Connecting additional bulbs in red US lenses for EU-spec D2s
 

If you have EU-spec D2 upgraded with red US lenses you might want to connect those additional additional 'side lights' from US lenses to your turn signals or to your fog lights.

Yes, in US style taillights there is one additional bulb which you can see on the right hand side of this picture. EU-spec cars dont have electrical wiring for that bulb, but it is easy to connect.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...6&d=1360436746

There are electrical contacts reserved under the black plastic cover. All you need is the following electrical parts to connect those contacts directly to the bulb:

1. Angled contact housing 211 971 921 -- 8 items
2. Repair wire 000 979 207 -- 4 items

Installation is 'plug and play'. No soldering required.

Thanks Sergey thats very useful - I've stickied it in the D2 lighting upgrades section +++

I've just managed to pick up a pair of US rear lights and wanted to wire up the extra bulbs but one of units has the plastic bulb holder missing.

I've tried looking online but can't seem to find the part number and it's not stamped on the holder.

Anyone able to help me find me find a replacement?

Have you asked our sponsors?
I acquired a bulbholder from them for my 2nd fog light, I can't imagine Audi make unique bulbholders just for the USofA.

Sorry should have clarified before, it's the singular unit on the right of the unit - I haven't checked my existing lights yet, but I don't think we get them here....or do we?

I've just upgraded my inner rear D2 lenses for new ones and still have the old lenses so probably have one somewhere

Does this give you the red 'corner lights' which most us cars have?

It does yes. They look so much nicer than the "2 tone" EU spec lights.

Maybe a picture or two would help, it's not really clear what you're after. :Confused:

Will do shortly...I'd had a few beers last night so it was only clear in my head :pint:

ok, pictures to help explain my ramblings

http://i1255.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5sokpyxv.jpg

http://i1255.photobucket.com/albums/...psizhqu31u.jpg

The single small plastic bulb holder is missing from the other lamp and this one looks a little worse for wear too.

They look very similar to the front position lamp holders.
I wonder if something like this would do the job adequately, looks the same: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/CAPLESS-501-G...-/302240858564

Thank you HP+++

They look identical to me. I spent two hours typing in different variations of bulb holder on the web last night and you find it in 5 minutes :ROFL:

I'll give these a try and see how I get on. The cost is negligible if they're not correct.

Because I know this option is available, I have to at least attempt to wire them up....it's a terrible obsession :rolleyes:

Decades of practice at identifying and finding stuff.... ;) Even before t'internet.

If you wire them in parallel (I assume they are additional) and use LED bulbs the effect on any circuits will be negligible.

Little update: these arrived on Wednesday and were a direct fit.

Thanks HP :D +++

My standard consultancy fee for other Irish Green Pearl S8 owners is a pint of beer, or a large Malt when in (or near) Scotland. :ROFL:

Surely I get a reduced fee of half a pint being a Irish green pearl owner?:D

The repair wire is discontinued from TPS/Audi. Can I use any electrical wire from Halfords instead? I'm not sure what the repair wire actually looks like or the gauge.

Didn't they suggest what is was superseded with?
Not sure if generic wire will work.

No, the guy at TPS said it's just not available anymore.

I might try another Audi dealer and see if they can suggest an alternative.

I've managed to get these wired in with new LED bulbs but I'm getting "bulb out" errors when I apply the brake so suspect I have them wired incorrectly. I've removed them for now and everything is fine again.

Notorious, when you get moment would you mind telling me, or showing me exactly how you have yours connected as it's difficult to make out from the picture above. Have you spliced them in?

Each wire will have two pre-spliced connectors. One at each end. One end goes to bulb's connector and the other to additional reserved connectors under the black cover.

Extremely simple.

My repair wire just has the the connectors at each end - one end to bulb connector, one end to the circuit connector? :Confused:

Correct. Under black cover you can see spare connectors, which you can trace with which bulb they become active. Connect repair wires to those.

This is what I did. I traced the two connectors from the circuit to the brake/tail light but it's not working for me.

If I have no side lights on and I press the brake pedal I get a bulb out warning until I release the pedal. If I have the side lights on and press the brake pedal the "additional" side lights go out but I do not get any warning on the dash board.

I didn't have this problem. Can you check with a tester that you get +12v on the spare connector when you press brake? Do you use genuine Audi bulbs? I used simple incandescent bulbs. No leds.

That was going to be my question; what bulbs are you using. I will try regular bulbs and see if that fixes the issue I'm getting with LEDs.

Thanks for your time on this mate +++

I use only genuine Audi parts :)

Just a little update to say I swapped out the LED's for regular Bosch bulbs and this has cured the dash warning errors.

Whilst experimenting with external LED's on the car I've found them very hit & miss. More expensive hasn't always resulted in premium products, and error free bulbs were not always error free.

Unless someone decides to tailor a set for this car I'm not investing any further time trialing different bulbs now. I've tried about 3 different indicators and 4 brake/tail lights without luck.

LED Bulbs that have worked; front side lights, front main beam, side indicators (in the wings), reverse lights, rear side lights and rear fog lights.

LED Bulbs that haven't worked; front indicators, rear indicators, brake/tail lights.

I've done the ones in bold. Reversing light is so much better now. +++ Also fitted a second fog light so I have one each side. :cool:
(Plus , for a while, the numberplate bulbs, though I've now reverted these - what's the point when the plate is yellow! :D

Saw no point in doing any of those, glad I didn't try. Though what I have done is use silvered (non-orange when off) front indicator bulbs.

Agree, I noticed a huge improvement in light output...probably my favorite updated set of bulbs.


I also noticed that all the wires were present so I looked for second bulb holder on eBay but couldn't find one. If you know where to source one please share as I'd like to even out the bulbs for my OCD :D


Forgot to mention that I also updated these. I quite like the look of them from a brightness perspective but definitely "not necessary" like the reverse lights.


Also done these today after arriving from Auto Bulb Direct this week. Neatens up the front quite bit +++

I think I got my second bulbholder (ages ago now) from our sponsors, cheap enough even from Audi as it's a standard part.

However................

It's not quite as simple as you might think, because......
Those devious cost-saving Germans didn't include the reflector inside the (sealed) light unit where it's not neded. :(
So the second fog light looks relatively dim, causing in my case at least one "observation" at an MOT.

My solution, which looks OK now, was to buy some silvered/metallic adhesive tape, cut thin strips of it and feed them in through the bulbholder hole and press down carefully with my fingertips. Bit of an awkward PITA to get decent coverage but it works. ;)

Thank you for the heads up +++

Why does this not surprise me - everything is far from a straight forward mod on these cars :rolleyes:

I'd cxheck to be sure, but both my PF and FL S8's were the same in this regard.
I bought and fitted the second bulbholder for the PF (Agate Grey) S8 but never sorted out the reflector.
Took it off when I sold it (takes literally seconds) and did it properly when I found that the newer one also had no reflector.

Sorry to jump on an old thread, but what bulbs did you use for the side lights and did they give a white light (like the Xenons) to replace the odd yellowy light from the stock bulbs?

Whilst with MJ the other weekend, we tried some replacement bulbs that she had ordered for the very job but the pins weren't correct. The pins on the replacements were directly opposite each other on the bulb, whereas the stock holder appear to be built for bulbs that have the pins not-quite opposite each other (if that makes sense). And the amount of space you have to play with regards to the dimensions of the bulb is minimal.
So I would love to know the exact bulbs that you guys used to give a white glow (assuming you got a white glow).

TIA

Ah!
I should have done more digging.
Found this thread:
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showpost....5&postcount=61

So I will use this as my starting point.
The eBay link points to something no longer listed so I can search for something similar unless someone beats me to it.

Update: These look like them (offset pins). I'll order a set and will update this post should they do the trick.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-5-SMD-L...UAAOSw9NxTxSf8

Those may not fit, it really is a tight squeeze! But let us know how you get on.

That's why I used the type I bought, the emitter section is definitely slimmer than the metal base. And they are still working after nearly 5 years! :eek:

These might fit, but are a bit long: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253204656719

And they didn't. :(