# 2010 jetta wolfsburg 2.0t license plate leds



## wolfsburg2point0T (May 27, 2010)

hello fellow enthusiasts! so i recently purchased some led license plate lights for my car and proceeded to install them. installation was a breeze and they work perfectly.










but unfortunatly the bulb out lamp came on. i tried using vagcom to disable the cold lamp diagnostics for the license plate lights but the lamp still comes on. the lights dont turn off or flicker but having that lamp on constantly while driving is annoying. 

i know i have an mkv car but some how it has mkvi electronics. :screwy: anyone out there with a mkvi know how to get past this????


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## wolfsburg2point0T (May 27, 2010)

also if there isnt away to fix this by coding, does anyone know what tyoe of load resistors i have to buy for the lights. the site where i bought the leds from is superbrightleds.com and they have 6 ohm 50 watt and 25 ohm 25 watt resistors for sale.


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## Uwe (Jan 16, 2000)

I don't think there's a way to tell the module that you've installed a lower-current "bulb". 

What's the wattage of the original license plate bulb? Basically, you want your new LEDs plus whatever resistor you put in parallel to draw about the same current as the original bulb. 

Let's assume the original bulb was 5W. 

Power = Volts * Amps, so: 
5W/12V = 0.42 Amps. 

Measure how much current the LED lights pull. Let's assume it's 0.10 Amps. In this case, you would need to add and additional 0.32 A. 

Voltage = Current * Resistance, so: 
12V/0.32A = 37.5 ohms is what you would ideally want, and it would dissipate 12 * 0.32 or about 4W watts. So you'd need a resistor rated to dissipate 5W or more. 

When you make measurements, use whatever voltage you really have in the calculations, typically 12.5 with a fully charged battery and the engine not running, or 14V with the engine running. 

-Uwe-


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## wolfsburg2point0T (May 27, 2010)

yea i went and bought some 150 0hm resistors raed at 5W and installed them. Im glad to say it turned the light off.


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## riceboi84 (Nov 13, 2010)

I just bought some R-Dash ones and mine are doing the same thing... 

Which ones are you running on yours? And how did you setup your resistors? 


Thanks!


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## wolfsburg2point0T (May 27, 2010)

riceboi84 said:


> I just bought some R-Dash ones and mine are doing the same thing...
> 
> Which ones are you running on yours? And how did you setup your resistors?
> 
> ...


I had the Superbrightleds.com ones. I used a 150 ohm .5 watt resistors u can buy at radioshack. Wire one end of the resistor to the power wire going to the license plate lights and the other end of the resistor to the ground wire. Used wire splices that make it quick and easy. Let me know how it goes.


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## riceboi84 (Nov 13, 2010)

Just made a quick trip to the store erlier today...

I bought the wrong resistors, got the 150ohm at 5w instead of .5 (oops)

Currently have it more or less ghetto rigged...wrapped around and each end of the contacts, drove around for about 40min with zero codes!

Maybe I'll get some .5w and try that out...before I clean up the connection.

Thanks a bunch for putting me on the right track!


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## Uwe (Jan 16, 2000)

12V / 150 ohms = 80 mA. 80ma * 12V = 0.96W. I hope those half watt resistors are flame-proof! 

Seriously, do the math and do not use under-sized resistors unless you like random sources of ignition in your car.

-Uwe-


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## wolfsburg2point0T (May 27, 2010)

I've driven on them for a week now. If they would have ignited they should have by now shouldnt they??? Because they guys who told me about them has been running them for a long time and he has no problems.


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## Uwe (Jan 16, 2000)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistor#Power_dissipation

-Uwe-


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## riceboi84 (Nov 13, 2010)

@Uwe-

Thanks for taking to time to point this out...

I guess what I have now is conservative but will borrow a volt meter and do it right...

Thanks!


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## vwemporium (May 27, 2002)

Like an Estes rocket igniter.

Are you running c67's with your 3 stage?

Don't forget the wadding for the nose cone streamers.
:facepalm:


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## Uwe (Jan 16, 2000)

There's no technical reason why one shouldn't use a resistor with a power rating that's "too high". It will simply stay nice and cool and last a very long time. The only reasons not to use one with a power rating that's "too high" are cost and bulk. 

Can one get away with using a resistor with a power rating that's too low? Maybe, for a while. But it's almost guaranteed to fail prematurely. When (not if) it fails, the best case is that it fails like a fuse and just goes open-circuit; the worst case is, it bursts into flames 

Personally, I wouldn't go smaller than a 2W resistor in this application, and if you already have a 5W, there's no reason at all to replace it. I certainly wouldn't put a 1/2W in there, because doing so is literally playing with fire.

-Uwe-

PS: I'm going to as the mods to move this thread to the lighting forum, since it has nothing at all to do with VCDS -- and yes, to a large degree, that's my own fault.


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## wolfsburg2point0T (May 27, 2010)

Lol okay u convinced me I'll swap them out for 5watt ones. Thanks for the info!


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## xJOKERx (Apr 8, 2009)

www.autolumination.com 

festoon bulbs with the canbus chip --- i have them on my car - they don't cost much and no Vag-Com required 


(would be a good idea to turn off the cold diagnostics though, but with the chip installed they won't flicker either)


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## riceboi84 (Nov 13, 2010)

wolfsburg2point0T said:


> Lol okay u convinced me I'll swap them out for 5watt ones. Thanks for the info!


Kinda unrelated...are you're lights flickering on start up (corner,tail, licencse,ect...)?
I just noticed my car doing this the other night...you mind checking to see if yours does it too?

I thought it was due to my LEDs but I swapped them out back to stock and they still flicker...I'm wondering if this is a common thing for 2010+ cars

@at xjokerx- 

For the new cars 2010+, we running on mkvi cecm system, cold diagnostics can't directly be disable via check box option through VCDS...unfortunately Ross-tech doesn't even have exact coding to disable it either at this moment... The byte has been encrypted from the factory


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## riceboi84 (Nov 13, 2010)

wolfsburg2point0T said:


> Lol okay u convinced me I'll swap them out for 5watt ones. Thanks for the info!


Kinda unrelated...are you're lights flickering on start up (corner,tail, licencse,ect...)?
I just noticed my car doing this the other night...you mind checking to see if yours does it too?

I thought it was due to my LEDs but I swapped them out back to stock and they still flicker...I'm wondering if this is a common thing for 2010+ cars

@at xjokerx- 

For the new cars 2010+, we running on mkvi cecm system, cold diagnostics can't directly be disable via check box option through VCDS...unfortunately Ross-tech doesn't even have exact coding to disable it either at this moment... The byte has been encrypted from the factory


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## wolfsburg2point0T (May 27, 2010)

Nope. None of my lights flicker


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## miraculousboy (Mar 3, 2009)

thats what i did but have heat problem, do u?





wolfsburg2point0T said:


> I had the Superbrightleds.com ones. I used a 150 ohm .5 watt resistors u can buy at radioshack. Wire one end of the resistor to the power wire going to the license plate lights and the other end of the resistor to the ground wire. Used wire splices that make it quick and easy. Let me know how it goes.


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## vw131999 (May 4, 2011)

You need to get canbus error free led lights, I have rdash on my car and they work fine no bulb out or flickering. Need to remove cold diagnostics and erase your code ( bulb out ) :beer:


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## riceboi84 (Nov 13, 2010)

I'm using Rdash also for my rear plates and have switch all my other bulbs back to stock...I don't have error codes...just my lights flicker on startup (all lights) due to cold diagnostics I'm assuming.

I know for older MKV cars you can manually disable cold diagnostics (via VCDS)...but not for 2010 MKV's...


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