LED Tail Lamp Bulb Out Warning Fix - DIY Writeup
 

This writeup will show you how to remove the bulb out warning in the cluster if you have purchased KaTuning's LED Tail lamps (sold by TMTuning.com). Not sure if Topauto.de's tails are the same, but I suspect they are.

The skill level is about a 5/10 with soldering ability needed.
10 = Master tech
5 = Average Garage monkey
1 = 10yr old son's ability

The equipment you'll need is:
+Wire Cutters
+Pliers
+Soldering Iron
+Solder
+18-20 Guage wire (12 inches total)
+2 100ohm-150ohm 5W-10W ceramic coated resistors
+Heat shrink (various sizes)
+4 Squeeze Connectors

<img src="http://www.audicrazy.com/LEDTails/Equipment.jpg">
<img src="http://www.audicrazy.com/LEDTails/Resistors.jpg">
<img src="http://www.audicrazy.com/LEDTails/Heatshrink.jpg">
<img src="http://www.audicrazy.com/LEDTails/SqeezeConnectors.jpg">

Start off by cutting four 3" wires. Strip only one end of each wire to expose about 1/2" of wire. Then trim the resistors so that only about 1/2" of the wire coming out of each end of the resistor is showing. Next wrap the wires around the ends of each resistor.
<img src="http://www.audicrazy.com/LEDTails/Wire_1.jpg">

Next solder the wires to the resistors.
<img src="http://www.audicrazy.com/LEDTails/Wire_2.jpg">

Next cut some heatshrink and use the base of the soldering iron to heat up the heatshrink.
<img src="http://www.audicrazy.com/LEDTails/Wire_3.jpg">

Next cut some larger heatshrink and shrink it over the Resistor.
<img src="http://www.audicrazy.com/LEDTails/Wire_4.jpg">

Next use the pliers to clamp the wire squeeze connectors onto the BLACK and GREEN/WhiteStripe wire on the LED Tail Lamp. The Black wire is the ground wire and the Green/WhiteStripe wire leads to the LED's for the running light. The wires are the same for each tail lamp.
<img src="http://www.audicrazy.com/LEDTails/LED_Harness_wires.jpg">
<img src="http://www.audicrazy.com/LEDTails/ClampedOn.jpg">

Now you're done.

Here's what the Running Lights look like installed on the car with NO Bulb Out Error.
<img src="http://www.audicrazy.com/LEDTails/Running_Lights.jpg">

With Brake Lights on:
<img src="http://www.audicrazy.com/LEDTails/Brake_Lights.jpg">

With Hazards on:
<img src="http://www.audicrazy.com/LEDTails/Hazzard_Lights.jpg">

wow...they look great. nice job

nice work!

They do look really good, very tempting

you did a great job !

what about other issues - fit, water tightness, etc....any resolution there?

I am going to strip off the weather stripping and put new stuff on. I trimmed the existing weather
 

stripping so that it doesn't stick out.

They fit well, there was never an issue there.
I think the water issue is due to the trunk and how it's designed. It's designed to allow the water to flow down the sides near the seam. The stock tails and the LED tails both have the stock wire harness exposed to water. The LED tail is sealed up very nicely in the rear and I don't see how water can get into the wiring.

The bottom line is that the stock tails let water in too, I've seen it, so it's not an issue for me.

The trimmed weather stripping is still an issue for me because if you look at it up close you can see where it was trimmed. That look was not meant for an Audi, it's got to be perfect.

Didn't someone have the same set with no weather stripping issues?

yes and I think they were purchased from somewhere else though.

Nice work! A little heavy on the solder. "The bigger the blob, the better the job." ;-)