LED interior light upgrades
 

I'd like to get more light into the cargo area when the rear hatch is open.

Anyone swap out their stock bulbs with LED bulbs? If so where did you get them from, and the part numbers would be a big help.

Thanks

Hi I got mine from tunerdomes.com and they have a kit that has all the lights for the interior. Great product

For interior lights do not need CAN BUS Error Free LED, only for exterior lighting

You need W5W 12v5W LED

depends on what type of LEDs the OP gets. I think the cheap LEDs will flicker or stay on but very very dim.

I did not wrote expensive or cheap LED bulbs, but only for internal lighting do not need CAN BUS Error Free

Many sellers charge a lot more expensive bulbs CAN BUS Error Free

Yep...I can confirm this! Just did all my interior lighting for less than $20 (no need for CAN BUS Error Free)

And for the OP...you'll need 3x T10 LEDs for the trunk/hatch area. You can get it on eBay for around $5 for some really bright ones.

I think it would be best to have the can bus error free bulbs.

Ok I respect your decision

Why, which's the reason ?
Because of this you pay more, or ....?????

LED bulbs stays dim even when the car is off. its just weird. maybe I should send you a pic later tonight lol

I do not have that problem
LED error free have built-in resistor that does not give the error in the system, but it is only for outdoor lighting do not know how this will help

Are you using regular LEDs or the error free ones?

im using error free ones now. before I was just using the regular ones cheapo one.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

Anyone have a link to a reputable seller of said error free LEDs that work fine?

Highly recommended:
http://www.tunerdomes.com/index.php?...&productId=130

+ 1 on Tunerdomes, I just put them in.

I was surprised that the lights they indicated for the door puddle lights probably should have been used instead in the map lights, and the map light LEDs put in the puddle light locations. The puddle light LEDs have an extra LED shining on the end of the assembly that the map lights don't & makes the puddle lights extra bright.

Is it just me? $130 seems awfully expensive for some LEDs...

I'm with you Kaitlyn - If I could buy just the ones I want instead of the entire package, I'd be more likely to go for $25 for three bulbs - I don't want to do the entire car, just the cargo area. So I think eBay may be the only option...

Be sure to take some before/after photos! (constant ISO, aperture, shutter speed :)) so we can see the difference! :)

While I agree $130 is not cheap for few lights, I had a bad experience with cheap(er) LEDs, namely:
- no gradual dim down, more of a flicker, then off
- individual bulbs had a different white temperature.
- was unable to turn on the reading lights with ignition off.
- some lights were never 100% off and very dimly lit when car was locked.
Not saying that all cheap LEDs are bad, but you get what you pay for.

I cannot say anything about how these bulbs work, as I have not bought mine yet, but I found them through a google search that came back to a post in Audiworld looking for some 5000k HID headlights to replace the Audi factory ones. Anyway, I have talked to the guys a couple times and they really seem like honest guys and seem to stand 100% behind their product. They also respond quickly on FB.

But here is another option...

http://www.krautoled.com/products/au...terior-led-kit

If you hit them up on FB and tell them which bulbs you are wanting to replace they will give you the options they offer if you really do not want to do the whole interior.

I have a ton of LEDs that im trying to sell.

I stand corrected - Tunerdome does sell individual bulbs, so if you're not trying to do the entire vehicle you can. I just ordered the three in the cargo area - we'll see how they compare with the stock illumination.

I'll take pictures...

Lots and lots of pictures... no shortage!

Also would be nice to know how "difficult" it was to do...

They are...
I've done all my vehicles since 2004, some with cheapo and some with more pricey(V-LEDs.com)

I've had better luck in the past with the cheapo's, as I've had far less failures with the cheaper ones... Especially when it came to these newer flat/wedge style bulbs... In which fitment is usually an issue as they are generally all too thick and require you to bend the contacts out a bit...

Having said that, I found that the tunerdomes were perfect on color(across all bulbs) and fitment was the best I've seen yet.. not too thick nor too thin... Albeit, I did have one bulb that made a sizzling noise and die on me... Luckily it was for the glove box...

Time will tell, as well as how they handle the blown bulb... But so far, I give them 4 stars... If they were cheaper then I would give them 5... But after all, it is something like over 15-16 bulbs.. So it's not that bad of a deal really... Of course they are probably sourced from the same place and probably be had cheaper if purchased individually, but then who knows if they are in fact the same bulbs from the same place...

FYI 8% off coupon for Tuner Domes
 

I am about to order the Tunerdome complete set for the Q5.

http://www.tunerdomes.com/index.php?...&productId=130

While looking online, their facebook page has a coupon for 8% off:
https://www.facebook.com/TunerDomes?v=app_4949752878

Promo Code being:
Latest Coupon code and shameless marketing effort:
tuner2013 for 8% off


This effectively makes the bulbs 120.

Older Similar thread concerning swapping bulbs WITH picture Guide:
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho...&highlight=led

Got my cargo lights from TunerDome today and put them in tonight - I'll post some pictures tomorrow and a brief write-up.

That promo code doesn't work anymore. Just tried it.

If anyone has one that does, let me know.

tuner2013 code still works. I added the bulb set into my cart just now. Clicked view basket copied and pasted the code and cliked apply and it shows the additional 10 dollars off.

Which browser are you using? I just tried in Chrome.

Ok so as I stated yesterday, got the three LEDs for the cargo area and installed them last night. Installation was very simple, the hardest part was removing the bulb from the socket to install the LED.

Before you jump to the pictures - if you haven't already - they were taken in complete darkness other than the lights provided by the Q5 bulbs. The were taken with a iPhone 4s with no flash so they aren't that great quality-wise, but I'm sure you'll get the idea.

No error codes, no issues after installing them, just brighter light in the cargo area. BTW - the three bulbs were $30, without any kind of discount.

Once you pop out the lens, a small screwdriver works great, you'll see it looks like this - a black inner half that needs to be removed - just pry with the same screw driver and it pops off completely.
https://forums.audiworld.com/picture...ctureid=243421

With the black cover removed it will look like this - with the original bulb still in place - use a small - very small screwdriver and put pressure on the end of the bulb to pop it out. My fingers were too big to grab the bulb and remove it.
https://forums.audiworld.com/picture...ctureid=243423

With the LED in place it looks like this
https://forums.audiworld.com/picture...ctureid=243424

Everything back in place here's the result -
before
https://forums.audiworld.com/picture...ctureid=243417
after
https://forums.audiworld.com/picture...ctureid=243428

before
https://forums.audiworld.com/picture...ctureid=243416
after
https://forums.audiworld.com/picture...ctureid=243425

Pictures are not modified at all, and as I said they were taken in complete darkness. My interior is black as well, which is one of the reasons I wanted to brighten things up a bit.

As you can see the light is certainly whiter than stock. I'd say at least twice as bright, probably closer to three times brighter. A huge difference? - no, an improvement? certainly. Given the size of the lights, you're not going to get a huge change back here without adding more light sockets.

Is it worth it? In my opinion, it's just what I was looking for, I have more light in the cargo area with a relatively small expense, which is completely reversible, easy to do, with no drawbacks that I see. If you have a question about anything, shoot me a message and I'll help you out - pretty simple though, don't worry about tackling this one.

I should have re-stated these are from TunerDomes as well. Shipping wasn't the fastest but to be fair they were traveling so there was a short delay. Also, no error codes.

So by the looks of it these Thunderdome LEDs only have 2x 5050 SMD LEDs in each light (1 on each side)?

https://forums.audiworld.com/picture...ctureid=243424

yes - one on each side - which is kind of a waste since the back side shines into the black half of the socket, providing little to no illumination.

I was thinking of spray painting the inside of the black half piece with a silver paint to provide some reflectivity, probably get a little more light from them that way. Using aluminum foil inside would improve reflectivity as well but the fit is tight between the exposed bulb connectors and the housing, so you'd likely short out the connectors if you tried foil.

yes - one on each side - which is kind of a waste since the back side shines into the black half of the socket, providing little to no illumination.

I was thinking of spray painting the inside of the black half piece with a silver paint to provide some reflectivity, probably get a little more light from them that way. Using aluminum foil inside would improve reflectivity as well but the fit is tight between the exposed bulb connectors and the housing, so you'd likely short out the connectors if you tried foil.

You could have gotten 10 of these CAN BUS error free ones with 9x 5050 SMD LEDs for $10 on eBay and done all your puddle lights too...

A guy had a company make these for him for the puddle lights.... looks nice (i like them without the ring personally)

Attachment 83535

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/14..._4003003&vd=30

Could you elaborate... these fit in the housings in the Q5 instead of the Tunerdomes #194 Wedge LEDs.

YES!! #194/T10 wedge style. Both the 5x5050 SMD LEDs and 9x5050 SMD LEDs work in the Q5 housing. I even tried the 13x5050 SMD LEDs, but they were just a tad too long and a bit overkill.

I think it's designed on purpose because LEDs sometimes require polarity be reversed, thus bulb needs to be flipped.

You pop the whole puddle light casing out, and unplug, these come in a casing and cable that plugs right back in...