voltage increase

[buzzie0013]

does anyone have a pic of their lights before and after they increased the voltage via VCDS?

 

[VWJayhawk]

I think it would be really hard to tell with photos, but I can say that going from the 12.8v to 13.6v is a dramatic difference. I don't have any pics handy, will see if can get some next time its dark (not going to do it in the AM in 10 degrees though ha).

 

[VeeDubTDI]

Try it and see what you think. It will be difficult to tell the difference in pictures unless you take them in manual mode with a nice camera with the same camera settings. The best way to tell would be to use a light meter to see what the lights are actually outputting.

 

[nois]

I think it would be really hard to tell with photos, but I can say that going from the 12.8v to 13.6v is a dramatic difference. I don't have any pics handy, will see if can get some next time its dark (not going to do it in the AM in 10 degrees though ha).

How long have you had yours at 13.6v? Seems like that high would reduce bulb-life by a lot.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

Remember that headlight bulbs normally run at vehicle voltage (~14.2), so turning off the life extender will only shorten the lamp life to what would otherwise be "normal" or the rated life of the lamp.

 

[VWJayhawk]

How long have you had yours at 13.6v? Seems like that high would reduce bulb-life by a lot.

Only had it at that for a couple of weeks. 13.6v is the highest voltage setting without turning off "bulb life extension" so as long as they last about 6mo or 10,000 miles I will be thrilled. I suspect they will last much longer than that though...(see VeeDubTDIs comment).

Either way, good luck!

 

[nois]

Remember that headlight bulbs normally run at vehicle voltage (~14.2), so turning off the life extender will only shorten the lamp life to what would otherwise be "normal" or the rated life of the lamp.

Only had it at that for a couple of weeks. 13.6v is the highest voltage setting without turning off "bulb life extension" so as long as they last about 6mo or 10,000 miles I will be thrilled. I suspect they will last much longer than that though...(see VeeDubTDIs comment).
Either way, good luck!

Thanks for explaining... Makes sense. I'm willing to trade a few extra hours of bulb life to get more light output. With the daylight savings time, I'm driving in the dark in the morning now.

 

[skinnyb]

I turned off the bulb life extension and mine are noticeably brighter.

 

[MK05HJ09]

I've considered upping the voltage to my lamps as well, coming from a car with Xenons and fog lights, some mornings I wish I had better light output.

 

[Cosmo_TDI]

I guess this is a good time to ask, but has anyone heard about VW running a 'ghost' program during any scans that tracks if any changes are made to the cars programming?

I was told that VW started this on cars 2010 or newer and if this program catches any changes it flags the VIN with VW directly, so that any future warranty claims have to be called in and may be declined for simple changes.

Anyone able to confirm this?

Reason I ask, is I did this voltage mod (well someone else did it for me), but I got nervous when this 'ghost' program came up in a conversation.

-Anthony

 

[Lightflyer1]

They would have to prove the change did the harm to deny warranty. If it is an option on the car they would have a hard time justifying that. The only harm I could see coming from this is shorter bulb life.

 

[TomB]

They would have to prove the change did the harm to deny warranty. If it is an option on the car they would have a hard time justifying that. The only harm I could see coming from this is shorter bulb life.

Do they even warranty bulbs?

 

[BPofMD]

Without looking, I'd have to say - "NO".

 

[Lightflyer1]

I meant claiming it damaged anything else.

 

[Rockwell]

Do they even warranty bulbs?

they replaced a bulb on mine, that I didnt know was out, at my 10,000 mile service

 

[compu_85]

Bulbs are only covered for the first 11,000 miles.

 

[IXLR8]

I turned off the bulb life extension 17K miles ago, no issues so far. Actually I did it even before I drove at night for the first time, so I can't give you a comparison. The Passat uses the same bulbs as my Golf did. My Golf used them for the DRL's as well and I got about 50K miles per set in the Golf. So... I am expecting them to last at least that long in the Passat. In addition to turning off the bulb life extension, I also adjusted the lights up slightly, it doesn't take much to start blinding oncoming traffic. I travel alone in an empty car 99% of the time so I felt it was okay to adjust the lights up. I wouldn't have done it if I carried people and luggage on a regular basis, since we don't have autoleveling lights. I have not had any oncoming traffic complain about my lights. I was thinking of upgrading to HID's, but now I don't think it is worth the expense and hassle.
The bulbs in my 02 Golf were covered for the first 50K miles, dealer covered changing one out with 48K miles on the car. I am not sure how long they are covered in the Passat.

 

[ColoradoDriver]

Unlike the dealership's VAGCOM system, Ross-Tech's VCDS leaves no "footprints" that anyone has been making changes to the vehicle. So, at most, VW could see different setting than they expected; however, there would be no audit trail of when/where the changes were made.

 

[TheGrove]

they replaced a bulb on mine, that I didnt know was out, at my 10,000 mile service

Interesting, as every time I've had a bulb go out there was a yellow warning indicator on the dash and the MFD popped up a message on startup about which bulb was out.

 

[compu_85]

Yes every exterior lamp (except the rear LED side marker) is monitored. It's possible it burnt out at the dealer though.

-J

 

[Rockwell]

Interesting, as every time I've had a bulb go out there was a yellow warning indicator on the dash and the MFD popped up a message on startup about which bulb was out.

It was a DRL bulb. I didnt notice it out or the indicator bulb on the dash but it was on my service order.

 

[VWJayhawk]

I guess this is a good time to ask, but has anyone heard about VW running a 'ghost' program during any scans that tracks if any changes are made to the cars programming?

I was told that VW started this on cars 2010 or newer and if this program catches any changes it flags the VIN with VW directly, so that any future warranty claims have to be called in and may be declined for simple changes.

Anyone able to confirm this?

Reason I ask, is I did this voltage mod (well someone else did it for me), but I got nervous when this 'ghost' program came up in a conversation.

-Anthony

For VW (VAG) to get anything, the dealer has to run a full scan and then send it to VwofA or AoA. From there, they compare. This recent change was do mostly for real mods for the engine or ecu. So basically they have to proactively scan the whole car and then send it to corporate. I have been told by vw and audi service manager that they only do this on cars they suspect modifcations done...they see different intake, exhaust, lowering, etc. Can search "TD1" over on Audizine for a ton of detial on VAGs new process.

All that being said, there is no way increasing the voltage to the lights will in any way cause a warranty issue aside from bulb life. Granted they can still deny and let you fight it, but I bet they wouldn't do that

 

[VeeDubTDI]

For VW (VAG) to get anything, the dealer has to run a full scan and then send it to VwofA or AoA. From there, they compare. This recent change was do mostly for real mods for the engine or ecu. So basically they have to proactively scan the whole car and then send it to corporate. I have been told by vw and audi service manager that they only do this on cars they suspect modifcations done...they see different intake, exhaust, lowering, etc. Can search "TD1" over on Audizine for a ton of detial on VAGs new process.
All that being said, there is no way increasing the voltage to the lights will in any way cause a warranty issue aside from bulb life. Granted they can still deny and let you fight it, but I bet they wouldn't do that

Thanks for the info. I also came across this thread... seems VW is onboard with the TD1 game. http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5635710-TD1-warranty-flag