T6 [Guide] To T6.1 BARN-DOOR TAIL-LAMP UPGRADE -- How I Done It --

[Dellmassive]

That's the brake light.

 

[Andyinfrance]

yes, an LED strip inside.

from memory . . . The bulb locations are in green.

and the Blue is an internal LED.

connected in parallel with the middle bulb.




View attachment 85165

The internal LED connected to the 2 pins is the fog light, which is the small red triangle just below the blue marker line on your photo, not connected in parallel with the middle bulb

 

[Andyinfrance]

On that note does anyone know where to get the LED module for the fog light to insert it in the other light unit where it’s blank so that it can work as twin fog lights ?

 

[Andyinfrance]

Another question for forum members is that I think I read somewhere that the brake light should be brighter power than the side lights ? The bulbs that come with the factory units are all the same wattage and to me appear to have the same brightness when working? Surely a mistake from VW factory ?
has anyone upgraded the brake light bulb to make it more powerful as it appears pretty dim in my opinion ?

 

[Dellmassive]

I was under the impression that the bulb brightness was an effect of the PWM signal from the BCM... and ballast resistors were needed if any filament bulb was swapped to LED.. (appart from the reverse bulb)


I'll have a look at the bulb wattages in mine... for a comparison.

 

[Andyinfrance]

I was under the impression that the bulb brightness was an effect of the PWM signal from the BCM... and ballast resistors were needed if any filament bulb was swapped to LED.. (appart from the reverse bulb)


I'll have a look at the bulb wattages in mine... for a comparison.

I changed all the bulbs for LEDs and ordered extra bright red LEDs (from AliExpress) for the brake lights so works brilliantly now, no issues with warning lights as I have a 2007 T5
Very cheap conversion to do, and apparently the LEDs are canbus compatible so maybe won’t throw up faults for later models T5.1 and T6 ?

 

[simonroberts73]

The bulbs that are fitted to these lights are all 16W for brake, tail, indicator and reverse. If fitting these lights to a model earlier than T6.1, how can you get the tail light to be dimmer than the rest if the bulbs are all the same wattage?

I assume the T6.1 does this through the BCM or another controller.

Going to fit these lights to my T5.1 tomorrow but I suspect the tail lights will be too bright.

 

[Tandyfied]

I just had these fitted to my T5.1 with LED reverse lights installed. I have the dash light come on with the brake pedal as expected. Can anyone provide information as to how to disable this light in VAG COM? Also, maybe a coicidence, but my main beam appears to be stuck on. Occured at the same time as installing the new rear lights. Is that a VAG COM fix as well? Cheers

 

[Howzat]

Just done this mod with the help of this detailed write up so thanks for that @Dellmassive.

Lights work fine but I'm getting "open circuit" error codes on the brake lights, one for each side, when I scan for faults with OBD11.
Anyone else have this?
Can it be fixed?

 

[mmi]

"open circuit" error codes on the brake lights,

Is it just the codes, or also lamp failure light on dash?
Have you disabled lamp diagnosis for brake lights - BCM byte 19 bit 7?

 

[Howzat]

Thanks @mmi.
Just the fault codes, no dash warning.
Haven't tried any further coding. I can certainly try disabling lamp diagnosis later tonight. Will report back.

 

[Howzat]

OK, found the problem. There isn't one.

Basically when fitting the new lights yesterday I fitted one light first then tested it by switching on the van and lights. This must have confused the BCM, as there was a 6.0 and a 6.1 cluster on the van, hence it throwing up the fault codes.
Today after resetting the codes and using the lights then scanning again no fault codes are found. Schoolboy error on my part.

 

[mrMike]

Thanks OP for your post has made fitting the lights piss easy

 

[Raptorstace]

pt2

next up was the LED reversing light bulb., the 4x screws needed removing . . .

View attachment 68747

and then swapping out the bulb, now LED bulbs normally only work one way . . . .

so before screwing everything back together i asked a college to help test the lights . . . if the revers LED didn't work, just rotate it 180deg.

Revers is the bottom left in this shot.

View attachment 68748

once tested you need to remember to re-fit the connector locking tab . . . . it just slides back in the way it come out . . .

View attachment 68749


..

newxt we moved over to the passenger side,

removed thepurple locking tab . . .

Then de-pinned to connector . . . . .


View attachment 68750

There is only 5 pins this side, so you need to remove the green bung and move that too.

once re-pinned the connector should look something like this . . .


View attachment 68751


a quick test with a colouge shows that all the lights were working as expected . . .

View attachment 68752


so it was time to refit them . . . . first lining up the pillars, the sideing the clusters into place from the outside of the van, pushing inwards . .


once they are lined up,you can replace the 2x screws each . .


see pt3

Can you telle how many bulbs were in the right hand cluster mines doesn't seem to have a fog bulb? Brake, rear, reverse and indicator,... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Power ut]

Slim chance but would t6.1 oem lights rewire into a early t5 ( same lights in pic above

 

[CAB]

Slim chance but would t6.1 oem lights rewire into a early t5 ( same lights in pic above

Someone on Page 1 said they did? 2004 T5?

 

[Power ut]

Someone on Page 1 said they did? 2004 T5?

I assumed traveling lite weren't oem lights they fitted

 

[CAB]

I assumed traveling lite weren't oem lights they fitted

Dellmassive's original post was about OEM lights from Travelinlite.

I thought it was odd, but presumably they used to do them?

In any case, presume T6.1 aftermarket will fit if T6.1 OEM do? And you have to repin it anyway.

I'm no expert though!

 

[Power ut]

Give it a go and they wired up (ps are these right for side lights ) as top corner ones light up when I press brake pedal) in a early 06 t5

 

[Norton j]

I note the top part of these lights only illuminate when the brake light is on. A t6.1 has the top part illuminated all the time when side lights are on. My question is ....... is this just how they are when retro fitted to a t6 ?.