[general2460]

Hi all

I want to replace the interior bulbs and possibly some exterior ones with LEDs. How can you tell if your car uses CANBUS? I have options of canbus or non-canbus.

Thanks!

[The Gonz]

Does your car report when a globe is blown? If it doesn't it's not CANBUS. CANBUS is a communications protocol for 'smart cars'.
A lot of the angst over CANBUS is actually just about blinker racing. LEDs draw such little current that the electromechanical blinkers go twice as fast with the reduced current.
This is often 'sold' as a feature 'to let you know you've blown a globe' but it's just the maths.
On my FD I replaced the blinker with a cheap eBay electronic adjustable timer module and changed everything over to LED, no problems.

[general2460]

Thanks heaps! No we bought the car with a brake lamp blown and no mention on the dash. We can assume no CANBUS then. Cheers!

[BrendanP]

My Czech-built 2015 GD doesn't have CAN bus, or at least not to the rear light clusters. If you look at the wiring to a light cluster, there would normally be one wire per light plus another for the ground, whereas CAN would have 4 wires, 2 thickish ones for power and ground, and 2 smaller ones for the data bus. You don't have to have CAN to report bulb failure, the current to the bulb may be measured at a central lighting control unit so it will know if a bulb has blown. I haven't noticed bulb alerts on my car but in the 5 years I've owned it I can't recall having any failed bulbs.