tenspeed

I first tried the easy way and went to an AW vendor website to see what they had for the A7. They show a LED 194 wedge bulb. I remembered a thread about someone who modified a strange lamp socket for the reverse lights so I decided to have a look at what was in my tail lights.

Started by removing the black plastic panel. The rear side has three areas that grip the tail light. The front side has a pair of prongs that fit into holes. I let the sun warm it for a while before prying on it.



Under that panel are a pair of T25 screws. Use a magnetized tool or stuff something in the hole below.



There's a ball socket holding the outer edge. It should pop out with a little persuading. Push down on the blue tab to release the electrical connector and the tail light is free.



Remove the three T20 screws to remove the reverse light cover.



Remove the two T20 screws to remove the bulb



My 2012 A7 has the PH16W bulbs.



I went to eBay looking to see what LED's were available in the PH16W variety. I bought the 50-watt because I didn't think that the 75-watt bulbs would fit.



Get them from this vendor



The bulb numbers were correct but there was no room to install the load resistors. Next step was to see if they would throw a fault or code.



I didn't get any error messages so I decided to repackage the resistors so I could tuck them in the unit. Took them apart. Flattened the resistors out.



Added some heat shrink and soldered wires to the back of the socket.



Resistors tucked in the side. Reverse lights aren't on for long durations so I'm not too worried about them melting anything.



Success! LEDs left - incandescent right. There is a notable difference that the camera didn't pick up. I didn't realize how yellow the OEM bulbs were.



If you buy these lights and try the modification, don't worry about polarity. Both wires feeding it are white. I switched polarity when I first tested the bulbs to see if they were DOA from the vendor. They worked both ways.

SpectreGadget

Makes a world of difference. I bought these from ijdmtoy.com, and while they don't fit quite right, they fit well enough and work great.

For a car with LED Headlights, Tail lights, interior lights, it boggles the mind that the backup lights, license plate lights, and cargo area lights were not LEDs!

Big G 1979

First post here so be gentle 😉 I know this is an old thread but wanted to thank all involved as it really helped me out. I've recently bought an A7 and followed this thread after buying led reverse lights. Can anyone provide any feedback now that they've been fitted a few years? Any issues with heat etc.

Led and resistor pack removed out of housing and heat shrinked

tenspeed

I haven't had any problems in five years. Occasionally I will get a message that the right rear light is out when it is on.