Improved reversing camera view with LED plate number light mod

[veew]

Veew: The adjustment panel for the rear camera can be found on the actual screen. Put the car into reverse and the setting is on the bottom right-hand side of the screen (the panel has a bunch of circles in it). Once you select the set-up screen you can alter the brightness, contrast and colour saturation. Good luck

I know what you're talking about, glad you just pointed it out as I would've gone through the other menu screens again and failed to find it. Still suck at work so will sus it out in 2 hrs or so

[Eaglehawk]

does he have a light coloured car?)

A very good point! All the more reason to test it on my black Golf with black plates (Yes, I've got the VW LED installed at the dealer)

[veew]

Ok, so got around to changing the brightness and contrast of the reversing camera screen. It certainly helps, I'll see how I go over the next few weeks and see if I still want to change the reversing/plate number lights.

[AdamD]

I'm surprised that the "Spill" light was so effective. It's been a great many years since I studied lighting, but one of the first things that we were taught was the difference between illumination of things to be seen (like a number plate) and illumination for actually seeing (like backing lights). But I'm the first to admit that experience trumps theory every time!

Just to emphasise this important point up front - I have a Mk6, not a Mk7, so the LEDs I used are likely incompatible with the Mk7 application.

The LEDs I used initially were these RDash lights (see the link below for some great photos showing the improvement in indirect lighting):

LED Number Plate Lights

As you can see, each of these light units contains 18 individual LEDs, and the light cast is both bright and fairly non-directional.

Here's an image comparing the RDash LEDs to standard bulbs; this does make the LEDs look too bright, but in reality they don't look anything like as bright:



I had some issues with the heatsinks that came with my RDash lights, so I wired up my own better-quality resistors to do the job instead. After about a year or so of use, one of the wires into one of the light units split, in an inaccessible area. Rather than break open the unit and go to the trouble of gluing it all back together, I replaced them with OEM VW units, which are significantly dimmer than the RDash units. The main difference between OEM incandescent and LED is the colour of the light, not the brightness or throw pattern.

At any rate, a point I should have made more clearly earlier is that not all LEDs are created equal, so it's not right to generalise that LEDs won't significantly improve the visibility through a rear view camera - because it comes down to what lights you're fitting.

Notwithstanding the success of the number plate LEDS in your case, if you had the choice of replacing a set of lamps with LEDs (with the objective of increasing the illumination at the rear of the car). would you still opt for changing the number plate light, or the reversing lights?

I have R LED tail lights in my car, although the single reversing light is still a standard bulb IIRC. A single super-bright reversing light would certainly outperform bright license plate lights for illumination at a distance, but it all depends on what you're looking at when reversing, and how quickly you are reversing. If you want to see objects that are several feet away, then an appropriately directional reversing light is what you need. If you want to see objects that are within a couple of feet of your bumper, and are at the height of the rear bumper or lower, then license plate lights can make a significant improvement. Given that I'm usually reversing very slowly, and want to make sure I don't hit any obstructions, they do a great job. They also illuminate cars well at ~2-3 feet.

Incidentally, did you try adjusting the sensitivity of the camera before you fitted the LEDS and if so, what was the effect?

I don't have that adjustment on the Mk6.

The important question for AdamD to answer, what sort of number plate have you got? Perhaps they have something more "white" and that ambient reflection off it would help the rear view.

I have SA "Premium Slim" plates (black lettering on white background) with Kingpin clear covers:

[Alex31]

Just had a look at mine . No LED! Paid $2000 for the bi-xenon lights and no license plate LED. Not happy, will be going to the dealer and they better come to the table.


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[DV52]

At any rate, a point I should have made more clearly earlier is that not all LEDs are created equal, so it's not right to generalise that LEDs won't significantly improve the visibility through a rear view camera - because it comes down to what lights you're fitting.

Adam_D: Hmm.... thanks for the clarification

I have R LED tail lights in my car, although the single reversing light is still a standard bulb IIRC. A single super-bright reversing light would certainly outperform bright license plate lights for illumination at a distance, but it all depends on what you're looking at when reversing, and how quickly you are reversing. If you want to see objects that are several feet away, then an appropriately directional reversing light is what you need. If you want to see objects that are within a couple of feet of your bumper, and are at the height of the rear bumper or lower, then license plate lights can make a significant improvement. Given that I'm usually reversing very slowly, and want to make sure I don't hit any obstructions, they do a great job. They also illuminate cars well at ~2-3 feet.

The pic in your post is very illuminating (excuse the pun)! It confirms (in my mind) my initial suspiciion about what's happening when the number plate light is used for backing purposes.

The pic clearly shows the illumination pattern on the garage floor immediately behind the car that has the LED fitted. What's interesting about this spill pattern on the garage floor is its (very) bright center and the rapid deterioration of light intensity over a very small distance. I've highlighted the area in red the pic below. This suggests (to me) that the fitting is reasonably efficient for its intended application. By this I mean that the fitting is designed to contain as much light as possible into the area around the number plate and it seems to do this well. I won't labour the points made previously lest I further inflame your sensibilities. Thanks again for the clarification

[DV52]

Just had a look at mine . No LED! Paid $2000 for the bi-xenon lights and no license plate LED. Not happy, will be going to the dealer and they better come to the table.


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Alex31: Guess you're not alone in being short changed by our good friends at VW Australia. Have you seen the thread below?

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/foru...hts-94823.html

[ziggyboy]

When I fitted LED license plate lights I noticed a substantial improvement in the quality of night vision from the rear view camera in my Mk6.

I concur.

I fitted LED's on my Jetta and the RVC visibility improved significantly at night. But don't just buy any LED. If you put some with the same brightness as a normal bulb it won't make a difference. I bought the T10 bulb with the most 5050 LED's, also, buy those that direct light on direction as opposed to "circular".

[veew]

Just came across this VCDS mod: if anyone tries it out, please post up pics before and after.

stemei.de .VCDS Codierungen .Codierungsservice .Webdesign - Stefan Meier - Rückfahrlicht Leuchtkraft erhöhen - VCDS Codierungen, Webdesign

[DV52]

Just came across this VCDS mod: if anyone tries it out, please post up pics before and after.

stemei.de .VCDS Codierungen .Codierungsservice .Webdesign - Stefan Meier - Rückfahrlicht Leuchtkraft erhöhen - VCDS Codierungen, Webdesign

Veew: I got mighty interested in your VCDS tweak for changing the illumination of the mkVII backing lights -btw, thanks for the PM. The Google translate facility on my web browser decoded the German language on the webpage to the following:

Adaptation luminance of the back-up lights

The onboard supply control unit you have \the ability to customize the new VW Golf, the brightness of the reversing lights. If desired, the luminance may be increased or decreased.

The following coding is used:

1. STG 09 (vehicle power) Select
2. STG access authorization -> Function 16
3. Enter access code 31347
4. STG adjustment -> function 10
5. (6) Leuchte28RFL LC11-Dimmwert AB 28 Select
6. Adjust value accordingly
7. (6) Leuchte29RFL RA64-Dimmwert AB 29 Select
8. Adjust Value accordingly - Default: 86

I suspect that the VCDS tweaks on the webpage were developed for the German version of the mkV11. As you might be aware, the chassis model that VW exports here to Australia is referred-to more generally as "RoW", which stands for "Rest-of-World" (doubtless, the good burghers at VW's head office consider that Germany and the sun inhabit a not dissimilar place in the universe!)

Anyhow, I dutifully followed the instructions above hoping to send you a few pics of the effect of increasing the light from the backing lights as a result of altering the value in the channel controllers. However, it would appear that my Golf (and I suspect all Australian models) already have the maximum setting as a default. For completeness, I enclose the screens below showing the default setting on my car. I didn't bother sending you pics of the effect of lowering the lighting level because I was aware that you wanted greater illumination from the backing lights. Sorry that I couldn't bring you better news.