LED headlight bulbs

Installation information

How do I replace the incandescent bulb with a LED bulb? Is it difficult?

The entire Philips LED Upgrade range is a retrofit of halogen and conventional bulb, making it easy to replace. Just need to follow the guidance on or in the package, and making sure prior to purchase there is enough space into the bulb housing.

After installing an LED light, I get an error message on the dashboard?

LEDs draw much lower wattage than conventional lights (lower power consumption).

Some cars are equipped with light detection system to warn the driver that one of the light has failed. In fact, the system sends electric impulses in the electrical system to check the functioning of lights. Hence when the systems checks, the power emissions are too low to be detected.  In such cases, we have developed a CANbus adapter which converts the power and avoids any error message.

The LED does not light up after installation. How can I resolve this issue?

If your Philips LED Upgrade doesn't light up, it’s likely that you need to "reverse the polarity" by flipping the LED. Philips LED Upgrade bulbs work like batteries with a positive and negative polarity. In case the Philips LED Upgrade does not light up, simply remove the LED, flip direction and reinstall as per explanation and illustration below:
1. Remove the Philips LED Upgrade from the socket
2. Flip the Philips LED Upgrade
3. Insert Philips LED Upgrade back into the socket
4. Check to ensure the Philips LED Upgrade lights up

After installation of the LED, my car show fast flash errors as if my light is out or broken?

Error messages appear because the LED bulb wattage is much lower than conventional bulbs, which can make an outage warning system unable to detect the bulb.

If your car shows fast flash upon installation of an LED bulb, you may consider to purchase and install a Philips CAN-bus warning canceller solution.

After installation of the LED, my car does not start. What should I do?

After installation of LED bulbs, some cars go in limp mode. The LED has a different resistor value than an incandescent bulb, so the car’s computer is looking for the resistor value of the incandescent bulb. That is the reason why the car goes in limp mode after installing the LED: it notifies the driver that something is not working. Thankfully this happens rarely and the issue can be resolved. First verify that the limp mode is being caused by the LEDs by replacing them again with the incandescent bulbs. If the car works fine, the limp mode was most likely caused by the LED bulbs. This means that a load resistor, a CANbus adapter, is required.

When installing an LED for turn indicators, is the blinking rhythm remains the same as for conventional or it becomes faster?

In each boxes of our turn indicators we provide two CANbus adapters that are necessary to install to ensure that the blinking of the LED remains at the same speed as the conventional lamp. If not installed, the LED blinking will be faster as if one of the bulb is broken.

Remember: always safely attached the CANbus adapter on a metal to avoid movement and damages for your vehicle.

What does CANbus stand for?

It stands for Control Area Network Bus, and it monitors your vehicle’s conditions during operations. Most of the newest European models are equipped with CANbus, therefore we strongly advice to check with your dealer what’s the system within your car prior to purchases.

Which CANbus adapter do I need?

Philips provide a range of Canbus adapters for the different car lighting applications:
The 5W CANbus is used when replacing a 5W conventional bulbs, typically for interior applications, license plate lighting, position light. The 21W CAN-bus is used to replace 20W conventional bulbs, for exterior signalling applications such stop, reverse and blinkers.

Does the CANbus removes the residual current at the time when the lamp goes off?

The Philips CANbus are designed to regulate the amount of wattage within the electrical system before it reaches the LED. When the LED is off, the remaining power is drawn by the CANbus. So that the LED stays off.

How do I install a CANbus adapter?

If your car has a dashboard error message, experiences fast flash or goes in limp mode upon installation of an LED bulb, you may consider to purchase and install a Philips CANbus adapter solution.

See below image for installation instructions of the Philips CANbus adapter:

Is it mandatory to use a CANbus adapter while fitting LED?

It’s strongly recommended to use a CANbus adapter to avoid either an excessive speed of the blinking or an error message on the dashboard.

Even after installation of my LED with CANbus adapters, I still get an error message or flickering, what should I do?

Even if after proper installation of the LED Upgrade and the CANbus adapter in order to remove any flickering and/or error message on the dashboard, you still get the mentioned issues, it is best to go back to the original halogen bulbs and ask for reimbursement at your dealer.