I have, in my possession, OEM LED taillights

Fixmy59bug said:

For reference, here is how I wired mine up...

This will make the inner lights act like the outer lights.

That means I will have 2 brake lights, 2 parking lights, 2 hazards, and 2 turn signals per side.

Click to expand...

Rob,

Any VCDS coding that needs to be done here? Or is this it, just this exact wiring?

Looks fantastic! I also want the faux-dual tip exhaust! What are the part numbers and cost for that mod?

Also, wonder if you could wire up that rear-fog by hooking it to the front fogs or with a euro switch.

You can wire up the rear fog light to the Euro Switch.

Fixmy59bug said:

For reference, here is how I wired mine up...

This will make the inner lights act like the outer lights.

That means I will have 2 brake lights, 2 parking lights, 2 hazards, and 2 turn signals per side.

Click to expand...

I am sure this violates a ton of safety regulations with Federal Government. Wonder how long before you start getting "fix it" tickets from the local cops or State Patrols.

They take this stuff seriously. Wonder how your insurance would react when they find this after an accident, could void your coverage on technical reasons. Just like if we mod'd the ABS, ECS or any other system.

Vanity is one thing, but it does not trump safety. Fix, you are a parts manager, right? With VW? And you are doing this?

Drive more and worry and modify less.....

TomB: What makes you think any regulations are being violated? There are no light deletions with this mod, and all required lights (brake, running, hazards, turns) are represented here, only brighter and more easily visible.
Regardless of regulations, which I normally honor, the tail/brake lights on these cars are deficient. I'd rather run the risk of a ticket than be rear-ended in broad daylight because the brake lights weren't visible.

TomB said:

I am sure this violates a ton of safety regulations with Federal Government. Wonder how long before you start getting "fix it" tickets from the local cops or State Patrols.

They take this stuff seriously. Wonder how your insurance would react when they find this after an accident, could void your coverage on technical reasons. Just like if we mod'd the ABS, ECS or any other system.

Vanity is one thing, but it does not trump safety. Fix, you are a parts manager, right? With VW? And you are doing this?

Drive more and worry and modify less.....

Click to expand...

How do you figure? His car now functions exactly like an Audi A6.

JM Popaleetus said:

Rob,
Any VCDS coding that needs to be done here? Or is this it, just this exact wiring?
Looks fantastic! I also want the faux-dual tip exhaust! What are the part numbers and cost for that mod?

Click to expand...

JM, no coding necessary. After I caved to the idea of adding resistors, Jason told me I should use the original US coding and it will work just fine.

As for the part numbers, I will get that for you tomorrow when I get to work. Total cost was less than $100.

TomB said:

I am sure this violates a ton of safety regulations with Federal Government. Wonder how long before you start getting "fix it" tickets from the local cops or State Patrols.

They take this stuff seriously. Wonder how your insurance would react when they find this after an accident, could void your coverage on technical reasons. Just like if we mod'd the ABS, ECS or any other system.

Vanity is one thing, but it does not trump safety. Fix, you are a parts manager, right? With VW? And you are doing this?

Drive more and worry and modify less.....

Click to expand...

Tom,

I am certainly no expert when it comes to US DOT lighting regulations, but I am fairly certain the lighting pattern of the lots does not violate any. After all, as was mentioned above, the A6 functions like this. Heck, most vehicles with LED lights on the body and trunk of this design function like this. I believe the CC, Touareg, EOS, and Jetta Hybrid do as well.

Fixmy59bug said:

JM, no coding necessary. After I caved to the idea of adding resistors, Jason told me I should use the original US coding and it will work just fine.

As for the part numbers, I will get that for you tomorrow when I get to work. Total cost was less than $100.

Click to expand...

Awesome, thank you very much!

Fixmy59bug said:

Tom,

I am certainly no expert when it comes to US DOT lighting regulations, but I am fairly certain the lighting pattern of the lots does not violate any. After all, as was mentioned above, the A6 functions like this. Heck, most vehicles with LED lights on the body and trunk of this design function like this. I believe the CC, Touareg, EOS, and Jetta Hybrid do as well.

Click to expand...

Technically there is nothing against DOT violation functionally as all the required lighting is present. As long as there isn't a blinding glare to following drivers.

You may however get your wrists slapped because there are no imprinted DOT numbers...however...

When the offical lights come over this/next(?) year, you could switch to those. Or, IF you ever did get a ticket, all you would have to prove is that they are the same in functionality/brightness as the OEM DOT-imprinted lights. Which means a photo/video comparsion to show to the judge.

TomB said:

Drive more and worry and modify less.....

Click to expand...

You are way over-reacting. He is not decreasing visibility or increasing danger to others in any way.

Also, is there a reason everything you post is negative?

Yeah most DOT requirements are minimums and do not specify a maximum amount of lighting, other than a maximum of 4 forward facing headlights (including fog lights) on at any given time. This is from memory - I haven't actually pulled up the DOT lighting regulations in quite some time.

Well, technically these taillights are not DOT compliant as they do not have the required rear side marker light. However the side viewing angle of the rear facing parking light is so great that this should not be an issue.

However, much like most modifications we know the "risks" we take when modifying the car.

Window tint on the front doors is illegal in most states. ECU tunes are illegal in states that have emissions tests as they are not tested to comply to standards.

Of course, no one here would ever illegally modify their vehicle, right?

IMHO the risk of getting dinged for these light being non dot compliant is nearly 0. They have everything but a dedicated sidemarker, but as Rob noted the side illumination is good without it.


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It seems there was one more resistor needed on my setup...

I kept getting an intermittent right rear side marker out message on the mfd that would disappear once the lights were turned on.

So I added the 50ohm 10 watt resistor to the outer side marker circuit and there have been no more codes.

I even ran the light output tests through VCDS and there are no recurring faults...

The updated wiring diagram is as follows:

compu_85 said:

IMHO the risk of getting dinged for these light being non dot compliant is nearly 0. They have everything but a dedicated sidemarker, but as Rob noted the side illumination is good without it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

I agree with Compu about getting dinged for non dot compliant lights, especially tail lights, that are just about all red. They don't look out of the ordinary and I doubt any law enforcement will notice any difference unless he is a car enthusiast like we all are here. But living in VA all my life, still throws a big hint of doubt that one would NEVER get pulled over for have these LED tails. LOL!

I want a pair so bad! But I have got too many other expenses, and I def. dont have the know how and VCDS to do this mod. LOL! I'll just have to live vicariously thru you guys!

First attempt - superseded by post #79 and then by post #86

I got into and tweaked the feared (verboten) Byte 18 in the BCM. So far so good, although it is not 100% yet as I seem to have lost the DRL function, although they come on with the angel eyes when the headlamps are on. Also seem to have lost the ability to dim the radio display and I get a nag screen on the MFA about shifting into P or N when I do shift. It clears with the OK button on the the steering wheel. But no bulb out warnings and the rear lamps are looking sharp. Still got to do some more tweaking to do, but it appears that this BCM is capable of controlling the rear LED's properly and without any load resistors. Byte 18 is currently set for "51", while the OEM 'normal' code is A0. A2 did not work which was mentioned in another thread. On the rear, I got the amber turns, rear fog (via relay), reverse and all four fixtures working without any resistors. Here is a schematic of how I'm hooked up in the rear:

And a video of the rear LED functionality:
http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/vw_norm/media/Rear%20LED/RearLEDs_zpscb85d632.mp4.html

Norm,

You are the man! I can't possibly fathom how long this took to figure out the correct coding and wiring modifications necessary.

I will be continuing to watch this thread with renewed interest of having amber turns.

Thank you so very much...

So does that setup blink the inner portion of the brake light? Looking at your diagram I don't think it does?

Having the inner portion blink makes the lights *much* more distinct, I would not install these lights without getting that portion working.

That is how they are set up at the factory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udul36tZdyY

-J

I believe I saw rockauto selling slightly different LED lights for the golf. (Didn't check other models) their cost was $300 if I recall. No comments on any wiring changes, etc.

compu_85 said:

So does that setup blink the inner portion of the brake light? Looking at your diagram I don't think it does?

Having the inner portion blink makes the lights *much* more distinct, I would not install these lights without getting that portion working.

That is how they are set up at the factory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udul36tZdyY

-J

Click to expand...

No - they do not. My goal has been to get the rear amber turns functional, so I have amber turns on all 4 corners, plus the side mirror LED's. 2nd goal is to do it without any resistors to alter current flow. I tried some and those ceramic or heat sinked ones get pretty warm - upwards of 150F on the surface. I think that the reverse lamps in these housings are much brighter than the OEM reverse and do not see the need for using both cavities for reverse. I had the lamps set up with OEM coding to blink both housings on each side, but that was without the amber turns. I'm not 100% yet, but I'm not done yet either. Stay tuned....more to come.....

Byte 18 Code 1F - superseded by post #86

Forget yesterday's post, here's today's. I think that I got a better solution on this now. Tried the following codes for Byte 18 today: 1C, 1B, 31, 55, 5F, 3A, 03, 04, 06, 8C, 1D, 20, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D, 9E, 9F, 15, 21, and then 1F. Some of these were listed in the drop-down menu in our Byte 18, others I got from reading various other threads (GTI forum for one). Some worked OK, others didn't have DRL's, some turned off the trunk lid lights when opening it (thought that was kinda cool), others warned about checking the rear fog (which makes me want to keep digging for a BCM output for this, but a relay will suffice for now), rear or front marker light warnings, along with other variations, but I finally settled on code 1F. Interesting thing was that no matter the code I entered for byte 18, the coding was accepted. Some of them gave me only the right backup lamp, leading me to believe that the left 'reverse' wire was for the rear fog (had lamp warning). Another interesting feature was that the backup and amber turn signals were almost always working correctly, no matter the coding applied. The front turn signals and mirror LED's always worked correctly as well as the license plate lamps. Tail lights and DRL's are another matter entirely. Drained my battery today with all the lamp cycles I put the car through - was down to 10VDC. Charged it up and was OK. Had a bunch of error codes to clear!
I have no bulb warning or other codes on the MFA! Yay! DRL's working as expected. Seems as though the dash dimming is working again, All rear lamps working after a minor wiring change, shown in the yellow highlighted portion in this schematic. Did this to make the trunk lid lights act as brakes lights with the body lamps. No resistors either. I plan to make a nicer schematic later. I want to drive this version for the next week and see if any other bugs come up. Plus I still have half my dash torn apart! I think that I need to get those LED license lamps now to make it 100%!

And here's a new video of all rear lamps in action: http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/vw_norm/media/Rear%20LED/RearLEDs1F_zpsed601770.mp4.html

Getting better and better....

One thing concerns me just a little though.

I know cameras are a little inept at picking up e difference in listing levels, but there doesn't appear to be a very big difference between parking lights and brake lots.

Is it the cameras inability or so there less of a difference?

Fixmy59bug said:

Getting better and better....

One thing concerns me just a little though.

I know cameras are a little inept at picking up e difference in listing levels, but there doesn't appear to be a very big difference between parking lights and brake lots.

Is it the cameras inability or so there less of a difference?

Click to expand...

There isn't a huge difference between parking lights and brake lights when we had our Passat hooked up like this, which is why Jason and I felt it was important to get the bullet lights functioning like they do on the Chinese cars (bullet lights are only on with brake lights) in order to increase the contrast between brake lights and running lights.

I think that the contrast (drive/brake) is a little less with this coding. When I played the 2 vids side-by-side, 1F coding was a bit brighter for the drive lights. I will have to relook at separating the center bullets out from the driving lights and keep them for the braking function, as I didn't quite catch the meaning of Jason's post. But I didn't have them separated from the get-go, so got to go and play with the wiring some more.

so, no installed pics yet? I'd like to see installed pictures please, don't keep us waiting!

vw_norm said:

I think that the contrast (drive/brake) is a little less with this coding. When I played the 2 vids side-by-side, 1F coding was a bit brighter for the drive lights. I will have to relook at separating the center bullets out from the driving lights and keep them for the braking function, as I didn't quite catch the meaning of Jason's post. But I didn't have them separated from the get-go, so got to go and play with the wiring some more.

Click to expand...

Yeah the contrast with A0 isn't great and getting those bullet lights working properly is where the Curt 56201 controller came into the game for us. I'm curious to see if you can figure a way to do it without using the Curt... I suspect additional wiring (1 additional wire?) from the BCM may be necessary.

VeeDubTDI said:

Yeah the contrast with A0 isn't great and getting those bullet lights working properly is where the Curt 56201 controller came into the game for us. I'm curious to see if you can figure a way to do it without using the Curt... I suspect additional wiring (1 additional wire?) from the BCM may be necessary.

Click to expand...

Did some more investigation today and ended up clipping a wire from pin 3 on the body wiring on each side in the above schematic. This was feeding 4.6 VDC into the lights. This reduced the brilliance of the lamps significantly as there is now 1.6 VDC to all of the LEDs except the center bullet of the trunk lid lamp (getting 4.6 VDC). On the new circuit from the BCM, I have 1.6 VDC when lights are on and 12 VDC with brakes on. I left the center bullet as-is on the trunk lid since it satisfies the bulb out warning for now. I now have good contrast between the drive lights and brake lights which I agree is important. I am going over my notes from the weekend and see if any of those attempts are candidates for reuse. What I didn't do was measure circuit voltages to determine how best to wire them to the lamps. Sorry, no new video today. This is a challenging, but interesting modification. It ain't over til it's over!

Byte 18 now set to '55'

Slow week - no other posts, but this one should make up for it.
I have Byte 18 set at '55' now, 53 also seems to be identical. This gives me the eyebrows and rims as drive lights (at 2.2 VDC) and for the brake function, I light up the whole thing including the inners (at 12 VDC). While I ran extra wires to the BCM for the brake lights and another from the relay for the rear fog lamp, most time was spent in the trunk measuring voltages on the circuits for each Byte 18 code attempt and trying different code combinations. While no resistors are utilized, I only ended up using two 1,000 PIV 3 Amp diodes that I had from another project to properly control the trunk lid lamps. The only thing that seems broken is my LED DRLs. So for now, I have the fogs set as DRLs. If I check Byte 15, bit 6 for DRLs as separate lamps, I get a bulb error for the DRLs. I may need to relocate the wires at the BCM, but since I do get the DRLs and Angel eyes lit up together when the park/drive lights are on, not sure if it is really BCM wiring, or possible only headlamp wiring. that is for another day. Found that my dash dimming bit controlled by the BCM was turned off somehow, and that's working OK now that it is back on. Had a moment of angst when I realized that my wipers were no longer working, but I guess with all my pounding on Byte 18, I somehow tweaked Byte 21 and that killed the wiper motor. You've got to be exceedingly careful with messing with the 30 bytes directly in the text editor. Other than trying 94 different codings (out of 155 on my list, which I got here: http://www.pjruane.com/jm/Byte18.pdf), I'm pretty pleased with this so far. Here is the schematic as it now exists:

And a new video. The camera got a bit washed out since it was getting dark when I did this, so I will make another tomorrow during the day, with better clarity. But for now....enjoy.....
http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/vw_norm/media/Rear%20LED/RearLEDsByte1855_zpsa3c261cc.mp4.html

Nice!

So that coding doesn't break the front running lights?

-J

Good work, Norm! Waiting to see how the front lights behave now.

compu_85 said:

Nice!

So that coding doesn't break the front running lights?

-J

Click to expand...

No. I have 1/2 bright DRL and angel eyes with the driving lights or headlights on. Just no full power DRL LEDs by themselves. Thus the DRL fogs for now, which are on when the light switch is in OFF or AUTO in the daytime and I get the DRL icon in the cluster.

EDIT 7/4/13: Found that by changing the DRL percentage in Byte 24, I was able to dim the fog light DRL's. Set to 50% for now, much better than full bright fogs as DRL.

I also have the MFI DRL adaption so I can toggle them on or off as well. Auto is automatic for the rest of the driving lights once it gets dark-thirty. All ambers are turn or 4-way flasher only. Here is a new video of front and rear lighting. The blinking of the tails and front LEDs is just an artifact of the camera I was using, picking up the refresh rate of the LED PWM at 2.2 VDC, but to the eye, the lights are steady on.

here is a daytime video:

http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/vw_norm/media/Rear%20LED/FrontandRear_zps87531d29.mp4.html

There are a bunch of install pics here: http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/vw_norm/library/Rear%20LED

Norm, does "55" enable your single-side standing lights? (flip your turn signal switch to the left or right position with the car off and check to see if the parking lights on that side are on)