LED courtesy lights?

[petesavan]

Has anyone replaced their original courtesy light bulbs with LED ones? I'm thinking of doing it but would rather use a source that had previously been tried and tested!

 

[Lee152]

aogrady has done it, saw it on a thread awhile back.he used banks of square ones but not sure where from. Search LEDs and you should find it.
Thinking about doing myself if I can ever get the damn interior light to work in the first place!

Lee

 

[Alex VW Heritage]

You can get stock ones in LED, I used some in my last bus and they worked well.

 

[petesavan]

Many thanks both of you for your responses. I'm wondering now about changing to LED dashboard lights too as the original ones are pretty dim, but I guess you'd have to by pass the dimmer part of the light switch to get them to work wouldn't you?

 

[KateLovesPurple]

Many thanks both of you for your responses. I'm wondering now about changing to LED dashboard lights too as the original ones are pretty dim, but I guess you'd have to by pass the dimmer part of the light switch to get them to work wouldn't you?

I've done this, I used self adhesive strips of purple smd LEDsstuck in and around all the gauges, gives a very nice light. No, you don't need to bypass the dimmer, although there is only so far you can dim them before they switch off, but I don't think it is a problem. I have also replaced all the warning lamps with LEDs. I can now actually see the main beam warning in daylight!

 

[petesavan]

Excellent, good idea to do those as well because the originals are always so dim! Where did you get them from and did you have to dismantle the dashboard to get to them?

 

[KateLovesPurple]

If I remember right, I pulled the innards out of the warning lamp holders and inserted the LEDs straight in making sure one leg made contact with the back of the instrument housing where the old contacts were. The other leg went through the housing and I soldered a suitable resistor (google LED resistor calculator to get the correct value for the LEDs that you pick) to that leg before attaching a spade connector. Remember of course that LEDs only work one way round and you may blow the LED if you put it the wrong way round.

 

[petesavan]

Suddenly that's sounding a bit more complicated that I thought it would be. I knew they had to go the right way round but I didn't know about the resistor thing. What type of bulbs are the originals, I haven't even got as far as looking at/for them yet! Are they like a screw in torch bulb?

 

[aogrady]

aogrady has done it, saw it on a thread awhile back.he used banks of square ones but not sure where from. Search LEDs and you should find it.
Thinking about doing myself if I can ever get the damn interior light to work in the first place!

Lee

Hi!

I am using x3 48 SMD LED units. Lots on ebay:

http://dsa.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2053587.m570.l1311.R1.TR3.TRC0.A0&_nkw=48+smd+led+panel&_sacat=0&_from=R40" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Check your sizes you need. I still have the stock bulb in the small courtesy light, just haven't got around to swapping it out yet

Before:

Insides:

During:

Finished:

The led's are a whiter white than the bulbs, which are 10W each, 30W total load, the leds are much less, probably only 5 watts max for the lot. I used some packing foam strips to diffuse the light as you can see the LED's through the westy light

I also used 120 SMD LEDS for the front indicators, which are 3.6W, and a 42SMD LED set for the rear, which i will fit later once i get a resistor in the circuit, or just wire a 21W bulb for a load somewhere, then they will flash correctly. (EDIT - still got stock bulbs in the rear indicator)

Quite pleased with the Westy light, i may use some more of these in stead of the standard sized bulb i have used in the indicators, may get a spare set of indicator bodies and mod them for x3 48 SMD LED panels.

Hope this helps,

Alistair

 

[aogrady]

If I remember right, I pulled the innards out of the warning lamp holders and inserted the LEDs straight in making sure one leg made contact with the back of the instrument housing where the old contacts were. The other leg went through the housing and I soldered a suitable resistor (google LED resistor calculator to get the correct value for the LEDs that you pick) to that leg before attaching a spade connector. Remember of course that LEDs only work one way round and you may blow the LED if you put it the wrong way round.

Hi,

I read somewhere that you need to keep the alt/gen light as a bulb, something to do with the regulator needing to see a current/voltage drop to work correctly?

Don't know if this is correct, as my bulb hasn't worked for ages for my alternator, and it charges just fine.

Alistair

 

[petesavan]

Many thanks aogrady, that's exactly the sort of thing I'd like to do! That's been very helpful.

 

[Buss69]

I'm showing off a bit because this is not an OEM dash, but all the lights on this dash are LED.

What I will say is that fitting LED dash lights is a fairly easy task, in principle. In reality it's a bit fiddly.
It's a while since I've seen an original bulb holder but customising one for an LED is definitely the way to go. There are now LED's available that are both very small and have a resistor built in. Try Maplins or RS. Alternatively quite a few auto bulbs are made from LEDs so is worth checking online for a suitable replacement before doing any of the above.
Use this:
http://led.linear1.org/1led.wiz" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
to calculate resistor size. Polarity cannot be wrong or will definitely blow your LED.
Try this, it's an excellent overview and has a clear indication of how to work out polarity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You can use the dash lighting circuit to power your dash lighting but as mentioned it's capability for dimming is not good. With my gauges (Autometer) I have the option to use their dimmer that WILL work off the factory dimmer switch. Have not done it yet but it's in the pipeline.

As far as dash warning lamps go. You can use LED's. Make sure polarity is correct and USE a resistor. Nearly all the circuits will work without one but the LED will not last long and get hot. We all know about fires in VW's so USE a resistor. (I know I keep banging on about it but safety first). An LED generator light will work but will be sensitive. When my bus is on tick-over it flickers slightly, but when running normally it does it's job well. The flicker at low revs might annoy you but it won't mean anything is wrong, if you're fussy it might get on your nerves. I am really fussy and I don't find it a problem.

Exterior bulbs are all similar. If you can be bothered you can use all LED lamps except for headlights, but this all comes with more fiddling.
Sidelights, front are a straight swap.
Sidelights, rear with brake light will require a diode fitted inline on each brake light. If not your dash and front side lights will light up when you use the brake, even when the sidelights are turned off!
Diodes can be found here:
http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product/748" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

All indicators require a different type circuit and a special relay. It's actually not that hard to do, but does need you to be able to correctly identify the original wires.
Relay can be found here:
http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product/726/category/35" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The alternative is to use LED flasher bulbs with ballast resistors. IMHO I wouldn't bother with this route as it's negating the need for the LED, ie it won't save much energy. Then again, flasher bulbs of any sort aren't exactly gonna run your battery flat quickly.

Hope this helps?

 

[aogrady]

Hi!

Buss69! You led's are epic!, great write up!

I used them on my westy light as shown above, and on my brake/side lights, front indicators, but left the rear indicators, for the reasons you mentioned about the flasher..

Cheers,

Alistair

 

[Buss69]

Hi!

Buss69! You led's are epic!, great write up!

I used them on my westy light as shown above, and on my brake/side lights, front indicators, but left the rear indicators, for the reasons you mentioned about the flasher..

Cheers,

Alistair

Cheers dude,

I should also add, that my dash even though customised is very much wired identically to the original loom. The only difference is the tweek to the indicator circuit. If anyone wants a diagram of how to do this using OEM wiring let me know.

 

[KateLovesPurple]

My Gen light LED doesn't flicker at low revs, may be my resistor is of a slightly larger value.

As for courtesy lights, I built my own from LEDs.

Works a treat!

I'll try and get a photo of my dash board later for comparison if you like.

 

[aogrady]

My Gen light LED doesn't flicker at low revs, may be my resistor is of a slightly larger value.

As for courtesy lights, I built my own from LEDs.

Works a treat!

I'll try and get a photo of my dash board later for comparison if you like.

Nice! Never ceases to amaze me the ingenuity of the members on here! I assume you brought some more of those for the rest of the class... :lol:

Cheers!

Alistair

 

[KateLovesPurple]

......... I assume you brought some more of those for the rest of the class... :lol:

Cheers!

Alistair

Actually I did!! But my son used them to build a Tesseract for my daughters birthday!! :lol:

 

[KateLovesPurple]

As promised, here are a few pics of mine.

My DIY LED courtesy light.

My purple LED backlit dashboard with LED indicator lamps.

 

[Buss69]

As promised, here are a few pics of mine.

My DIY LED courtesy light.

My purple LED backlit dashboard with LED indicator lamps.

Nice colour. The courtesy light looks great, have you got a dark coloured headliner?

 

[KateLovesPurple]

Nice colour. The courtesy light looks great, have you got a dark coloured headliner?

:lol: Na! Bright white. Just taken in the dark without flash.