Red Halogen or LED footwell bulbs

[OJ9693]

I want to swap my footwell bulbs for red to match the ambient door lights.

I have just had a look to see if they were LED as i've browsed other posts and people said they were, however mine are W5W Halogen.

Now my question is can i simply swap these for LED bulbs or will this produce faults?

I'm a bit paranoid as i tried swapping bulbs in my Renault Clio (i know, it was my first car i ever bought) and it then created so much faults resulting in a new alternator and sizzling loads of wiring. At least i think that's what caused it, could've been a coincidence, however 80% of the bulbs i put in were then dead.

Recommendations please?

 

[davidstarkey11]

I can't imagine swapping to LED would cause any physical harm to the electrics. It might give a dash light. I thought to prevent this you just need to ensure that the LEDs you buy are "Canbus Error Free".

 

[Deleted member 103408]

back in the day people put a red film on the cover or use a red felt tip pen lightly and that did the job.

 

[OJ9693]

I can't imagine swapping to LED would cause any physical harm to the electrics. It might give a dash light. I thought to prevent this you just need to ensure that the LEDs you buy are "Canbus Error Free".

Ah that canbus word again. Somebody mentioned this to me before but i still don't understand what that is.
The ones i purchased were from ebay which were of course cheap, probably why things went wrong.

Do you think these ones i found will be alright to pop in?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/T10-501-...=132929063898609a8dd28f15462b8b4e78a2445835cd

 

[OJ9693]

back in the day people put a red film on the cover or use a red felt tip pen lightly and that did the job.

I saw a couple of posts saying this too, funny because i have a red pen handy and the bulb right in front of me..

I would rather just buy LED's if it will work

 

[black_sheep]

Canbus error free bulbs just have built in resistors, so that the power drawn is comparable to a halogen bulb and thus the bulb monitoring system (via canbus) doesn’t think that a bulb has blown / error on dash.

The internal bulbs are not monitored, so doesn’t matter which you fit. However, I’ve used canbus error free bulbs in the past for bulbs that dim. Also, non-canbus error free bulbs can also be dimly lit even when off.

edit: just remembered on the Leon you can dim the bulbs in the front foot wells too.

 

[OJ9693]

Canbus error free bulbs just have built in resistors, so that the power drawn is comparable to a halogen bulb and thus the bulb monitoring system (via canbus) doesn’t think that a bulb has blown / error on dash.

The internal bulbs are not monitored, so doesn’t matter which you fit. However, I’ve used canbus error free bulbs in the past for bulbs that dim. Also, non-canbus error free bulbs can also be dimly lit even when off.

Perfect, thanks.

 

[OJ9693]

I've got them at about 60% i think.

I just tried the red sharpie method and it's very dim! even when i turned the brightness up.

I'll order some LED's, will also put them in the above head lighting in the middle.

Thanks all for helping the rookie!

 

[Sword]

back in the day people put a red film on the cover or use a red felt tip pen lightly and that did the job.

I did this on mine, took 10 minutes, the film cost just over £1 from Ebay and the results are great.

 

[The Daily Meme]

I bought some Twenty20 bulbs to replace my indicators as the standard filament bulbs were useless.

They make LED interior bulbs too but they aren't red.

https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/269-30mm-led-bulbs/

 

[OJ9693]

I bought some Twenty20 bulbs to replace my indicators as the standard filament bulbs were useless.

They make LED interior bulbs too but they aren't red.

https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/269-30mm-led-bulbs/

Nice, i've ordered some red ones now.
I was thinking about changing the number plate ones too but to bright white so i think these will be good for that.

 

[black_sheep]

Nice, i've ordered some red ones now.
I was thinking about changing the number plate ones too but to bright white so i think these will be good for that.

I thought that the number plate bulbs were LED as standard on the Leon pre-FL and FL (FR, Cupra and probably some other high-spec models). When recoded as LEDs brightness is normally set to 127% as standard, but it may be possible to increase this, but may cause the bulbs to fail prematurely due to additional heat.

 

[OJ9693]

I thought that the number plate bulbs were LED as standard on the Leon pre-FL and FL (FR, Cupra and probably some other high-spec models). When recoded as LEDs brightness is normally set to 127% as standard, but it may be possible to increase this, but may cause the bulbs to fail prematurely due to additional heat.

I actually looked on my lunch break today and you’re right they are LED.

I don’t often go out in my car at night time to be able to check their brightness, just something I assumed I’d upgrade. Glad you mentioned, waste of a tenner other wise ha.

 

[OJ9693]

So my bulbs arrived.. they work in the above-head bit near rear view mirror, but they don’t work in the footwell??

Also one is flickering?

Why do they not work in the footwell? It’s the same LED’s. The fuse is still good because the original bulbs are working when I put them back in.

 

[black_sheep]

So my bulbs arrived.. they work in the above-head bit near rear view mirror, but they don’t work in the footwell??

Also one is flickering?

Why do they not work in the footwell? It’s the same LED’s. The fuse is still good because the original bulbs are working when I put them back in.

Some LEDs need the correct polarity to work - take the bulb out, rotate 180 degrees and place it back in the holder (you probably just fluked the correct polarity in the overhead console!). If flickering, it’s either a loose connection (slightly squeeze the metal connections together to clamp the bulb), or the LED is damaged.


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[OJ9693]

I did try twisting them 180 but had the same results which i couldn't understand.
I will try and squeeze the contacts a bit and see if that helps.
Also tried a couple of them in each and same results.

Could be a coincidence i picked out some broken ones but i have 12 so i should hope at least 10 work!

 

[OJ9693]

It seems to be the more I add the more they flicker..

 

[OJ9693]

Some LEDs need the correct polarity to work - take the bulb out, rotate 180 degrees and place it back in the holder (you probably just fluked the correct polarity in the overhead console!). If flickering, it’s either a loose connection (slightly squeeze the metal connections together to clamp the bulb), or the LED is damaged.


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Believe it or not there is actually two that don't work.

I've swapped some over that needed spinning 180 and now they work, however, with the ignition on but not started eventually they start to flicker. is this because they're using a lot of power?

 

[Joe_3490]

Can the lights in the footwell be dimmed when the display is dimmed?
If so this will be the cause of the Issue, As a dimmer to dim standard filament of a bulb it send an on/off pulse to the bulb this will cause it to be on off on off at a rate faster than the human eye that it just doesnt get as bright, but with LED's as they are instant on/off then the dim feature will not work unless they are designed for a dimmer and have the components required to regulate the power to the LED's to adjust the brightness,

As we all know LED brightness is dependant on amount of power into the LED, sometimes a resistor is all thats required to get around the power flux,

But as you mentioned the more you add the more likely they are to flicker, lets not forget the power distribution is configured for standard bulbs not LED bulbs. I have a ceiling light at home that has 5 small G4 bulbs and i replaced 4 to LED and had to leave 1 halogen bulb in otherwise i got the flickering, and that one bulb is what helps to regulate the power to the others to prevent the flickering.

Please correct me on any mistakes i may have made.

 

[OJ9693]

Can the lights in the footwell be dimmed when the display is dimmed?
If so this will be the cause of the Issue, As a dimmer to dim standard filament of a bulb it send an on/off pulse to the bulb this will cause it to be on off on off at a rate faster than the human eye that it just doesnt get as bright, but with LED's as they are instant on/off then the dim feature will not work unless they are designed for a dimmer and have the components required to regulate the power to the LED's to adjust the brightness,

As we all know LED brightness is dependant on amount of power into the LED, sometimes a resistor is all thats required to get around the power flux,

But as you mentioned the more you add the more likely they are to flicker, lets not forget the power distribution is configured for standard bulbs not LED bulbs. I have a ceiling light at home that has 5 small G4 bulbs and i replaced 4 to LED and had to leave 1 halogen bulb in otherwise i got the flickering, and that one bulb is what helps to regulate the power to the others to prevent the flickering.

Please correct me on any mistakes i may have made.

Yes i'm pretty sure they dim and then turn off when doors open and close, same as the above head ones. I can probably look through the menu to turn that off, if not i'll buy some halogen ones
They are error free LED's also.

Thanks for explaining.