable. The ones I got were under $10 so cheap enough not to care, though.

The projector setup I have (Narva LEDs with Philips decoders) cost about £70 in total - I think it's worth paying for a decent brand for your low beams, as those just have to work. For the high beams I have some Infitary bulbs with fans, as I figure that high beam doesn't get that much use. And for those I have been through so many different bulbs, ordering and returning until I got some that both work and fit properly.

Regarding avoiding bulb out warnings, you can only disable the "cold" diagnosis on startup. If Carista has the option to do long coding, you can use it. If not, you'd need OBDeleven. If you're into this kind of tweak, OBDeleven is well worth the investment. The names can be confusing - only an official OBDeleven dongle (with the upside-down car logo on it) will work with the OBDeleven app.

 

[MexicoMatt]

Regarding avoiding bulb out warnings, you can only disable the "cold" diagnosis on startup.

Thanks @aku-aku, appreciate the feedback. The bulbs I have seem to be working fine so far (it has only been a couple of days) apart from the error messages. Regarding that, I don't actually get any errors now on startup, guessing the decoders are taking care of that, I am only getting errors while in use, so you are saying those errors can't be switched off, even with OBDEleven / long-coding? I thought (might be mistaken) I read somewhere something along the lines of you can't actually 'disable' the warnings, but you can stop them being registered by removing a memory location?

All very complicated. lol, but the lights do look sooo much better!
Cheers, have a good week-end!

 

[aku-aku]

I believe it might be possible to get rid of the warnings if your car is based on the mk6 electronics (white display in the dash), which requires a PC with software to manipulate the firmware on the body control module. The mk6 electronics also have options LEDs in certain positions like DRLs (on a separate circuit to parking lights). On the mk5 electronics (red display) the only thing you can do is add something to the circuit to fool the electronics. Dumber "decoders" are just resistors; the Philips ones I have are, I think, a little smarter than that, as they don't get that hot and are suitable for mounting inside the headlamp housing.

 

[voxmagna]

As aku says, cold start lamp out warnings for ALL lamps is easily disabled but hot failure where each lamp current is monitored is rather different. There's a YouTube vid explaining how a Skoda (cheap V.W!) was modified using the V.W VAS workshop tool with various screenshots showing a list of lamps that could be selectively removed from hot lamp checks. There was a supplementary script file required for the actions to be applied. I looked with my VAS but couldn't even find the same screens as were posted and went no further, but perhaps the Skoda VID needs a bit more investigation? Or the controllers in the EOS don't fit the Skoda template and options for selectively disabling the lamp test are not available?

 

[MexicoMatt]

Thanks again for your replies. My EOS has the red MFD, so I guess mk5.

Carista appears to only be able to clear errors, not actually disable. But apparently that option is in Beta. The seller is sending me some “better” decoders to try, as the other LEDs he recommended are too bi (although they would probably fit in the High Beams).
I get confused with VCDS, VAS, VAG, OBDEleven, OBD2 lol. I was thinking of ordering OBDEleven from Amazon and see if that works, as returns with Amazon are easy enough. But would need to find out if/how to do the mod with it first.
Have a good weekend all!

 

[voxmagna]

VCDS (VAGCOM) doesn't offer recoding options for disabling hot lamps and if a special script was required with V.W VAS to do this on a Skoda, I doubt any of the others will do it? There seems more to it than just plugging in a diagnostics tool and searching for an option to selectively disable the lamp warning. My impression of the Skoda hack was somebody had really gotten inside the VAS tool software to understand what it was doing and then write a custom script for it?

 

[2phast]

I have retrofitted HID's into my OEM halogen housings. Specifically purchased a HID kit that eliminates any type of bulb out situation. There are no DTC's either.

No flicker or any other issues to report.

 

[Oz Dude]

2phast - what's the brand name / part #?

Oz

 

[2phast]

2phast - what's the brand name / part #?

Oz

DDM Tuning Canbus 35 watt, 5500k & adapters

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0141QVA84/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071DZMGTT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Oz Dude]

I found these units locally - going to check them out:

NARVA H7 Projector Surefit L.E.D Globes- 18427P - Premium Car Care

Narva’s brand new Surefit L.E.D Globes are compactly designed to suit almost any vehicle. The Surefit L.E.D Globes come in a pair, offering a precise 5700°K crisp white light output at 4,000 Lumens. Surefit Globes offer superior range and colour to any standard halogen globe.

www.premiumcarcare.com.au

NARVA H7 Surefit L.E.D Globes - 18427 - Premium Car Care

Narva’s brand new Surefit L.E.D Globes are compactly designed to suit almost any vehicle. The Surefit L.E.D Globes come in a pair, offering a precise 5700°K crisp white light output at 4,000 Lumens.

www.premiumcarcare.com.au

Oz

 

[silvershadow]

One question - is there enough space behind the Eos headlamp bulb holder for the fan appendage?

Otherwise some cutting of the body structure will probably be required to use the bulbs.

 

[2phast]

One question - is there enough space behind the Eos headlamp bulb holder for the fan appendage?

Otherwise some cutting of the body structure will probably be required to use the bulbs.

On my 08, there is not. I measured and compared the space to the depth required for LED's before I ended up going with the HID conversion. If in my situation I did elect to go the LED route, the door into the headlight would of needed extensive cutting for clearance and thus, the headlights would not of been water tight.