Bongo Fury

We have just become Bongo owners, picked up Tili on Thursday.

The forum has been an excellent source of information, with several of the common updates bookmarked and in the pipeline, but the problem I have at the moment is in trying to replace the number plate lights with LEDs. When I insert the LED bulb into either of the number plate bulb holders the fuse blows, the incandescent bulbs work without any problems. I have replaced the interior front cabin lights and front sidelights with LED bulbs with no problems at all.

So, does anyone have any idea why this should be happening?

There are some cheap LED lights going around that don't have the correct length of connecter on them and no shoulder to prevent them being inserted to deeply, with the result that they short out!

The strange thing is that I checked the LED bulbs I'm using by putting them in the interior light and front sidelights, where they worked without any problems.

Maybe the number plate light holders are a bit sensitive.

Likewise I changed the interior lights to LED with no problems, but changing the number plate lights caused the front fog lights to cease working and the brake light replacement caused the ABS warning light to activate. So if you do figure out the fuse problem and change to LEDs check everything around the vehicle to ensure there aren't other unforeseen consequences.

Yes LED's won't work for the brake lights as the ABS computer is confused by the voltages across them.

I haven't look at the brake lights yet, but I suspect the ABS problem could be overcome by adding a resistor to the circuit.

Kind of defeats the object of having LED bulbs to reduce power consuption, but should give a brighter, instantaneous light.

You would need to provide continuity to earth, but not sure how much the ABS wants to see, given that it normally sees a cold filament at just a few ohms.

You have to fit hefty 6 ohm ballast resistors to sort out the ABS issue. You also need them if you have cruise control fitted. Personally, I think LED brake lights in a Bongo are more trouble than they are worth and decent ones are not cheap. The resistors add on another tenner.

Their legality is also a grey area. Osram and Philips both clearly state their retro fit LED brake lights are for off road use only. Osram go as far as to say they may void your insurance.

I thought I would update the status of my progress with the LED bulb replacements.

I have now replaced the front interior cabin lights, front side lights, tail lights (in the tailgate), tail/brake lights, reversing lights and front/rear indicator lights, all with no issues. The dip beam headlights were already upgraded as a factory fit, so dip beam is good but high beam is in need of some brighter bulbs, if only to come up the the dip beam level of brightness.

I only had to add a 6 ohm resistor for the indicator lights, but have not had to do anything else for the brake lights. The ABS light is not flashing and all is working well. This may be due to the fact that I went for Cree Canbus LED bulbs from Autobulbs Direct, pricey but worth it.

However, the number plate light is still a mystery as to why it blows the fuse when a LED bulb is used, but I'm still working on it. I have checked the wiring out with a meter and all looks good, but that doesn't mean I haven't overlooked something. I am using Canbus LED bulbs for the number plate, could this be the problem, in that the number plate light wiring doesn't like the Canbus set up?

So, if anyone has any idea why the use of a LED bulb in the number plate light should cause a problem ........

Interesting, the only ones we really use often and I changed to LED were in our Narrow side conversion (spot lamps x 3) These are ok... occasionally
one of them starts flashing on and off a bit but other than that they are very good and much lower power consumption. Hope you get it sorted.

Number plate LED update.

After trying various makes and types of LED bulbs, I gave up trying to get an LED bulb to work for the number plate lights and went for a complete replacement unit instead. I used these ones from ebay as they are a like for like replacement.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-12V-24V-3 ... 2749.l2649

Fitting was easy as they used the existing screw holes, just a bit of messing around with the connector wiring, and they look good.

I still have no idea why the LED bulbs were causing the fuse to blow, when the normal bulbs worked fine.

It's an interesting thought, but why go to all that bother over number plate lights? They don't need to be bright and are a doddle to change if they blow.

I've come to the same conclusion with my dashboard lights. I've now tried 3 different makes of led bulbs. They've all failed within days. They simply run too hot because the manufacturers obsess over super brightness. There's no ventilation in the console, so they just burn out. You just can't buy low power ones. I've gone back to incandescents.

mitchelln wrote: Tue Dec 12, 2017 11:30 pm It's an interesting thought, but why go to all that bother over number plate lights? They don't need to be bright and are a doddle to change if they blow.

I've come to the same conclusion with my dashboard lights. I've now tried 3 different makes of led bulbs. They've all failed within days. They simply run too hot because the manufacturers obsess over super brightness. There's no ventilation in the console, so they just burn out. You just can't buy low power ones. I've gone back to incandescents.

I've travelled the same road with front cab lights. LED were trouble (and when they failed it seemed to involve stroboscope-like flicker - horrible) and i returned to filament bulbs. Have had good experiences though so far with LEDs in tailgate interior light and with reversing lights

Similar story to me Mike. I've changed the interior lights,
reversing, front sidelights and tailgate. The latter primarily due to the major disassembly required to get at them.

I've used high quality LEDs from Osram and Philips for all the external lights. The Philips 360 degree ones were the only ones that lit up the tailgate properly.

The only ones that have benefited from being brighter over incandescents are the reversing ones.

I have always updated the lights on my cars to LED, but the number plate light conversion just became an obsession to resolve why LED bulbs didn't work properly when incandescent bulbs, or the replacement units, do work. I'm really still none the wiser, but I have LED all round now.

I also used high quality CREE LED bulbs, from ABD (auto bulbs direct), expensive but good, consequently I have not had any issues with the replacement of the cab lights, front side, reverse, rear fog, brake/tail and tailgate tail lights. The front/rear indicators have also be updated, with the use of a single resistor on each side, with no issues.

I have even managed to fit a LED bulb in the glovebox using one of these;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/T10-501-W5W- ... R4c0mkmUfQ


I have factory fitted xenon headlights for dip beam, and p**s poor halogen high beam which will also be updated to something a bit brighter in the near future.