LED 501 sidelights

[Gizmo68]

I have searched, honest but not come across a definite answer.

Does a 04 Comfort spec Superb have a warning light come on if a front sidelight bulb blows?

I have another bulb that is about to blow (dim) so would like to put LED (501's) in so i can forget about loosing the skin off my knuckles again!
So can i put a white LED without a 'bulb out' warning & will they pass an MOT?

Finally 4 LED bulb, or just the 1?

[Baker21]

Originally Posted by Gizmo68

I have searched, honest but not come across a definite answer.

Does a 04 Comfort spec Superb have a warning light come on if a front sidelight bulb blows?

I have another bulb that is about to blow (dim) so would like to put LED (501's) in so i can forget about loosing the skin off my knuckles again!
So can i put a white LED without a 'bulb out' warning & will they pass an MOT?

Finally 4 LED bulb, or just the 1?

LED sidelight bulbs will not last long within the lamp IMHO.....

As for whether their is a warning device for the side light, I am afraid that there isn't......

[Gizmo68]

The lack of warning device would be good then.

I thought LED's would of had a much greater life expectancy than the std 501's? Is this from personal experience of them? did you have any problems come MOT time?

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by Gizmo68

The lack of warning device would be good then.

I thought LED's would of had a much greater life expectancy than the std 501's? Is this from personal experience of them? did you have any problems come MOT time?

From my experience, they don't - most of the people I know use LED's from ultraleds.co.uk and they've had much better results than I did with the Prizm ones I have fitted. I'm currently on my second set in about 12 months - although that said I've got through 2 sets of headlamp bulbs in the same time period, so I'm not moaning.

As for the MOT, I had no problems at all; I meant to take them out, and I forgot - they didn't even comment. Then, I tend the use the same MOT place, as to my collagues and they know who we are.

[dieselV6]

The problem with most 501 LEDs is heat damage from the high beam. Basically, with cheaper plastic casings they run too high current to withstand additional heat from the high beam bulb.

There used to be LEDs sold with metal casing and transparent quartz window being sold, these had much better cooling and will last for a long time.
I put a couple into my Superb 1.5years ago, and they still work. I use high beam quite often, and the car is driven mostly at nights.

[Gizmo68]

I went for the Philips Bluevision (std 501) bulbs in the end, despite their colour & name they do not give off a blue light, just a nice bright white, which is what i was after.

[Baker21]

Originally Posted by dieselV6

The problem with most 501 LEDs is heat damage from the high beam. Basically, with cheaper plastic casings they run too high current to withstand additional heat from the high beam bulb.

Spot on mate.........LED's can't handle the heat unless they have been designed to be in that lamp environment from scratch.......

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by dieselV6

There used to be LEDs sold with metal casing and transparent quartz window being sold, these had much better cooling and will last for a long time.

Yeah, these are the type my friends use.... which I'll be using as well as soon as I've measured all the festoon bulbs I want to replace.

Well, that was until I read the post above on the Phillips bulbs... I want white sidelamps!!