Error Free Number Plate LED Lighting - The CHEAP and easy way!

[kamold]

Yeah took the housing out and soldered the resistors onto the bulb holder above the led globes in a sort of bridge arrangement.

[Qwertypants]

I bought some white led's from jaycar and they looked like sh&t. The tuner dome ones are hyper white like xenon's and dont throw any codes. $29 isnt that dear for a plu'n'play led that looks good. imo

Where can you get them for 29$? If you could provide a link that'd be sweet. And do they come in different colours?
yes Jaycar globes are crap, but Autobarn has verrrrry bright ones.

And either way, It's good to know how to do this...esp if your awesome globe dies on you and you have to wait for more to ship...takes a couple of mins so I don't see why not

---------- Post added at 06:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:14 PM ----------

Are these the ones in a white box? I got some 5W onces from Jaycar and they were so big they wouldn't fit in the cavity...

You need to get the correct size. Anywhere between 36-39mm will fit. Or maybe you mean width wise...
Take the bulb holder into the shop, and check before you buy. I did that just in case.

---------- Post added at 06:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:18 PM ----------

So you took the whole lamp housing out?

I thought of something where you could wire it lower to get some airflow over it.

You won't be getting any airflow up there anyway....if you're worried about heat, just shrink wrap your resistors.
I've had no issues for 6 months.

The advantage of putting the resistors where kamold has, is that they don't need to re-solder anything when changing bulbs. Which is a better method. Can you take a pic of your 'bridge arrangement' kamold?

[thezoneR32]

Where did you get the tunerdome ones? According to their website, the dont ship internationally for orders under $100

Sorry I didnt buy just the one, I bought the whole set in a group buy on vwgolf.net

you could email david@tunerdomes.com and ask what shipping is for one led. He's very prompt at replying to emails and good after sales service. This is the 2nd kit I have bought from him. I had one led in the kit that flickered so i emailed him and he shipped 2 new ones out straight away at his expense. Good bloke.

[kamold]

You won't be getting any airflow up there anyway....if you're worried about heat, just shrink wrap your resistors.
I've had no issues for 6 months.

The advantage of putting the resistors where kamold has, is that they don't need to re-solder anything when changing bulbs. Which is a better method. Can you take a pic of your 'bridge arrangement' kamold?

Haven't had a chance to pull one out to take a pic, so here is an artist's impression of the bodgie job:



The red is the Jaycar resistor, soldered onto the metal arms of the bulb holder. So when it sits back into the bumper, the resistor is above and not touching the LED globe. So far so good but as I said before would be better to use a higher resistance as it will generate less heat whilst still tricking the BCM into thinking it has halogen globes

[benough]

I trialled a different idea I had last night.

What I did was drill two "wire sized" hole in the holder, and attached two wires to the bulb circuit, then ran them through the holder and down into the back of the bumper, wired up the the resistor.

I drove to and from work today with no bulb outs or any heat on the plastic, but to finalise it, I will run enough wire down through the rear valance and mount the ceramic resistor against the heat shield for the muffler.

That way those buggers can get as hot as they please. I might put some plugs into the wiring to make future removal of the bumper easier etc.

Might do a write up.

[Qwertypants]

@benough:
Are you shrink wrapping it? I don't know why yours is getting so hot. I even have it touching the bulb and have no issues...and I drive with them on sometimes for 5 hours+

Good idea but doesn't it seem unnecessary? Are you using correct resistor? Or are your bulbs over 5W?


@Kamold: yeah good placement. That's where mine is going next. Just worried about how I'm going to keep it attached to the housing. Scared the soldering will come undone. Did you wrap it around a bit too? Or just solder the ends straight on?
ps- pro MSpaint skills

[benough]

Nah I'm using proper Philips LED bulbs. I need to add 5W so the car won't throw an error.

They will melt shrink wrap, easy. I pulled em out tonight and found one of them had made a tiny melt mark in my lowest point of the valance, so there's my answer.

[Qwertypants]

Nah I'm using proper Philips LED bulbs. I need to add 5W so the car won't throw an error.

They will melt shrink wrap, easy. I pulled em out tonight and found one of them had made a tiny melt mark in my lowest point of the valance, so there's my answer.

Whaaa
Wait...so your bulbs are 5W or 10W? Are they 5W and you have the correct resistor for no error?
Or are they 10W and you still have resistor?

Why don't you switch to different bulbs? I've never had any heat issues.


LEDs run at the lowest heat of any bulbs. Your resistors aren't ADDING 5W, Resistors are used in a circuit to oppose an electric current by producing a voltage drop between its terminals- in proportion to the current.

can u describe what setup you have? What kind of resistor/globe etc?

[benough]

My LED bulbs are 0.5W. I use 5W b/c that's the resistance of the stock bulb that comes with the car and what the CANBUS needs for it to not trigger a bulb out light.

I use them b/c they are the only proper 4200K LED you can get. Don't ask how much I paid for them.

After being in this thread, I think I still need a 5W resistor but maybe a different ohm value.

---------- Post added at 10:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:13 PM ----------

This is what I have...

Car Bulbs › LED Car Bulbs | PowerBulbs

Go to the Philips C5W ones. They are much cheaper than 1 year ago.

[Qwertypants]

My LED bulbs are 0.5W. I use 5W b/c that's the resistance of the stock bulb that comes with the car and what the CANBUS needs for it to not trigger a bulb out light.

I use them b/c they are the only proper 4200K LED you can get. Don't ask how much I paid for them.

After being in this thread, I think I still need a 5W resistor but maybe a different ohm value.

---------- Post added at 10:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:13 PM ----------

This is what I have...

Car Bulbs › LED Car Bulbs | PowerBulbs

Go to the Philips C5W ones. They are much cheaper than 1 year ago.

I understand what you mean now. Didn't know they were 0.5W!
I will do the exact math for you tomorrow when my brain isn't fried and let you know.