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Astra K rear turn indicator LED modification (no error)

33K views 27 replies 13 participants last post by  vaskion 
#1 ·
Hi fellow Astra K owners, this is my first time posting here after lurking for 3 months. I have acquired a Holden Astra K RS hatchback with 1.6T and equivalent SRI VX trim in New Zealand on January 2019. I have immediately noticed that although the car has beautiful LED DRL and integrated turn signal at front, the rear turn signals are traditional bulbs and doesn't flash in sync with the front ones, which is a bit irritating.

I have thus started the quest of converting the rear turn signals to LED to match the front. After reading many forum posts and foraging on eBay, Aliexpress for a couple of weeks, I have finally put together a solution to this conversion and successfully put it into my car today. I want to share this knowledge with all the Astra K lovers here.

Let's look at the results first:

Firstly, this mod is completely reversible. There is no drilling, cutting and soldering of anything comes with the car. It can be reverted in minute's notice.

Secondly, the heat output by the load resistor is mild. Although it starts to get warm after a couple of minutes continuous use of the indicators, it is not in contact with anything plastic and the closest reflector surface stays completely cold.

If you are comfortable performing very simple soldering and can use double sided tape. Please go head and read it.

1. Getting the bulbs:
I have bought the 2x bulbs from here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-x-Amber-T15-3030-24SMD-Error-Free-LED-Bulbs-For-Car-Backup-Reverse-Lights/153140079907
The shape provides 360 degrees illumination. It has integrated rectifier so polarity doesn't matter. It also has proper constant current LED driving circuit so the LED elements doesn't get degraded with use.
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2. Take the rear light assembly out and apart.
If you don't know how, search on the forum or google. Be careful not to break the plastic clamps. There are 3 very tight clamps and just pry them open by hand. Don't use a screw driver since it exerts to much force and can damage them.
On the assembly there is P21W brake light and W16W turn signal light. We will remove them both for ease of handling.
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3. Strengthen the LED module
Mix some 2 part glue and run them along all the edges and seams of the LED module and wait for them to set for at least 30min. This makes sure the light assembly is structurally strong and doesn't get damaged by vibration.
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4. Get the resistors:
I have bought the 2x resistors from here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/0-01-5k-Ohm-Watt-Shell-Power-Aluminum-Housed-Case-Wirewound-25-50-100W-Resistor/183603453219
Make sure to select 15R as Ohm and 25W as Power. I have calculated this value to be fairly conservative. The LED themselves consumes 4W of power by measurement. The resistor only needs to dissipate 12W of power for the Canbus bulb out detecting circuit to pass.
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5. Treat the LED contact points
The LED's contact points are a bit thin, so the LED will mount loosely and might dislodge themselves by driving vibrations. We want a very secure mod, so put a layer of solder on the contact pins. A very thin layer is enough (0.3mm) for a very firm mount.
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6. Prepare resistor contact pins
Find 4x coated copper wires of 0.8mm thick and 20 - 25mm long. The best ones can be found from electronic component legs, like resistors, capacitors. Make a slight bent on one end as in the picture below.
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7. Solder wires to resistor
Solder wires to both ends of the resistor. Use ample of solder and make sure to heat them properly. Cold solder points can crack when exposed to repeated mechanical stress, like driving. If you don't know how to solder, watch some youtube tutorials and practice before you do this on the actual car mod.
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8. Get the mounting tape
I use 3M Scotch outdoor double sided mounting tape. You can use something similar. The stronger the glue the better.
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9. Attach the mounting tape to resistors
Make sure the tape covers the entire bottom side to prevent the metal casing of the resistor to make contact with light power wires and short them.
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10. Bend the wires to shape
Make 90 degress bend on the wires and the length of mounting tape. When you sit the resistor on the table, the bent part sits flat with the table.
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To be continued in next post, as 10 images are the maximum allowed.
 

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#2 ·
11. Test mounting of the resistor
Without removing the tape film, mount the resistor with both pins going underneath the power rails to the indicator, as shown in the picture.
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12. Test mounting of the assembly
Put the light assembly back to the light housing, without pushing it all the way in. Inspect the gap between the resistor and the internal reflector inside the light housing. There should be a 2-3mm gap between them.
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13. Mount the resistor
Remove the mounting tape film, Put the resistor back to as in Step 11. Make sure wires go underneath the power rails. Firmly press the resistor to the power rails for 1 minute to make the tape set.
Slightly pry open the bracket around the turn indicator bulb, since they get in the way of LED module and shorts out a capacitor. Make sure the bracket doesn't touch the SMT capacitor on the LED. Leave at least 1mm gap to be safe.
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14. Install LED
Push the LED module firmly to the bracket and it will set with both sides of the PCB base touching the power rails. That is okay since the PCB is non conductive. However make sure the SMT elements don't touch any of the power rails.
Then fold the excessive wires from the resistor back on top of the power rails and clamp them tight.
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15. Resistance test
Use a multimeter to test resistance between 2 power rails going to the turn indicator. It should read around 13 Ohm. If it reads large number, like 100 Ohm or more, it means the resistor contacts is bad. Anything smaller than 12 Ohm indicates a short somewhere.
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16. Put everything back
Mount the light assembly back to the light housing. Check the gap between the resistor and the internal reflector surface again to make sure there is no contact.
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17. Inspect from outside
Hold the light housing and look at the LED module through the cover. It should sit straight and there is no noise if you shake the entire assembly.
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Do the same thing to the other side of the light and enjoy your all LED turn indicators! The color is very nice amber, more accurate that the old incandescent bulbs and about 1.5x as bright. The instant ON/OFF effect matches the front indicators well and greatly improves the appearance of the lighting system.
 

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#3 ·
Nice tut. Funky ;)
 
#5 ·

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#6 ·
FunkyRider83 said:
Bonus: Use these WY5W equivalent Amber LEDs to replace the side repeater bulbs. They are insanely bright and gives a bit reddish orange flash. They are also designed using constant current driver so the bulb should be fairly long life.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-x-Amber-Canbus-Error-Free-T10-3030-LED-8SMD-Wedge-Car-Light-Bulb-W5W-194-168/153168632633

View attachment 4507
Very nice DIY, thank you my friend. I am wondering is it possible, the bulb that have 8 LEDs 3030smd, to be brighter than the first one that have 24 3030smd LEDs ?
 
#7 ·
giannis20vt said:
FunkyRider83 said:
Bonus: Use these WY5W equivalent Amber LEDs to replace the side repeater bulbs. They are insanely bright and gives a bit reddish orange flash. They are also designed using constant current driver so the bulb should be fairly long life.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-x-Amber-Canbus-Error-Free-T10-3030-LED-8SMD-Wedge-Car-Light-Bulb-W5W-194-168/153168632633

18_side_repeater.jpg
Very nice DIY, thank you my friend. I am wondering is it possible, the bulb that have 8 LEDs 3030smd, to be brighter than the first one that have 24 3030smd LEDs ?
They have different mount, The 24 SMD one has T15 (W16W) mounting and the 8 SMD one has T10 (W5W) mounting.

The 8 SMD one is used on the [side repeaters] on the front fenders. Push the front fender repeater light module toward the front of the car and lift the back side and it will come off. Unscrew the bulb mount from the light cover and you can pull out the W5W bulb and replace it with the 8 SMD led.

The 24 SMD LED is brighter, they are just used in different places.
 
#8 ·
FunkyRider83 said:
giannis20vt said:
FunkyRider83 said:
Bonus: Use these WY5W equivalent Amber LEDs to replace the side repeater bulbs. They are insanely bright and gives a bit reddish orange flash. They are also designed using constant current driver so the bulb should be fairly long life.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-x-Amber-Canbus-Error-Free-T10-3030-LED-8SMD-Wedge-Car-Light-Bulb-W5W-194-168/153168632633

18_side_repeater.jpg
Very nice DIY, thank you my friend. I am wondering is it possible, the bulb that have 8 LEDs 3030smd, to be brighter than the first one that have 24 3030smd LEDs ?
They have different mount, The 24 SMD one has T15 (W16W) mounting and the 8 SMD one has T10 (W5W) mounting.

The 8 SMD one is used on the [side repeaters] on the front fenders. Push the front fender repeater light module toward the front of the car and lift the back side and it will come off. Unscrew the bulb mount from the light cover and you can pull out the W5W bulb and replace it with the 8 SMD led.

The 24 SMD LED is brighter, they are just used in different places.
Thank you my friend, i understood, it's clear now, i didn't notice that.
Does the side repeaters, want resistors too ?
 
#9 ·
giannis20vt said:
FunkyRider83 said:
giannis20vt said:
Very nice DIY, thank you my friend. I am wondering is it possible, the bulb that have 8 LEDs 3030smd, to be brighter than the first one that have 24 3030smd LEDs ?
They have different mount, The 24 SMD one has T15 (W16W) mounting and the 8 SMD one has T10 (W5W) mounting.

The 8 SMD one is used on the [side repeaters] on the front fenders. Push the front fender repeater light module toward the front of the car and lift the back side and it will come off. Unscrew the bulb mount from the light cover and you can pull out the W5W bulb and replace it with the 8 SMD led.

The 24 SMD LED is brighter, they are just used in different places.
Thank you my friend, i understood, it's clear now, i didn't notice that.
Does the side repeaters, want resistors too ?
The side repeaters don't need resistor, they are not in the bulb out detection circuit.
 
#11 ·
UPDATE:

After some more trial and error, I am able to increase the load resistor from 15Ohms to 25Ohms. It still works without triggering bulb out warning, and the long term load temperature I am now a lot more comfortable with.

When ordering the load resistors, choose 25W, 25R as new values. It will work better by reducing waste energy / heat by 40%.

The testing step by multi-meter will also have a different value, from around 13Ohm to around 24Ohm.
 
#13 ·
Matt9817 said:
Done this myself, very easy to do and results are excellent. FunkyRider - do you think using the 25W 25ohm resistor is essential? I have mine set up with the 25w 15ohm one you recommended earlier.
F5D62F5A-EF89-4329-9542-2F788F72E924.jpeg
Well done Matt! Good to see others having success using this tutorial. The difference between 15 and 25 ohm resistors is the 15 ohm one burns extra 4w when on. Not a significant amount, just a nice to have thing to reduce the power consumption, hence heat. After using the 15 ohm config for 3 months there was nothing wrong when I took them out. I just wanted to see how much I can push the bulb out detection circuit while reducing heat.

The original incandescent bulb burns 16W, LED with 15 ohm load resistor burns 14W, LED with 25 ohm load resistor burns 10W, all without triggering bulb out error. I also tried 33 ohm resistor but that one will give errors so I think 25 ohm is as much as I can push it.
 
#15 ·
Bonarius said:
Thanks for your well explained tutorial! After long research I have to acknowledge the fact there is no plug&play bulb on the market, whatever a seller is promising. The only way to make this work is to make my hands "dirty". I will give this a try shortly.
If you look at the, quite physically large resistor that he needs to add, it becomes evident that such a bulb would not be possible to make as a plug&play part.

The stupid thing here is that it would be easy for Vauxhall to make a variant setting that omitted the bulb check but as far as i know they never did.

How difficult would it have been to make a variant coding "Filament / LED" to be able to disable the check and warning.

If EU passes a law that says that LED bulbs can be used as replacement, you would still need to use a filament bulb or a LED and a resistor.

If they pass such a law it would probably be to save fuel, but this method saves no fuel as the saved energy is wasted in a resistor to make the car "happy"
 
G
#18 ·
Hi.

I ordered these indicator bulbs from Ebay. Installed them today on a Astra K Sports Tourer 2018. No warning in the dash. Thats nice...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2X-BAU15S-Amber-LED-Canbus-Error-Free-Turn-Signal-Indicator-Light-Bulbs-12V/113845265581?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649
 
#21 ·
Ali G said:
Hi.

I ordered these indicator bulbs from Ebay. Installed them today on a Astra K Sports Tourer 2018. No warning in the dash. Thats nice...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2X-BAU15S-Amber-LED-Canbus-Error-Free-Turn-Signal-Indicator-Light-Bulbs-12V/113845265581?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649
Hello. I'm looking for this type of bulbs. Do you confirm that they do not produce an error message?
 
#22 ·
Ali G said:
Hi.

I ordered these indicator bulbs from Ebay. Installed them today on a Astra K Sports Tourer 2018. No warning in the dash. Thats nice...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2X-BAU15S-Amber-LED-Canbus-Error-Free-Turn-Signal-Indicator-Light-Bulbs-12V/113845265581?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649
Hi, i would like to ask you if all is mok with the led bulbs because i am interesting in ordering those bulbs. Thank you!
 
#25 ·
I send a message to Classic Car LEDs (led bulbs eshop) and they recommend the following:
https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/collections/strong-canbus/products/1-x-strong-canbus-stop-brake-light-red-led-1156-p21w-382

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/products/2x-t15-955-w16w-amber-yellow-canbus-led-80w-cree-w2-1-x-9-5d-capless-wedge-921?_pos=5&_sid=3eee6cef6&_ss=r

https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/products/bright-red-t10-car-bulbs-led-error-free-canbus-tail-w5w-501-side-light?_pos=11&_sid=fb131822a&_ss=r

These are for rear led stop, indicator and tail lights. They also sid that the Stop and Indicator upgrades should just be a straight replacement and not need anything else. If the indicators hyperflash you need a pair of these warning cancellers. The Tail light might need a pair of these warning cancellers but we cannot say for certain. Warning Cancellers need to be carefully mounted as they do get very hot and will melt plastic. They need to be wired across the live feed and earth to the lamps.
 
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