Door reflector

robbiehall · Post by **robbiehall** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 4:31 pm

Is the red reflector at the bottom of the door card actually meant to be a light?
I was looking at a Skoda today which I believe is actually partly a VW and it has the same red plastic panel BUT IT LIGHTS UP !!

Seems kind of a safety feature to me too.

Any ideas

Cheers
Rob

Post by **mole** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 4:50 pm

Some got reflectors and some got lights!
So if yours don't light up, they probably aren't meant to!

Hope this helps....

Mole

des_pd_ tdi · Post by **des_pd_ tdi** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 5:18 pm

Like Mole said, here is some confusion over when this lights were swapped for reflectors by Volkswagen.

From the information we have accumalated 2003 models have the reflectors.

robbiehall · Post by **robbiehall** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 6:00 pm

Cheers guys,

N E 1 know if there is still a wire to the location? Perhaps a LED could be drilled in the back??

Cheers
Rob

Post by **mole** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 7:00 pm

No there's not

Scorpio had a look and even tried wiring them up himself but couldn't work it out!

Scorpio1 · Post by **Scorpio1** » Sat Nov 15, 2003 1:46 am

It's not as easy as you think to wire the door lights. If the wire is in the car it certainly hasn't been fed through to the door, you CAN wire them up yourself, but I think it uses a negative trigger and when I tried it the locking went wrong when the light was on. (I tried and tested every wire combination in the door loom).

Of course a better way is to take the feed from the interior light, and run the wires all the way down to the door through the rubber grommet. I haven't done this yet as I don't want to remove everything too soon on a brand new car! But I will do it, and the light units for the doors (with bulbs) are about Â£6.50 each from VW.

des_pd_ tdi · Post by **des_pd_ tdi** » Sat Nov 15, 2003 7:32 am

For everyone's information when it comes to wiring if you open one door the lights in both doors will illuminate so bear that in mind when you install them.

bertJ · Post by **bertJ** » Sat Nov 15, 2003 5:05 pm

The interior lights, as Scorpio suggests, are very complicated. When you take the key out of the ignition the interior light comes on and after a delay goes out. Also when the car is 'zapped' to open it, the interior light comes on. The interior light is controlled by the ignition and the door locks with sophisticated timing circuits. Presumably the whole lot is computer programmed. Golf door lights and Passat 'puddle' lights only come on when the door is actually opened. The computer system on these cars is probably programmed to do this as neither seems to be linked to the interior light.
I would be quite wary of linking door lights to the interior light system. Goodness knows what would happen to the electronic circuitry if an extra load was to be placed on it.
One very crude solution would be to install old fashioned pin switches but that would involve some very nasty drilling into the door pillars! (Not a good idea). If anyone could get hold of the wiring diagram and/or computer codes for a Golf or Passat that might provide the answer.

robbiehall · Post by **robbiehall** » Sat Nov 15, 2003 6:32 pm

Well I don't think I'll be doing this then.........

Cheers
Rob

Post by **mole** » Sat Nov 15, 2003 6:49 pm

vwpower · Post by **vwpower** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 9:51 pm

Mine is half up red and half down white and it do have light inside when I open my door and also reflects.

bertJ · Post by **bertJ** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 10:08 pm

vwpower wrote:Mine is half up red and half down white and it do have light insite when I open my door and also reflects.

That's the same as on current Golfs. Why they are all different, goodness knows. Passat's have pathetic small reflectors and no lights in the edge of the doors.

bertJ · Post by **bertJ** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 6:48 pm

Interesting - In the posting about Japanese leather a Polo is shown with door lights!

Post by **mole** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 8:22 pm

Probably just an early car, or maybe because its Japanese