my-gti.com » Halogen

Adjusting operation of the RegenLichtSens (Rain Light Sensor)

Maverick — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 10:32:18 +0000

Adjusting the operation of the RegenLichtSens (RainLightSensor) is possible through Vagcom/VCDS or the VAS tools that Volkswagen dealers use however adjustments do not make a large difference in the operation of the sensor especially where you have the standard green glass.

Using Vagcom/VCDS open controller 9

Select the dropdown box and select option 2

Select config helper (may require version 10 of VCDS)

Light activation threshold can be adjusted here along with Highway light function (see Volkswagen Golf Auto Headlights above 140kph) and Rain Closing (see Volkswagen Golf Auto Rain Closing Windows and Sunroof)

Light sensor correction.

Rain sensor correction.

Adding Door Warning Lights to the Volkswagen Golf and Jetta – Rear

Maverick — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 06:34:09 +0000

This guide is not yet complete – any information contained within has not been confirmed yet.

Parts required:

1K0 947 411 A (1K0947411A) - Door Warning Light (1 per door)
1J0 971 972 (1J0971972) - Connector Housing (1 per door)
000 979 019 (000979019) - Repair Wire for Connector Housing (1 per door – 2 connectors)
000 979 018 (000979018) - Repair Wire (1 required for 2 doors or 1 required per door – see below)
I’m not sure if there is a spare ground on the controller or if an existing one has to be used.
Interior fabric adhesive tape - Fabric Adhesive Tape for wiring looms and harnesses
Trim Removal Tools
Selection of heat shrink tubing (3-5mm), soldering iron/blowtorch, solder
Vagcom/VCDS to code the door (this can be done before or after the install)

Volkswagen Golf & Jetta Door Controller Information Mark V has information on the door controllers. This guide will be based on the install in my March 2008 build MY08 GTI.

Pin 14 is the 12v for the Door Warning Light for older controllers, at some stage Gen 3 controllers were used and pin 6. There are 18 pins and a 16 pin connector housing.

The rear doors are connected via LIN bus so are programmed slightly differently to the front doors by requiring an extra step in the Central Convenience Controller – 46.

Open the Central Convenience Controller – 46 and select “Coding”

Go to Byte 17 and enable Bit 0.

The second part of the programming is the same as for the front doors.

Open the door controller – In this guide Rear Right – 72 and select “coding”

Add 64 to the existing number to add on Door Exit/Warning Lights.

Enabling static cornering lights in the Volkswagen Golf Mark V with factory fitted fog lights

Maverick — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 04:04:07 +0000

Enabling static cornering lights in the Volkswagen Golf Mark V (Mark VI is covered in it’s own guide) only requires a few changes via Vagcom/VCDS.

The cornering function works when your headlights are activated (either manually or via the RLS) under the following conditions

The indicator is activated either by holding it down or clicking it into position (not when comfort indicating)
The car is in P, N, D, S or Manual (not when in reverse)
The steering wheel is turned 85° from the straight ahead position.
The speed is under 50kph (once the car drops below this speed the light will activate and once it goes above this speed the light will fade off)

The fog light on the side of the car that the wheel is turned towards will light up, depending on the speed of the steering wheel the light will either fade in slowly or turn on instantly but the light will always fade out slowly.

You will need a 30 Byte Central Electronics Convenience Module (CECM) which are fitted to MY08′s models onwards.

Open Controller 9 and select Coding – 07

Click the Long Coding Helper, do not copy down the coding seen as these are specific to each car and it’s options/setup.

Select Byte 23 and bit 2, 3 and 4 need to be selected and the type of light chosen (Turn Lights via Fog Lights).

Once it looks like this select “exit”

Select “Do It!” to save the coding.

If the code is accepted select “OK”

Close the controller to finish.

To test the cornering light function turn the headlights on and turn the wheel left or right, the engine doesn’t have to be turned on. My boys were less excited about the cornering lights then I was.

Adding Door Warning Lights to the Volkswagen Golf and Jetta – Front

Maverick — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 00:27:24 +0000

This guide covers the installation of the door warning lights to the Volkswagen Golf and Jetta front doors as was fitted to the very first Mark V’s before they were discontinued for I assume cost reasons. Along with the Puddle Lights these really light up the area around the side of the car and Volkswagen really did the owners a disservice by discontinuing these.

The light operates every time the door is opened day or night but it does shut down after the door is open for a period of time.

The white light visible on the other side of the door is the Puddle Lights mod which I performed at the same time.

Parts required:

1K0 947 411 A (1K0947411A) - Door Warning Light (1 per door)
1J0 971 972 (1J0971972) - Connector Housing (1 per door)
000 979 019 (000979019) - Repair Wire for Connector Housing (1 per door – 2 connectors)
000 979 009 (000979009) - Repair Wire (1 required for 2 doors or 1 required per door – see below)
As you will see in the guide below I only had one end of a 000 979 009 (000979009) - Repair Wire left and took my ground from a nearby connector, I strongly recommend you take the easier approach and take the ground from the controller as it’s quicker and doesn’t require interfering with the stock harness. I have detailed how to do it this way as well in the guide.
Interior fabric adhesive tape - Fabric Adhesive Tape for wiring looms and harnesses
Trim Removal Tools
Selection of heat shrink tubing (3-5mm), soldering iron/blowtorch, solder
Vagcom/VCDS to code the door (this can be done before or after the install)

Volkswagen Golf & Jetta Door Controller Information Mark V has information on the door controllers. This guide was based on the install in my March 2008 build MY08 GTI.

The 1K0 947 411 A (1K0947411A) - Door Warning Light (bulb is preinstalled) and c0 971 972 (1J0971972) - Connector Housing.

The original reflector installed (left) and the new warning light (right), installation is simple, unclip the old light by pulling it towards you from underneath and clip the new one in.

The view from underneath the door, red light is visible and white light is projected onto the area below the door.

First remove the door trim - Passengers Front Door Trim – Removal and Installation and lay the door trim down on a work surface.

Plug both ends of the 000 979 019 (000979019) - Repair Wire into the 1J0 971 972 (1J0971972) - Connector Housing as shown and lay the cable out along the route that cable will run.

Using some side cutters remove the cable tie from the rear of the connector housing.

Using a small screwdriver, your fingernail or any other sharp tool to lever the release and at the same time pull the connector housing away from the housing.

Connect the end of the 000 979 009 (000979009) - Repair Wire into location 18 on the housing. If you are taking the ground from here as recommended above you will need to install the other end into location 19. The numbering on this side is from 17 to 32.

Please note these pins are for MY07 cars and later, earlier cars have a Gen 1 or Gen 2 controller and this uses pin 1 instead of 18. To tell them apart a Gen 1 or Gen 2 controller will have have the pin 1 location vacant and on a Gen 3 controller pin 1 will be driving the door LED. I’m not sure at what location is a spare ground. See the Volkswagen Golf & Jetta Door Controller Information Mark V page for more information.

Route the repair wire(s) down the harness running them through the two labels stuck to the harness. If you are running the two wires as recommended you may need to extend one of them, don’t cut the repair wires until you work out what lengths you require, better to extend one cable than two.

Wrap the wire(s) to the harness with interior fabric adhesive tape.

Pin 1 which is to the left on the photo should be ground and pin 2 to the right is positive. There is a zener diode fitted inside the lamp housing and if you wire it up incorrectly it won’t work until you reverse the pins or reverse the zener diode. Fit a suitable piece of heat shrink tubing, strip the wire from pin 18 from the controller and the wire from pin 2 on the lamp, twist them together and solder.

If you are taking the ground from a nearby connector skip the next instruction.

If you are taking the ground from the 32 pin connector as recommended strip the wire from pin 19 and the wire from pin 1 on the lamp, twist them together and solder without forgetting to put heat shrink tubing on prior to joining.

Please note these pins are for MY07 cars and later, earlier cars used different pins. See the Volkswagen Golf & Jetta Door Controller Information Mark V page for more information.

Bend the soldered joint backwards

Pull the heat shrink tubing over the soldered connector and heat to shrink the tubing.

If you’re taking the ground from a nearby connector press the tab as shown to the right and pull the connector from the bottom of the fuel flap switch (this only applies to the drivers door – there are similar grounds on the door switch, pin 21 of the controller, pin 18 of the controller and so forth).

Open the connector housing by levering it towards the front (the part that is sticking up towards the middle of the connector)

Push down with a suitable tool to release the pin, pull backwards at the same time on the brown/white wire as you are depressing the pin.

Bare the insulation from the wire without cutting.

The result should look something like this.

Twist the repair wire over the uncovered wire.

Solder the two together (I use a small gas torch as I get instant heat and don’t have to wait around for it to warm up but sometimes you end up burning the ends of the insulation).

Cover the soldering with heat shrink tubing and heat that to shrink it.

Slide the pin back into place and clip the cover back into place.

Reinstall the connector into the base of the fuel lid switch and wrap the repair wires as shown to the harness using interior fabric adhesive tape.

Wrap the other end as well.

Slide the connector back into the housing.

Place a new cable tie over the end of the connector.

And the door trim is ready to reinstall.

Coding using Vagcom/VCDS

Open the door controller, in this guide it’s the drivers door 42 and select “Coding – 07″

Note the current coding.

Add 64 to the coding to enable the Door Exit/Warning Lights and select “Do It!” to save.

Note that the coding has changed and is now 64 higher than before. Select “Close Controller” to finish.

Volkswagen Cornering Headlights, Dynamic Steered Headlights and Static Cornering Lights

Maverick — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 02:19:15 +0000

The following information is for the Touareg but the principle is same on many Volkswagen cars with this feature.

Volkswagen’s cornering headlight system consists of dynamic and static cornering lights that are installed together in the headlight housing.

The cornering light functions are automatically activated when the dipped or high beam is switched on.

The cornering lights are also active if the headlights are switched on in daylight.

The Bi-Xenon units are swiveled independently when driving around bends.

The headlight on the inner side of the bend by max. 15° and the headlight on the outer side of the bend by max. 7.5°.

Swivelling only takes place at a vehicle speed above 10 km/h.

The design is very similar to that of a conventional Bi-Xenon unit.

However, the module is mounted in an additional swiveling frame (for the horizontal motion).

The sensor is for detecting the swivel angle.

The static cornering light is a light that is switched on in addition to the dimmed headlight. It illuminates the surface to the side of the vehicle.

The static cornering light is only switched on at a vehicle speed below 50 km/h in narrow bends.

Halogen light H7 for static cornering light.

The H7 light bulb can be replaced after removing the plastic bush

Networking between J745 (control unit for cornering light and headlight range control) and the power modules for headlights J667 and J668 via CAN light.

CAN light is a separate CAN databus only for networking the cornering light system.

Physically, the CAN light is identical to the CAN drive (voltage level, data rate and cable colors).

The power modules are installed in the headlights. The power modules process sensor signals (swivel angle of dynamic headlight and position of headlight range control) and control the respective servomotors.

The static cornering light is switched on and off by the corresponding power module.

All other lights in the headlight are switched by the on-board control unit.

G85 – Steering angle sensor

J104 – Control unit for ABS/ESP

J197 – Control unit for level control

J220 – Control unit for Motronic

J285 – Control unit in the dash panel insert

J519 – On-board network control unit

J527 – Control unit for steering wheel electronics

J533 – Diagnostic interface for databus

J667 – Power module for left headlight

J668 – Power module for right headlight

J754 – Control unit for cornering light and headlight range control

Faults in the cornering light system are signaled to the driver by flashing control lamps for monitoring the light bulbs in the dash panel insert.

Tail light bulb specifications for Volkswagen Golf, GTI, GT Sport and R32

Maverick — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:19:57 +0000

Tail light bulb specifications for the Volkswagen Mark V Golf, GTI, GT Sport and R32.

Tail & Brake light bulb / Tail light bulb

Description: Longlife bulb P21W-12V21W
Part Number: N 017 732 8 (N0177328)
Quantity: 4

Indicator bulb

Description: Longlife halogen bulb H6W 12V6W
Part Number: N 104 455 02 (N10445502)
Quantity: 2

Reverse light bulb / Fog light bulb

Description: Bulb P21W-12V21W
Part Number: N 017 732 2 (N0177322)
Quantity: 2
Longlife bulb may be used in this location instead

Bulb holder for tail light bulb, tail & brake light bulb and tail light bulb.

Comparision between oem Philips long life bulb (left) and new oem Osram long life bulb (right)

Indicator bulb

Upgrading Volkswagen Halogen Headlights to Osram Super Bright Off Road 65watt bulbs

Maverick — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:54:17 +0000

Osram Super Bright Off Road H7 Bulbs contain a H9 element to boost light output to 2100 lumens (50% increase from standard H7 55w) with a 18% increase in power consumption (65w whereas a standard H7 is 55w).

Osram EAN/Product No: 4050300524399
Product Description: 64217
ECE Category: H7
Base (standard designation): PX26d
Nominal Wattage: 65 W
Lumens: 2100
Life (hours): 500

Comparison with NightBreaker (left in each photo)

Comparison Photos with Osram Nightbreaker H7

Nightbreaker H7 installed left and right. Light output 1,408,000 lux (measured 1m from centre of filament)

Nightbreaker H7 left, Offroad 65w right. Light output 1,852,000 lux (measured 1m from centre of filament). 31% improvement.

Adding high performance halogen bulbs to your Volkswagen

Maverick — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:04:16 +0000

Adding higher output aftermarket headlight bulbs to your Volkswagen will result in a different colour output and additional light but there is a tradeoff and this is the lifetime of the globe.

Based on data from the respective manufacturers the light output (measured in lumens) and lifespan (measured at 13.2v) is summerised below for H7 .

Standard
1500 lumens, 330/550 hours

Power Saving – up to 20% power saving
(Philips EcoVision)
1500 lumens, -/- hours

Long Life
(Osram Light@Day, Philips NightGuide DoubleLife, Philips EcoVision, Philips Longer Life)
1500 lumens, 450/930 hours

Plus 30 – up to 30% more light
(CPI BrightLight, Sylvania Xtravision, Narva Rangepower,Tungsram High Output, Philips Premium)
1500 lumens, x hours

Plus 50 – Up to 50% more light and 20m longer beam
(CPI Super Bright Light, Philips Vision Plus, Osram Silverstar, Narva Rangepower+50, Tungsram Megalicht)
1500 lumens, 150/220 hours (1580)

Plus 80 - Up to 80% more light and 25m longer beam
(Philips X-tremePower):
1500 lumens, 100/200 hours, 3400°K (1620)

Plus 90 - Up to 90% more light, 10% whiter light and 35m longer beam
(Osram Night Breaker, Narva Blue Power):
1500 lumens, 100/200 hours, 3750°K (1620)

Blue coated – up to 20% more light then standard with bluish-white light
(CPI Bright Light Blue, Osram Cool Blue, Narva Rangepower Blue, Philips BlueVision, Philips CrystalVision Ultra , Tungsram Super Blue, Tungsram EuroBlue, Sylvania Silverstar or Silverstar Ultra, PIAA, Hoen, Nokya, Polarg)
1500 lumens, 100/200 hours, 4000°K

Philips CrystalVision
1500 lumens, 100/200 hours, 5000°K

Higher wattage – 65 watts (no issues with the extra heat or load as it’s only 10 watts over stock)
Osram Rallye +65 (manufacturer part number: CP64217)
2100 lumens, x/500 hours, 3200°K

Lumens – this is the light output as measured by the manufacturer. This should not be used to measure the performance of a bulb as the filament design denotes the performance, the light output from many of the different types is around the same but the headlight performance and appearance of the bulbs differs vastly from long life to standard to high output.

long life bulbs have larger filaments that burns cooler, this reduces the beam focus which shortens the throw of the light and creates a browner light colour.
high output bulbs have smaller filaments that burn hotter, this tightens the beam focus which lengthens the throw of the light and creates a whiter light colour.

Hours – denoted as B3/TC. B3 is the average lifespan and TC is the point at which 63.2 percent of bulbs have failed.

Colour – measured in Kelvins. Further explination etc to follow.

Notes:

The figures may be a composite where there are multiple brands and types listed in a category, if one manufacturer differs greatly they will be listed separately and where figures are not available or are not accurate this will be noted by the manufacturers name being in italics.

Osram-Sylvania, Philips-Narva, Tungsram-GE

Upgrade Golf Headlights to Osram Nightbreaker

Maverick — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:12:10 +0000

Upgrading to the Osram Night Breaker +90 in the Golf makes a moderate difference to the throw of the lights and a substantial difference to the colour.

Osram Nightbreaker H7

Osram claim up to 90% more light and up to 10% whiter light which from what I can see is pretty accurate.

The standard globes fitted to the Golf were reasonable but could certainly be improved, I would recommend taking optional bi-xenon lights where possible but unfortunately in my case I ended up having to settle for a car without them or face an additional 3-4 months delay.

It’s hard to show the difference the light makes in photos but you can see the difference in output and throw clearly when you’ve changed one globe. The comparative picture from Osram shows the difference between standard and the Nightbreaker +90′s.

Overall I would estimate the additional output/throw to increase the distance from which you can see to be around 20%.

These globes were purchased from Powerbulbs who offer free shipping worldwide. Quote Voucher code: ZXRCX111 at the checkout to receive a further 10% off your order!

At the same time I fitted the Philips BlueVision W5W globes to replace the parking lights which were quite yellow looking. These were included free with the order from Powerbulbs and make a big difference.