Styling So I figured out :P

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Styling So I figured out :P

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Jan 22, 2009
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When I still had my Grande Punto I bought some super bright LED number plate lightbulbs that look like the new style BMW ones. Now as you might know, the Grande and the EVO have bulb failure detection systems for the lights meaning your unable to use LEDs as the cars CANBUS computer system thinks that there is no bulb because LEDs use very low power compared to a standard halogen. It cuts the power to the lightbulb and your LED bulb doesn't work.

However the ones I bought were designed to fool the CANBUS system into thinking their is a normal bulb and the bulb should work fine. On my Grande Punto they lit up but activated the light on the dash and the warning message when you turn the engine on, and that annoyed me so I took them out.

Thought I'd try them in my EVO just incase the newer Fiat CANBUS system which was designed for the series two Grandes, mine was a series one, would allow them to fully work. THEY DID :). No error no nothing. Work completely perfect.

This means if I can find some for sale, we could all start having LED DRLs that would have the bright white look that other manufacturers use on higher end models, with no errors at all. They would be brighter too than those of us who have mtec DRLs

Thank me later :cool:

EDIT: Ok I've found the bulbs that I think will work and they are £7 including P&P
 
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I’ve had a look but can’t seem to find any canbus LED’s that come in the T20 fitment.:cry:
Found plenty of T10’s that would replace the sidelights but nothing that would fit the DRL’s!
I think it may look awkward having the sidelights as LED’s but not being able to match the DRL’s to them.
If you’ve fitted the sidelights with LED’s do they match up better with the Mtec DRL’s? :confused:
 
I’ve had a look but can’t seem to find any canbus LED’s that come in the T20 fitment.:cry:
Found plenty of T10’s that would replace the sidelights but nothing that would fit the DRL’s!
I think it may look awkward having the sidelights as LED’s but not being able to match the DRL’s to them.
If you’ve fitted the sidelights with LED’s do they match up better with the Mtec DRL’s? :confused:

I've managed to find LED for T20 fitment, says it works off of 12v but doesnt mention the wattage. But for such a cheap price it's worth a go lol.

My CANBUS LED number plate lights are 501 same as front sidelights. But they have a wider top than a normal 501 so I can't get them to fit in the front sidelight socket. Only the numberplate lights. I'm gonna invest in some narrower ones for the front sidelights because the Mtec ones are not that bright to be fair!
 
With regards to you comment about the evo not having a error message with the LED lights in the plates lights I have a different output...... I fitted the cambus LED in my sidelights they sure worked but I still had the error message :(. I fitted them around 3 months ago when i first got my car but took them out becuase the error was doing my nut in. I ended up with mtec sidelights so rubbish compared to LEDs. wish they jus fitted or atleast gave a option to have LED DRL the dont cost that much and so many people would opt for them!!!

p.s how hard are the fogs to change i was not going to change them but many evo owners have and well fell alittle left out lol.
 
Anyone got any links to these lights you are talking about ? I never heard of this LED fooling system before. As I was pretty pleased with the way my MTEC DRL worked as they look cool and blue. But my mtec / osram sidelights (I tried them both) were really disappointing.

Another idea im stealing :LOL:

Edit - I found some on ebay, but what ones are people opting for ?
 
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With regards to you comment about the evo not having a error message with the LED lights in the plates lights I have a different output...... I fitted the cambus LED in my sidelights they sure worked but I still had the error message :(. I fitted them around 3 months ago when i first got my car but took them out becuase the error was doing my nut in. I ended up with mtec sidelights so rubbish compared to LEDs. wish they jus fitted or atleast gave a option to have LED DRL the dont cost that much and so many people would opt for them!!!

p.s how hard are the fogs to change i was not going to change them but many evo owners have and well fell alittle left out lol.

Hmmm, maybe I've just been lucky with the lights I bought.

To change the foglight bulbs:

Unscrew a screw in the plastic surround which is very close to the foglight glass on the top.
Remove very carefully the plastic grill part that sourrounds the foglight. Be patient as it feels really flimsy and is only clipped in with plastic bits. This I found the hardest part.
Then you unscrew the 3 screws that hold the actual foglight on to the car itself and remove the whole foglight from the car.
Pull out the bulb and replace then backtrack these steps.

I found it a right fiddle at first but second and third times were a breeze :)
 
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Anyone got any links to these lights you are talking about ? I never heard of this LED fooling system before. As I was pretty pleased with the way my MTEC DRL worked as they look cool and blue. But my mtec / osram sidelights (I tried them both) were really disappointing.

Another idea im stealing :LOL:

Edit - I found some on ebay, but what ones are people opting for ?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/T10-W5W-Parki...CarParts_SM&hash=item4aa38cce1e#ht_4267wt_812

These are the ones I have, however they are only suitable for the rear number plate lights as they are too wide to fit in the front sidelights

Your looking for anything names SMD LED NO ERROR CANBUS 501 bulbs

More LEDs per bulb means more even light distribution :)
 
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Finally managed to find the correct fitment LED CANBUS DRL bulbs, you can have them sent from Italy… their about £30 though! :eek:
But at least you can get them (y)

Im going to see what the sidelight LED's are like before I order any.
 
Finally managed to find the correct fitment LED CANBUS DRL bulbs, you can have them sent from Italy… their about £30 though! :eek:
But at least you can get them (y)

Im going to see what the sidelight LED's are like before I order any.

Can you post a link, make sure they are T20 7440 and NOT 7443 as the later one is double function and acts as a rear sidelight with brake function and won't work in our single function DRLs
 
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I will let you be the test dummies. But sounds good and im sure it will look good too.

I thinking I might keep my day time lights mtecs as I like the look of the blue from them. I will defiantly change my sidelights as they are rubbish, tried mtecs and osram, disappointed with both. What difference did the rear number bulbs make ? as I never really thought about changing them.
 
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I will let you be the test dummies. But sounds good and im sure it will look good too.

I thinking I might keep my day time lights mtecs as I like the look of the blue from them. I will defiantly change my sidelights as they are rubbish, tried mtecs and osram, disappointed with both. What difference did the rear number bulbs make ? as I never really thought about changing them.

The LED number plate lights give a more bright white look over the plate which really caches your eye. Much better than standard yellow ones
 
Has anyone changed these yet? if so do you have pictures?

Im thinking they are the W5W (501) canbus friendly ones? with one LED at the top?

If someone can confirm the ones to get im more than happy to order some and take pics for people.

Just read that someone had trouble fitting them into the sidelights? have any suitable ones been found for that? If we find suitable LED ones for the DRLs then i shall be wanting to fit some LEDs in the sidelights to look even.
The M-TEC DRLs go well with the Blue-Vision sidelights atm. Blue-Vision main beams arent amazing though (much better than standard but nothing like HID)
 
Hi Guys

I had the same problem as you guys, i installed 501 8SMD Error Free Canbus LED's for the sidelights and number plate, however the bulb warning light still came on

So what i did was simple, unscrewed the dashboard fascia and then took out the dashboard completely (its very easy to do trust me). When that was out i unscrewed the back of it and was confronted by a what looked like a white motherboard with the bulbs in etc, now the bulb warning light is concealed right at the top of the dashboard and no way of just taking it out, instead i just got a small piece of card to slot into the top that would cover the bulb light if it came on during ignition.

Now this is a very easy, simple solution, i havent experienced any problems so far and now my bulb warning light is not shown, even with my so called canbus error free LED's, so you can put as many LED's as you want without spending stupid money on purchasing resistors

When you come to sell the car you can just take it out and hey presto your light will be working again!

It took me 10 mins tops and now i can enjoy LED's without the stupid bright warning light glaring at me
 
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