# LED lights for 2009 Wolfsburg Jetta



## Emonster78 (Dec 26, 2011)

Alright people, I think that I need a little help regarding light bulb replacement. I recently received LEDs for my license plate and parking lights. When testing the bulbs, the parking light LEDs would come on for approximately 5 seconds, then shut off. The darn license plate LEDs don't even come on. Call me a bit slow if you wish,  but how do I correct this situation? A buddy of mine advised me that because LEDs put out less power than conventional bulbs, the computer detects the bulbs as being "blown out". Because of that, he says that I may need resistors. Is there any validity in this information? And if so, exactly what type of resistors do I need? Specifics would be greatly appreciated (such as wattage, ohms, etc.). 

If this helps, this is the description of the bulbs: 

*Parking lights *- WLED-xHP15- TAC: LED T10 Wedge Base Bulb / WLED-CWHP15- TAC 
*License plate lights *- 3610-x4: 4 LED Festoon Bulb - 3610-CW4 

Thanks in advance to anybody that is able and willing to assist me.


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## xJOKERx (Apr 8, 2009)

Emonster78 said:


> Alright people, I think that I need a little help regarding light bulb replacement. I recently received LEDs for my license plate and parking lights. When testing the bulbs, the parking light LEDs would come on for approximately 5 seconds, then shut off. The darn license plate LEDs don't even come on. Call me a bit slow if you wish,  but how do I correct this situation? A buddy of mine advised me that because LEDs put out less power than conventional bulbs, the computer detects the bulbs as being "blown out". Because of that, he says that I may need resistors. Is there any validity in this information? And if so, exactly what type of resistors do I need? Specifics would be greatly appreciated (such as wattage, ohms, etc.).
> 
> If this helps, this is the description of the bulbs:
> 
> ...


 licence plate LEDs - purchase ones with canbus attached and it will work (as i have) 

several brands that are available - Ziza, or i purchased mine through www.autolumination.com and just look up the Festoon type (middle of the page) w/ canbus attached. 

I bought the 3 SMD pad and they are super bright - still working after 2yrs without issue. 

Parking lights same thing... just look up the T10, 168, 194 LED w/ canbus - Autolumination or ZIZA again.. 

*Autolumination has them for cheaper 

Lastly - www.performanceleds.com has an MK5 kit too - good customer service as well


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## Emonster78 (Dec 26, 2011)

Great! So now, I'm just assed out for the bulbs that I purchased from Superbright LEDs. I really like those bulbs too. Alright, well thanks a lot for the info. It really does help me out. I have to figure out what I'm gonna do. I need a drink. :beer:


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## Emonster78 (Dec 26, 2011)

*LED lights for Wolfsburg Jetta*

One other thing: what is a canbus? i've never heard of that before? I'm checking out www.autolumination.com right now and I see the Xenon bulbs that replace both the festoons for the License plate and the replacements for the parking. Are those the ones that you have, or did you use LEDs?


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## xJOKERx (Apr 8, 2009)

Emonster78 said:


> One other thing: what is a canbus? i've never heard of that before? I'm checking out www.autolumination.com right now and I see the Xenon bulbs that replace both the festoons for the License plate and the replacements for the parking. Are those the ones that you have, or did you use LEDs?


 Canbus is the type of ECU we have in the car. Its used to talk to the circuits in the car to make sure everything is working. if it finds low resistance than what it's programmed for then it shuts the circuit off and gives the bulb out warning 

The LED w/ Canbus tells the computer that the bulb is running normal so it will allow it to stay on instead of shut off because of the low resistance. Depending up on the bulbs some may require a resistor in place, but that is usually for larger bulbs that would require more resistance in the line. 

Like for instance i have LED reverse bulbs and i had to use a resistor in place so they would work properly (secondly reversing the polarity of the harness too). 


Secondly if you find them "pulsing" when you turn the ignition on it's because the cold diagnostics in the computer is sending signals to test the circuits. Because LED's run on such low voltage/amps it causes them to flicker/pulse. This can be disabled through Vag-Com and it will stop that. 

I had this issue in the beginning with some aftermarket headlights that I used to have and led strip in the bottom.... did the research and disabled and it never happened again. Some people notice when they switch to LED tail lights this happens as well. Those headlights didn't require anything for resistance because i had enough LED's in the strip to satisfy the circuit so it stayed on.


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## Emonster78 (Dec 26, 2011)

Wow! That's a hell of a lot of information. I appreciate that! I'll visit the website again to try to determine which bulbs have canbus. Man, thanks again. You sound like you really know your stuff. :thumbup:


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## BetaOp9 (May 4, 2006)

xJOKERx said:


> Lastly - www.performanceleds.com has an MK5 kit too - good customer service as well


 American company and 2 year warranty. 

:thumbup::thumbup:


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## xJOKERx (Apr 8, 2009)

welcome! anytime! - check out performance LED's first i think - since they did reply to this post


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## gough14 (Mar 12, 2012)

You can use the same bulbs but you need to add a Load Resistor you can also buy on superbrightleds.com 

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-...tion=DispPage&Page2Disp=/tail-brake-turn.html 

and scroll to the bottom of the page. That worked for me. You dont need new bulbs.


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## xJOKERx (Apr 8, 2009)

gough14 said:


> You can use the same bulbs but you need to add a Load Resistor you can also buy on superbrightleds.com
> 
> http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-...tion=DispPage&Page2Disp=/tail-brake-turn.html
> 
> and scroll to the bottom of the page. That worked for me. You dont need new bulbs.


 
whenever you tap into the system with resistors you have to be careful if under warranty. Because when they run diagnostics on the car it will show a resistance or open circuit where you tapped it. Thus warranty void for the circuit since modified. 

that's the only reason why i would recommend the canbus bulbs, no need to tap the connections or splice connections with taps/disconnects 

*edit* mainly saying the above for people who might not know how to install them or would want to do the extra work (which does take 5 minutes) but not everyone wants to mess with it.


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## gough14 (Mar 12, 2012)

xJOKERx said:


> whenever you tap into the system with resistors you have to be careful if under warranty. Because when they run diagnostics on the car it will show a resistance or open circuit where you tapped it. Thus warranty void for the circuit since modified.
> 
> that's the only reason why i would recommend the canbus bulbs, no need to tap the connections or splice connections with taps/disconnects
> 
> *edit* mainly saying the above for people who might not know how to install them or would want to do the extra work (which does take 5 minutes) but not everyone wants to mess with it.


Oh true I didnt think about the warranty thats just what i did And your right some people might not want to take the 5 min to put on! Many different ways of doing it:thumbup:


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