ModestW12

Might as well ask while the thread is hot...

What's the biggest benefit to LEDs on the auxilliary lights (non-headlight/taillight/turn signals)? Lower power consumption? Longer lasting? Brighter? Maybe the biggest benefit depends on which light you are replacing?

And of all the lights that have been swapped to LED, which seemed to offer the biggest improvement/benefits (besides the DRL since the W12's are LED)? Just looking for an idea for the next mini project.

Thanks for your time...

Brozee

Really the only pro to LED's is look. Besides LED's in taillights as they do switch on faster than conventional brake light bulbs, this was a gimmick shown by many companies to show their car is safer than others. When the turn on time between conventional and LED you would never notice the difference. One other thing is that an LED is either immediately on or immediately off, while convential bulbs are a bit slower at going on or off. Were talking milliseconds. Anyone likes the look of something that is non-OEM or different. Sure LED's do use less energy, but these bulbs are already tricking the system to think the OEM bulbs are in. As for brightness yes the LED's are much brighter but as they are parking lights or door lights, brightness would only be for looks as well. I personally think the LED's look really cool.

For the person that asked about interior LED's, what lights would he replace with LED's? The interior lighting is already LED's I belive and if not theirs no need or benefit on changing those, the reading light is a bright white light as well, only yellow lights I can think of in the interior is the overhead lights in the front and rear seats.

FlyTyinFool

I've only owned mine since last spring so I haven't really been able to see an advantage to the replacement lamps because it's usually light out (or mostly light) while I'm driving. However, with winter quickly approaching I am getting ready to do some of the light mods because I will actually be able to make use of them.

The ones I want to replace the most are the bulbs under the exterior mirrors. I can see how lighting the ground around the car when I unlock and approach it would be nice. The ones under the doors are pretty cool too, but they don't come into play until after the door is open.

Of course, there is a practical angle to all this (I'm always thinking of a way to justify buying this car to my wife). Lighting the ground around the car when it's dark out will help me steer my sweetie around puddles (it rains all the time here) so she doesn't get her pretty new shoes wet (that would be her expenditures that she is always trying to justify).

Yup! Practicality always wins out!

ModestW12

I'll have to look again tomorrow but the LEDs in my photos turned out really blue. I would prefer pure white. I ordered off of autolumination and bought the 4 LED 12 mm x 30 mm Cool White 194 type lights.

williebone

I've just noticed that there is a Small Light Cover beneath the External Mirrors, but mine doesn't Light Up. I'm assuming that this is a Standard Feature on all A8s. Can anyone Shed some Light on this Feature? "No Pun Intended" Do I need to replace Bulbs or a maybe a Fuse to get these to Work or is there an Activation Required?

When did you order these? I've had this long discussion with Tracy at Autolumination that her Bulb Base on the Canbus Section has Changed from an Open Base to a Plastic Base and she swears that they are Still Canbus LEDs. Doe's your LEDs have a Plastic Base or an Open Base (Bare Strip)? Laters,

Brozee

Yes, the lights under the mirrors are supposed to light up. Mine are stock LED's and they are quite bright when they light up the ground a pure white looking light just like the door handles emit. And the bulbs I ordered off autolumination just over a month ago all were open with the strips bare open. Although I believe they have to be to fit in the ports to power them.

ModestW12

I ordered them two or three weeks ago. They have an open base/bare strip. They are exactly the ones in the photos AEinaD3 posted in one of his LED conversion threads (attached). At the time I ordered them, there was only one option in the drop down for the color temp. When I checked today, it shows cool white as the only option and I believe that is the option that was there when I ordered.

Perhaps the reason it looks so blue in the photos is because of the night time/low light exposure mode I was taking the photos with. I had the camera on a tripod and the shutter was open for a long time. Regardless, I did not personally perceive the lighting to be significantly brighter like I had hoped.

I did notice some unusual behavior while tinkering with the lights today. If I press down slightly on the LED light while it's fully inserted in the housing and lit, it gets much brighter (at least 100% more light output). It stays this way as long as I gently press on it. I can reproduce this with all of the lights in all of the housings (trunk and puddle lights). I'll try to record a video tonight and post it. I wonder if the metal housing is making contact somewhere on the light that causes it to bypass the error cancelling mechanism and give it full juice. I don't even know what a light error looks like and didn't see any errors in the car display after I experimented with the lights and then drove my car. I don't know if these light errors show up in vacgom (I don't have access to vagcom to test)?

Also after installing them initially, I noticed they don't sit center like the stock bulbs so I cut off approximately 2mm of circuit board and contact strip from the contact ends of the bulbs (right up to the Y at the SY lettering). I played around with inserting aluminum foil to reflect light emitted by the back side LEDs. Foil is conductive so I could only place some at the ends of the whitish plastic covers where there was little chance of making contact with the metal housing. If I can manage to find a mirrored sticker I'll consider replacing the foil although then I might run into problems with heat melting the sticker and/or adhesive.

A&AEuroTuning

I sell the complete set for led swap... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOwZAntx8gU

williebone

But No Thanks!

Mister Bally

I think I'll give my A8L the "Ca$h Cab" ceiling light treatment. LLLLLLMFAO!