Anyone tried LED brake lights or indicators?

[Bernoulli]

G'day all,

Looking at some Osram LED P21W and P21/5W LED replacements for my brake lights and rear indicators. Has anyone made a similiar change? Any issues? Hoping I can get anyway with a straight swap with no hyperflashing etc.

Thoughts welcome.

Cheers.

[Sirocco20348]

G'day all,

Looking at some Osram LED P21W and P21/5W LED replacements for my brake lights and rear indicators. Has anyone made a similiar change? Any issues? Hoping I can get anyway with a straight swap with no hyperflashing etc.

Thoughts welcome.

Cheers.

No experience with leds in taillights, but I wouldn't bother.

I tried to put some in my rear license plate, flashed all the time.

[Bernoulli]

No experience with leds in taillights, but I wouldn't bother.

I tried to put some in my rear license plate, flashed all the time.

I've been running Osram LEDs in my licence plate lights for a while now, no issues there. Brake lights and indicators are a different kettle of fish, as far as I know.

[Lucas_R]

No experience with leds in taillights, but I wouldn't bother.

I tried to put some in my rear license plate, flashed all the time.

Thats because your not using the right ones.

[Sirocco20348]

Thats because your not using the right ones.

Wow thank you for this insightful post.

Which one's work?
How much are the ones that work?
What's the benefit over the standard bulb which also works?

[Lucas_R]

Wow thank you for this insightful post.

Which one's work?
How much are the ones that work?
What's the benefit over the standard bulb which also works?

Thank you for the sarcastic remark. I was just pointing out the truth. I figured that if you were interested to know more that you would ask.

Cheap ebay bulbs are exactly that - cheap junk. If your number plate lights use a T10 wedge bulb then you need a canbus compatible bulb from somewhere like Bold Sport. I've used the Bold Sport LED's in both a Mk5 and 2x Mk6 Golf's and they are good. They are around $20-25 for a pair so not cheap, but they work and the colour output is a nice crisp white - not that horrible bluish colour the cheap bulbs give out.

I've had less success with their range of Osram LED indicator bulbs so (with 2x of them failing in about 6 months which is not acceptable given their price) so i would not use aftermarket LED's for brake/indicator bulbs again. But for parker lights/reverse lights/numberplate lights the Bold Sport ones have been good.

The other option for number plate lights which i now use in my Mk6 Golf are the JOM number plate lights. These are a complete new housing with 3x LED chips and have worked flawlessly for about 2 years. These were around $100 though, so not a cheap investment. Some good pics here which are mine: http://www.vwwatercooled.com/forums/...-59337-30.html

[Sirocco20348]

Thank you for the sarcastic remark. I was just pointing out the truth.

Haha sorry, your follow up post is excellent. Thanks for the information.

[Bernoulli]

Hey all.

Update: the LEDs arrived, there is good and bad news.

Good:

- no dramas working as brake lights, despite the cooler lights there is still a deep red emission of light. I do love the instant on/off, which is why I wanted them in the first place.

Bad:

- hyper-flashing when used as indicators. I know I can install a canbus unit which I'll do some reading on, but imagine this will surpass my limited ability. May get an auto electrician to do it.

- with the electrics on, and LEDs used as brake lights, they constantly run on however with very low light output. Haven't tested outside but imagine only sometimes noticeable during the day, and not really an issue at night given the rear fogs run on at night with headlights anyway. Unsure how much this bothers me, kills the effect a little bit I suppose.

Keen to hear others thoughts and experiences.

[adey88]

After a bit of trial and error I managed to get some led indicators working on my mk5 gti. I've done the full circle brake mod and noticed it's a little bit hard to see the small rear indicator when viewing from a distance- the led is much brighter and overcomes that issue.

I purchased the LED from supernovaleds.com which were advertised as canbus and error free- unfortunately they weren't but the guys were nice enough to send me another pair plus a reverse light to keep me happy... anyway to get them working I used a Philips canbus warning canceller.

Links:

Golf Mk5 LED Turn Signal ‘Remnant Series’ (Pair) (Rear all MK5, Front and Rear Xenon) – Supernova LEDs

warning canceller LED car lamp 18957X2 | Philips

As mentioned by another user, the cheap eBay bulbs don't always last very long and are hard to find a clean white.... I've pretty much replaced every globe in my car and should have just forked out on quality bulbs from the start....boldsport is another quality seller.