Improved reversing camera view with LED plate number light mod

[GeckoZAO]

i got genuine LEDs and they do help a little, we all know genuine ones are not THAT bright.
also do the settings, i maximised brightness and contrast, very helpful!

[veew]

DV52, cheers for looking into it! The changes in the contrast and brightness settings have been sufficient over the past week so I'll patiently wait for good W16W LED lights to become available before purchasing.

[DV52]

DV52, cheers for looking into it! The changes in the contrast and brightness settings have been sufficient over the past few weeks so I'll patiently wait for good W16W LED lights to become available before purchasing.

veew: My eagerness in looking at the tweak was more a result of my interest in how the mkVII achieves a change in illumination from what is austensibly a passive device (regardless of whether a bog-standard incandescent, or an LED is fitted to the car).

Some years ago I looked at the voltage signal to a backing light on a Golf mk6. I did this with a Cathrode Ray Oscilloscope. I'm not sure if the same VCDS tweak works on a mk6. Anyhow what I saw was a "chopped" DC waveform. By this I mean that the normal 12Volt DC source to the backing light had an occasional negative pulse (to ground). Can't remember the timing details but I until I saw your tweak, I assumed that the pulse was part of a handshaking signal for the CANBUS protocols.

I'm still not sure what purpose the negative pulse has in the backing light circuit, but it is possible that this is the control mechanism for changing the illumination level. That is, dimming of the backing light could be achieved by increasing the width of the negative pulse (thereby lowering the "effective" voltage to the fitting -and vica-a-versa). There is clearly enough smarts in the Golf to modulate the pulse width of the backing light voltage in sympathy with a changed value on the screens that I posted.

As I say, this is complete speculation on my part. If anyone else can help solve this mystery, I'd welcome their (constructive) response.

[i286]

As many other owners I was not happy with light output of tiny reversing lights. Changed factory globes with pair of T15 W16W 11w COB LED white light globes. Did not see any difference when looking in the mirrors, but they did improve the camera view.
When testing them, found out that when I engage reverse gear my front fog lights turn on as well. I was not aware of this for five months since I bought the car.