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Thanks @ScottDy. The rear end of the 970.2 is a bit different so no rubber seal to tuck the wires under. I’m still trying to figure out how to get the wires “into” the bumper and then directed towards a tail light. I’ll remove a tail light in the next few days to see how to make this work. I’m hoping the wire harness electrical connections are similar between 970.1 and .2 (as you described) so that I know what wires to tap for power.
I still haven’t given up on the VLEDS LPR series license plate LED bar. I connected with someone over on MacanForum who installed this LED bar on his Macan and 911 and says it works great.
Immediately recognized your car
and even remember this thread! Looks like the seller that you sourced your LED reverse bulbs from has immortalized your car! Your license plate number is blanked out in the pic.
I think the issue with the 14-16 Is the way they placed the camera with no lights around it. It's ****ing useless. Why would they put the reverse lights up this high? Even the Macan has the reverse lights on its rear diffuser.
I ordered the LED light bar and the integrated license plate frame. The light keys into the frame and completes the look. Get a matte black frame as the light bar is matte black.
2. You will need this relay kit to prevent a CANBUS error:
I called the manufacturer to ask if wiring this LED bar to my tail light wire harness (splicing it in) will throw a CANBUS error. They think it will because the existing reverse lights in the sealed tail light assembly are already LED. They think the extra 2A load from this LED bar will likely trigger a CANBUS error. They suggested this relay kit to prevent a CANBUS error.
The relay needs to be spliced into the positive and negative wires leading to the reverse lights with a supplemental wire to the battery. The battery is in the rear hatch and in close proximity. My auto electric guy wired it for me and it works perfectly.
3. The light bar needs to be mounted on the BOTTOM of the license plate. When I mounted it on the top, it interfered with the back up camera (too close in proximity). Also, the intensity of the LED light caused the back-up camera image to be washed out (could barely see anything!).
4. I came up with a way to do this install. Everything was ordered from AliExpress.
5. I ordered a license plate mounting bracket that looks like this:
6. I secured this bracket to the rear plastic valence using M4 “petal” anchors that look like this:
7. I centred the bracket as low as I could (away from the back-up camera) and drilled into the thin rear valence plastic. I installed the petal anchors and used a riveting tool the looks like this to secure the anchors in place:
8. I used black M4 bolts with a flat head for the final install:
9. The license plate + license plate frame + LPR light bar then attaches to the installed bracket. It is very secure.
I now have very good light when reversing! Here is the finished product. Hope his helps!
Did not want to start a new thread on this so I'm just sharing the mod I did to the PH16W reverse light bulbs. Tried to order the LED ones on this thread but got pissed with the wrong delivered items (both for my PH24WY's and for this PH16W) . So I just decided to modify the existing PH16W receptacle to accommodate a big powerful T15 LED bulb. This is the PH16W reverse light bulb. You already know how to take this out... Separate the bulb from the receptacle GENTLY so that you don't break the plastic parts. Insert a T10 bulb holder into the silo. YES T10 for a T15 Big Bulb. A T15 bulb will fit a T10 bulb holder. You will need to do a little dremmel grinding so that the fins will allow the bulb holder to fit. Bend the metal connectors at the bottom towards the top so that they become the locking mechanism for the bulb holder. Solder the lead wires to the original plate connector of the PH16W base. Insert your powerful T15's on the T10 bulb holder and test. You will have a lot of choices on lumens...so I chose the 1200 lumen 6500K T15 bulb to do the job. Left ofcourse is the T15 and the right is the original one. I like my mod :-) It's prettier and brighter :-) haha And...you're done! This cost me less $2 to 5$ bucks (cost of the T15's and bulb holder) versus the $30.00 PH16W LEDs. Hope this helps those who want to upgrade but at the same time enjoy the satisfaction of a DIY and modifications :-) Cheers!
Wanted brighter reverse lights too.
User manual indicated that it would be a simple bulb swap after removing the taillight assembly, and then removing the cover behind the reverse light bulb.
Bought a pair of Canbus error free LED white bulbs and removed taillight.
Like skiracer13, found out that the reverse bulbs could not be removed.
There is a permanent cover where the manual says should be a removable cover.
2013 GTS
hi
did you figure it out how to open it up to change the bulb?
I do have the same type.
Thanks
Welp, unless I want to either dremel the sealed area, then rtv closed, or buy all new taillights with removable bulbs, I'm sol. Why on earth did Porsche make two different models of taillights for the exact same car (970 pre-facelift)?
hi
could you open the sealed area to changed the bulb?I do have the same problem and I don’t know what to do.
Thanks
I didn’t open my sealed taillight assemblies. I believe the reversing lights in the sealed units are already LED so there are no bulbs to swap out. I ended up adding external reversing light as described in post #80 above. Hope this helps.
Ok i am not sure though, it is very weak yellow reverse light. LED lights usually are not that yellow, unless they chose yellow led light on purpose. Thanks
Following up on this. 970.2 needs a different solution for more reversing light given the redesigned rear bumper. Here’s what I did.
I am running into the same issue as you did on my 2014 4s. I do not understand how using the license plate light bar fixed the problem getting the wires inside the car. Did you have to drill holes for the wiring, and where did the wires come through into the bumber/trunk.
I am running into the same issue as you did on my 2014 4s. I do not understand how using the license plate light bar fixed the problem getting the wires inside the car. Did you have to drill holes for the wiring, and where did the wires come through into the bumber/trunk.
Good question. When you remove your rear license plate you will see 2 round “grommets” in the black plastic valence (at the top). You will need to “punch” (drill) through one of these. The wires then go through here into the back of the bumper cover. The wires are then fed to one tail light (I used the passenger side) and spliced into the wire harness. My auto electric guy did this for me. You will also need a reply to prevent a CANBUS error.
11-03-2021 | 12:43 AM
