LED Licence Plate Lights

**mattchu** · 08-04-2013, 03:18 AM

Installed these LED lights a couple of months ago...

And now they are doing this....

MKV Volkswagen Jetta LED Licence Plate Lights Playing up - YouTube

Any ideas why? Bought them off a forum member too...

Should I just start again with new bulbs?

**Nuggos** · 08-04-2013, 06:16 AM

that is weiiirrrddddd, i don't think that is bulb related, possibly something else

**kamold** · 08-04-2013, 07:23 AM

That's awesome! I presume its fully synched with the music? Were you playing some dubstep?

What sort of LED globes are they? Are they just generic ones off Ebay? If so I'd say that they are gone. The LEDs should duty cycle in normal operation (thats why if you look at LED DRLs through a camera, or when you watch those slow-mo videos on TopGear you see them flickering and so on).

I would just buy half a dozen of them and keep some spares for when they do fail. Which they will. Because they're cheap.

**tigger73** · 08-04-2013, 07:31 AM

I've got r-dash ones and have no issues. They are more expensive but you also get the housing (which I needed).

I'm hopeful these will last the distance. I have heard the people chewing through the cheaper festoon type bulbs.

**Nuggos** · 08-04-2013, 12:00 PM

out of curiosity, if i install OEM led license plate lights will i get a error light??

**mattchu** · 09-04-2013, 01:47 AM

Originally Posted by kamold

That's awesome! I presume its fully synched with the music? Were you playing some dubstep?

Hahaha I was considering setting up a rave party outside the lights

But it must've looked pretty weird on the road, my friends following me the other night told me about it and took a video, they were amused apparently.

These are just the festoon bulbs, but I didn't get them off eBay, I got them off forum member XQUIZT, who I inboxed and is now sending me out a replacement pair! Kudos! But he said he hadn't seen this before and he uses the ones he sold me and his are working fine. So I'll see how those go.

If the same thing happens I might need to look into getting a more expensive pair with housing (even though my Jetta already has a housing?).

Nuggers, I have no idea sorry. I don't think VW made/sell them?

**kamold** · 09-04-2013, 07:20 AM

Originally Posted by Nuggos

out of curiosity, if i install OEM led license plate lights will i get a error light??

The problem with the OEM LED light+housing is they are designed to be used only with certain BCM modules. So unless you want to trial and error a set for about $150, you're better off just buying the 'CANBUS error free' generics off ebay and soldering on some 10c resistors from Jaycar. The coding on the Body Control Module for lighting has been changed with recent (about MY11 and up depending on the car) so that you can't just enable/disable features any more, you need to select the correct factory setup from a coded list. Using an incorrect setup can lead to failures (just ask Mysticality how many BCMs does it take to change your headlights to HIDs)

By all means find someone else with the same car and BCM part number as you who has confirmed that the OEM LEDs work but IMO its not worth the ridiculous expense over the home made version.