joey_turbo

iTrader: (26)

I've never thought my reversing lights have been too bright. Annoying when reversing on a dark drive.

Anyone tried the LED ones?

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Likely to be less bright Except looking straight at them

Think about it: the standard bulb uses an incandescent filament which gives out light in a full 360 degree sphere. That light is refected and focused by the light unit to shine where you want it to.

An LED DOESN'T have that 360 degree output, most of it's light comes out of the top, so missing the reflector completely.

joey_turbo

iTrader: (26)

But there are 360 degree bulbs, where there are more than one SMD LED at all angles to account for this, they're the ones I would get.

ScoobySteve69

iTrader: (13)

Correct. I had some on mt FTO and they made a world of difference to my reversing lights.

PS. I actually think the Scooby bulbs are quite bright

The only `problem` I see is, they might look a bit pants through the clear lens

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

You can but try..........

joey_turbo

iTrader: (26)

No, my ones are any good at all.
My Mrs has an 05 Toyota avensis, and the reverse lights on that are much better up the drive.

I'll give it a go with some new ones, I only have standard rear lights, so I doubt you'd see the bulb.

So what is the fitment for the reverse lights? Just like a regular rear light, like a stop and tail light? Doesn't have the offset fitment does it?

.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

AFAIK, it's a standard 21W with the pins opposite each other.

joey_turbo

iTrader: (26)

I bought these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Arrived today.

68 LED's, and the light is no better.

Oh well, I've been meaning to add some better lights inside the boot. Wil use these for that.

As for the reverse lights, is it easy to modify a stop and tail light, so both filaments are alight? That might work. maybe a blob of solder between the two points will bridge it.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

They can't FOCUS the light like it can be focused from a single filament lamp.

joey_turbo

iTrader: (26)

But isn't it one regular positioned filament, and then a smaller one lower down?
So one would be focused, like normal, the other would provide more light?

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

No mate. It's a bit more complicated than that.

ALL lights using incandescent lamps need a reflector and/or lens to focus the light. The reflector/lens is purpose designed to produce the correct spread of light from the correct lamp, whichever one it's been designed for.

In the case of reversing lights, this is a single filament 21W bulb, with a bayonet mount. It's filament is in the centre of the bulb envelope.

The twin filament tail/stop bulbs have both filaments slightly off-centre, so as to avoid them actually ever touching, and THEIR reflectors are designed for that combination.

You MIGHT get a bit more light output, but it's likely to be disappointing, given the constraints above and the fact that it's only 5W more.

Have you seriously considered an old halogen foglight wired to it's own switch, mounted on the rear of the bootlid, like rally cars used to? Then you could have 130W if you wanted, but it would STILL be legal as your standard reverse lights would work as normal

joey_turbo

iTrader: (26)

Ok, thanks for clearing it up.

I did think about something separate, but it would look too much I think.

I'll just eat more carrot's.

cheers

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

To much? surely that would depend on what and where you fitted it?

You can get some quite small foglights that will take a 100W bulb at the least.

joey_turbo

iTrader: (26)

I meant too much for me. I don't like the look of aftermarket foglights in that way. So its something I could live with, not being bright enough.