[graaja]

Originally Posted by sunilsoft

After 3 days of hard work on this finally slept peacefully.

Awesome
Nothing like the satisfaction you get after solving a tough problem. You will now be able to thoroughly enjoy the fruits of labor!

Originally Posted by sunilsoft

Sorry Graaja for hijacking your thread

Absolutely no problem. Please share as much details as possible about how you solved the issue. This will be of great help to others who are facing similar issue.

Originally Posted by sunilsoft

A big thanks to Graaja for his prompt answers and support without his contribution I might never had been able to resolve the issue.

You are most welcome. I am glad that the information helped in resolving your problem. In the end, it is your hard work that paid

[graaja]

UPDATE:

I had a problem with the right side light. The light would not turn on 50% of the time. When it does not turn on, I had to turn off the lights and turn them on again, the light would come on. Turned out to be a bad bulb.

Lumens Systems sent me a replacement bulb (took about a week to arrange for the replacement) and I changed the bulb and now things are fine. The right side light now turns on everytime without fail.

[graaja]

LED INDICATOR LAMPS UPGRADE:

I would like to thank Gannu for providing the link for the LED indicator lamps.

One of the issues I faced after projector retrofit was reduced visibility of the indicator lamps due to blackening of the reflectors. Gannu provided me with links to couple of LED indicator lamps. A few weeks back ordered a pair of LED lamps from the below link.

LED Indicator Lamps

Cost: Approximately Rs.1,200/-

The most common problem while changing to LED lamps is hyperflashing where the lights flash at a faster rate. The solution to this problem is to add load resistors in parallel to the lamps. After searching a bit, ordered the below load resistors.

LED Load Resistors

Cost: Approximately Rs.980/-

Today, the LED lamps arrived first. Swapping the halogen lights with LEDs was a 5 minute job. To my surprise, there was no hyperflashing. So, the load resistors are useless at least for now.

Below is a picture of the LED lights. These lights have 6 LEDs on three sides and 3 LEDs on the top - a total of 21 LEDs. There is also a lens on the top to focus the light.



Here is the video that shows the comparison of halogen lamps vs. LED lamps. There is at least 2x improvement in light output and this compensates for the black reflectors. Visibility during daytime is fantastic.

https://youtu.be/DXconZUtFVQ

[swift_guy]

The new Polo comes with cornering lamps (or something similar), which has a seperate housing near the fog lamps. Indicator bulbs can be placed at that location as it will have a bright chrome coating as opposed to smoked headlamp units. I know it would involve a lot of additional wiring and circuits (to light up the indicators during daytime also with the movement of steering wheel, and to make it blink) but would look super cool (and stock) if executed.

Not that your setup is bad.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by swift_guy

The new Polo comes with cornering lamps (or something similar), which has a seperate housing near the fog lamps. Indicator bulbs can be placed at that location as it will have a bright chrome coating as opposed to smoked headlamp units. I know it would involve a lot of additional wiring and circuits (to light up the indicators during daytime also with the movement of steering wheel, and to make it blink) but would look super cool (and stock) if executed.

Not that your setup is bad.

Lighting up the indicators from steering input during daytime would involve lots of modifications. As the steering angle has to be read from the CAN bus to enable the indicators, this will involve addition of some intelligence which is not practical right now.

However, just moving the indicators to the fog lamp assembly may be possible with some mechanical modifications to the fog lamp assembly. Will add this to my "to do" list.

[Vik0728]

Originally Posted by graaja

LED INDICATOR LAMPS UPGRADE:

I would like to thank Gannu for providing the link for the LED indicator lamps.

Hey graaja, thank you for sharing this info and looks super cool buddy

The only reason why I have not swapped the indicators to LED is because of that annoying hyper-flashing. So I have couple of questions for you before I order one for my GT:

1. Have you swapped the front and rear indicators with the LEDs?

2. LEDs hyper-flashing is due to the extra load that is supplied compared to regular bulbs. Any idea if these LEDs come with some sort of inbuilt load resistors?

Appreciate your time in responding to my queries.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Hey graaja, thank you for sharing this info and looks super cool buddy

The only reason why I have not swapped the indicators to LED is because of that annoying hyper-flashing. So I have couple of questions for you before I order one for my GT:

1. Have you swapped the front and rear indicators with the LEDs?

2. LEDs hyper-flashing is due to the extra load that is supplied compared to regular bulbs. Any idea if these LEDs come with some sort of inbuilt load resistors?

Appreciate your time in responding to my queries.

Thanks Vik0728

1. No. I have only changed the front indicators with LEDs. The rear ones are still halogens

2. Actually it is the other way. When you change the Halogens to LEDs, the load reduces. The indicator relays work on thermal principle where the current through the lamp heats up an element that expands and breaks the circuit. Then it cools down and connects the circuit. LED lamps take much lower current because of which the cooling of the make/break element happens very fast, and that results in hyper flashing. Hyper flashing varies depending on the construction of the indicator relay. In this case, it looks like these LED lamps do not cause hyper flashing with the indicator relay in the Polo GT. The LED lamps do not come with in built load resistors. Had there been hyper flashing, external load resistors will have to be added. That is why I had ordered the load resistors separately (which will lie unused now).

[swift_guy]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Hey graaja, thank you for sharing this info and looks super cool buddy

The only reason why I have not swapped the indicators to LED is because of that annoying hyper-flashing. So I have couple of questions for you before I order one for my GT:

1. Have you swapped the front and rear indicators with the LEDs?

2. LEDs hyper-flashing is due to the extra load that is supplied compared to regular bulbs. Any idea if these LEDs come with some sort of inbuilt load resistors?

Appreciate your time in responding to my queries.

If you don't have projectors/smoked indicator assembly, I think the stock halogen indicator bulbs would be good enough. In graaja's case, I think hyper flashing did not occur as he had replaced only front bulbs with LEDs or the LEDs themselves had comparatively higher load (there were 20+ LEDs IIRC) which was identical to the load of stock bulbs.

If you swap all the indicator bulbs with these LEDs, there are very high chances of hyper-flashing as the electrical load would reduce considerably. It is better to avoid these things on a complicated car like Polo.

[Vik0728]

Originally Posted by swift_guy

If you swap all the indicator bulbs with these LEDs, there are very high chances of hyper-flashing as the electrical load would reduce considerably.

Exactly my doubt swift_guy and probably the reason I posted that question in my previous post.

I am a huge fan of pure white lights and all my previous cars always had white coloured beams all around.

For now, I have shelved the idea of swapping the indicators to LED on my GT, as I hate to see that hyper-flashing, which is so common on cabs such as Indicas, Innovas, Qualis, etc. For me, it comes through as though the car is having some sort of epileptic seizure !!

I will wait for graaja to install the LEDs in the rear and report things are fine, before going the LED way.

It is better to avoid these things on a complicated car like Polo.

Take my word on this bro, VW cars are actually quite sorted and simple. The only thing I feel is complicated with these German cars is the snob value, which is almost a folklore now, and the service folks who act up like they are servicing McLaren P1 or something !!

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

I will wait for graaja to install the LEDs in the rear and report things are fine, before going the LED way.

Right now, I am not planning to replace the rear indicators to LEDs. The only reason why I went for LEDs (as swift_guy pointed out) is the visibility was getting affected by the smoked reflectors and I wanted brighter lights to compensate this. If I plan to smoke the tail light assemblies as well, then I will probably plan for LED lights to compensate for brightness loss due to smoking.

Otherwise, there is no need for replacing the indicators in the stock headlights.

Having said that, if you still want to replace the indicators with LEDs, you should just go ahead and replace them. As I had mentioned in my previous post, you just need a load resistor to solve hyper flashing. The load resistors available in the link I had provided are plug and play. You just remove the holders from the headlight assembly and connect the load resistor to the holder. Then fix the holder on the other side of the load resistor into the light assembly. I confirmed that the holder provided with the load resistor matches the holder in the headlight assembly.

Note: All the above comments are with respect to the previous generation single barrel headlight assembly. For the dual barrel headlights, it is not possible to remove the holder from the headlight and hence fixing the load resistor will not be plug and play.

[graaja]

High Beam Failure:

In just three months since installation, the high beam has started acting erratically. After a cold start, the high beam works fine. But after the engine compartment gets warmed up after about 15 minutes of running, high beam starts failing. Here is a video showing the failure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-wfDGvWn-M

Looks like the high beam shield is not fully lifting. Maybe the solenoid is getting week with temperature.

I have sent this video to Vinod, and he has promised he will send his person to Coimbatore and replace the projectors.

[sid93]

Originally Posted by graaja

High Beam Failure:

In just three months since installation, the high beam has started acting erratically.
===
I have sent this video to Vinod, and he has promised he will send his person to Coimbatore and replace the projectors.

Damn, I guess the shutter is getting expanded due to heat and getting struck. Giving it more free play will fix this in my opinion. Its too early for solenoid failure since they are designed to operate in those temperatures. And yea! GT TSI heats a lot in traffic. Best and most reliable option would be quad projectors from Eagle Eyes which i bought from lumen systems. Yet to install hid though. Philips xtreme vision is doing the duty now and 3M CR 70 is making it look bit yellowish.

[d3mon]

Are these Mini H1 replicas?

Using 55W Ballasts with Mini H1 is not recommended, as the bowls can't deal with the heat and will get damaged soon. Perhaps the shutter motors are suffering due to the heat as well.

How about trying 35W ballasts instead? I fear that even the new projectors will suffer from the same issue, since it seems to be a design issue, not a manufacturing issue (Both projectors have similar failure mode)

[H_Dogg72]

Originally Posted by sid93

Best and most reliable option would be quad projectors from Eagle Eyes which i bought from lumen systems. Yet to install hid though. Philips xtreme vision is doing the duty now and 3M CR 70 is making it look bit yellowish.

With all due respect. It's not the best option. They're halogen projectors. These are bixenons. A world of difference in between them.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by sid93

Damn, I guess the shutter is getting expanded due to heat and getting struck. Giving it more free play will fix this in my opinion. Its too early for solenoid failure since they are designed to operate in those temperatures. And yea! GT TSI heats a lot in traffic.

Yes. It is quite possible that the shutter or some other part is expanding due to heat and is not moving freely. But I think the design should take care of this possibility. Another reason why I am doubting the solenoid is: if the shutter is expanding and creating this problem, it should have been there since day 1. Or maybe this was there since day 1, but I did not notice it as I do not use high beams much in the city. Either way, I think the projectors are not of good quality - my worst fear comes true.

Originally Posted by sid93

Best and most reliable option would be quad projectors from Eagle Eyes which i bought from lumen systems. Yet to install hid though. Philips xtreme vision is doing the duty now and 3M CR 70 is making it look bit yellowish.

Originally Posted by H_Dogg72

With all due respect. It's not the best option. They're halogen projectors. These are bixenons. A world of difference in between them.

+1 to H_Dogg72. I had considered the Eagle Eyes replica as well. Though the Eagle Eyes replica is a quad setup, it is a halogen projector. I can either upgrade the low beams to HID and leave high beams with halogen, or upgrade all the projectors to HID. Still the performance will not be as good as a BiXenon setup. But in terms of look, yes, the Eagle Eyes totally transform the look of the car. As my first priority was performance followed by looks, I went for the BiXenon setup.

I totally agree with the reliability part though. As there are no moving parts inside the quad setup, all failures will happen with external components (ballasts, HID etc) which will not require the opening of the headlight assembly.

Originally Posted by d3mon

Are these Mini H1 replicas?

Using 55W Ballasts with Mini H1 is not recommended, as the bowls can't deal with the heat and will get damaged soon. Perhaps the shutter motors are suffering due to the heat as well.

How about trying 35W ballasts instead?

I had asked Vinod why he is not going with 35W. He said as the optics will not be as good as OEM projectors, a 35W setup will not give good illumination. And he insisted to go with 55W setup.

Also, the Morimoto Mini H1 is rated for 35W and 50W setup. So, I thought this should be fine.

Originally Posted by d3mon

I fear that even the new projectors will suffer from the same issue, since it seems to be a design issue, not a manufacturing issue (Both projectors have similar failure mode)

That is my concern as well. If this was a design flaw, even the replacement projectors would fail in the same time frame. Now I have strated to seriously consider getting Morimoto Mini H1 projectors and doing a DIY retrofit myself. Maybe I will go with good quality 35W ballast / HID as well in 4300K which should give good output.