Red Halogen or LED footwell bulbs

[black_sheep]

Error free LEDs work with fine with the car dimmer control, (which in cars is generally via a capacitance circuit), and operates slightly differently to a dimmer switch in a house which chops part of the ac sine wave - the resistors fitted to the error free bulbs are similar to what was described above where a halogen bulb was used in series with 4 LEDs so that the dimmer function would still work (as the filament in the halogen bulb is a pseudo resistor). With aftermarket LEDs there is a threshold at which the are either on or off, but some do flicker around this level.

What lighting level % do you have the flickering bulbs set to?

The menus are different between the pre-FL and the FL.

Pre-FL (from memory): CAR>>Settings>>Light>>Footwell and set % on sliding scale.

FL:
Vehicle>>Settings>>Background Lighting>>select symbol bottom left (brightness icon)>>select radio button (brake pedal position)>>use sliding scale

The lighting level needs to be at +20-30% to be at a threshold where they stay illuminated for aftermarket LEDs. On the FL and my A3, all of the interior bulbs were LED from the factory, so obviously work across the full range.

In terms of LED quality, I fitted ones that you have to an Octavia, and the only ones that used to fail were in the sidelight position (due to overheating after approx 6 months, but at qty 10 for c.£6 I could live with it). The best quality LEDs that I’ve used were the fizzmo ones from eBay - didn’t have a single one fail, and never had one fail out of the box.

 

[OJ9693]

Error free LEDs work with fine with the car dimmer control, (which in cars is generally via a capacitance circuit), and operates slightly differently to a dimmer switch in a house which chops part of the ac sine wave - the resistors fitted to the error free bulbs are similar to what was described above where a halogen bulb was used in series with 4 LEDs so that the dimmer function would still work (as the filament in the halogen bulb is a pseudo resistor). With aftermarket LEDs there is a threshold at which the are either on or off, but some do flicker around this level.

What lighting level % do you have the flickering bulbs set to?

The menus are different between the pre-FL and the FL.

Pre-FL (from memory): CAR>>Settings>>Light>>Footwell and set % on sliding scale.

FL:
Vehicle>>Settings>>Background Lighting>>select symbol bottom left (brightness icon)>>select radio button (brake pedal position)>>use sliding scale

The lighting level needs to be at +20-30% to be at a threshold where they stay illuminated for aftermarket LEDs. On the FL and my A3, all of the interior bulbs were LED from the factory, so obviously work across the full range.

In terms of LED quality, I fitted ones that you have to an Octavia, and the only ones that used to fail were in the sidelight position (due to overheating after approx 6 months, but at qty 10 for c.£6 I could live with it). The best quality LEDs that I’ve used were the fizzmo ones from eBay - didn’t have a single one fail, and never had one fail out of the box.

Are yours bright enough at 20-30% ?

I have pre facelift and i've set them to 100% temporarily to see how bright they were.
I've now purchased some halogens to try, just to see how bright they are/not.
I got them from ebay and from memory i think they were 'Argo'
Went to the cinema in Milton Keynes last night and after driving for 5 minutes they started flickering again, so i'll just remove them and swap for these new ones.

 

[black_sheep]

20-30% was the minimum in order for them to be illuminated, due to the characteristic of LED vs halogen bulb. Obviously, you have chosen red light - by very nature of the wavelength of the light emitted, red will not be as bright as white light - this is why we use red torches to perform military tasks at night.

If too dim, then perhaps try the flat wedge type, uni-direction (180 deg) with 6 SMDs:

2X T10 w5w Car Lights 6 5630-SMD COB Bulbs LED Indicator ERROR FREE CANBUS Wedge

Obviously, these are white in colour; you may have to do some searching to find red ones.

 

[OJ9693]

So you're saying they shouldn't flicker at a lower brightness?
I've put the halogens in now which are obviously considerably less bright but if a lower brightness with LED's will still be slightly brighter than the halogens i'd swap them back ha.
I will have a look at those thanks!

 

[black_sheep]

Using the dimmer control with LEDs fitted:

0-10% off. 10-30% may flicker on/off depending on led bulb type. 30%+ constant illumination.

 

[James_FRwagon]

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?

I fitted red LED's to mine. Work fine, ordered a job lot of them for like £9 on Amazon and like 20 came so I'm well sorted haha. Looks way better. Been in for about a year so far haven't had to change them yet.

 

[OJ9693]

I fitted red LED's to mine. Work fine, ordered a job lot of them for like £9 on Amazon and like 20 came so I'm well sorted haha. Looks way better. Been in for about a year so far haven't had to change them yet.

Is yours a facelift?

Apparently the facelift come with LED's as stock so they will work fine, where as mine, the pre facelift, they won't

The halogens don't look too bad to be fair, it's more of a subtle glow even on 100% brightness, which i kind of like.

 

[James_FRwagon]

it's a pre-facelift mate. my LED's arent crazy bright, but it's enough to light your shoes up red. I like them!

 

[OJ9693]

it's a pre-facelift mate. my LED's arent crazy bright, but it's enough to light your shoes up red. I like them!

Ah i see. You must have a different spec package or something which had LED's from stock. Mine is an FR Technology.

 

[James_FRwagon]

Ah i see. You must have a different spec package or something which had LED's from stock. Mine is an FR Technology.

Mines an FR technology estate, trust me it had halogens in when i removed them!

 

[OJ9693]

Mines an FR technology estate, trust me it had halogens in when i removed them!

Oh really, what brightness do you have yours set to?