Brighter 1156?

[-Virgil-]

If you want/need more light you should consider installing a pair of grommet mounted 7" oval lights

Well, grommet-mounted 2" x 6", but yeah. Details are here.

Grote even makes a combination STT/backup lamp.

True, but it's not worth having.

 

[Hamilton Felix]

Interesting idea. I was going outside anyway, to start the 7kw generator because the power just went out. So I looked at the F250 and at the grommet mounted oval Truck-Lites on my car trailer. The flat center band on the Ford's rear bumper looks like about 2-3/4" and total top to bottom of the bumper is close to 7" so I think it's feasible with careful cutting. I didn't want to wrestle a trailer light out of its grommet in the dark and wet snow, but my best measurement for the opening behind the grommet is about 2-3/4" in height.

I had been thinking of the traditional PAR36 "tractor floods" that we often see, but anything hung underneath or mounted atop the bumper will be easier to break than something actually in the bumper. Perhaps I should check the AW Direct catalog, but I suspect there are some really nice white LED floods available in standard Truck-Lite sizes these days.

I've had other vehicles with separately switched rear floods for working in the woods. I am wondering if, from a legal standpoint, I'm better off keeping such lights separate from factory backup lights and not trying to pretend they are reverse lights. As I've said, there are times out in the woods when you wish for headlights on both ends. In fact, if you work out in the woods, work accident rescue, or work vehicle recovery (all of which I've done), you will soon wish for powerful work lights on all four surfaces of your vehicle.

For now, I am still enjoying the new stock backup lights with the 796 bulbs. We drove over to our other property, so I could show my wife what the Loggers left after cleaning up (a brushpile the size of a small two story house, but that's selective logging). Took the 4x4 truck because of the wet snow and mud. By the time we checked the house and headed home it was full dark. It was so nice to have backup lights I could actually see.

 

[-Virgil-]

Use the lights suggested in the linked thread (which will also outperform PAR36 tractor candles) and you don't have any legal concerns; they're designed and certified as reversing lamps...no pretense needed.

 

[Hamilton Felix]

Thanks. A tough plastic light inside the bumper in a rubber grommet is harder to break than a tractorflood attached to the bumper. I followed to the other thread. The particular linked foxtaillights page is no more, but I found foxtaillights and searched "backup lights." Wow, quite a choice, from single diode to seven to ten. I don't know which is best, but none really looks bad.

 

[-Virgil-]

They're legally all alike, but not functionally all alike. The new link for the lamps you want is here. (I'll go edit that in the previous thread, too)

 

[Hamilton Felix]

Thanks. That looks like a winner. :twothumbs

 

[Hamilton Felix]

Just wanted to say once again how glad I am that I installed brand new tail lights and those 796 bulbs. A buddy called, his CUCV Blazer was stuck in snow where his long drive turns off of the powerline right of way that leads to the County road. I fired up the old F250 and pulled him out of that spot, then led the way to his house. He hung up again, a couple of hundred yards short of the house, and I had to back that distance in the kind of hub deep snow that wants to grab and pull you off of a crowned, icy driveway. Really glad my fresh Toyo 255/85R16 M/T's are taller, narrower and more aggressive than the half worn 31x10.50-15 TXR's on the Blazer, and that my old Super Cab is more massive than the Blazer. But REALLY glad I could see behind me when I had to back up in this crap. Useful backup lights are SO nice. Thanks again for the assistance I received here.


Edited to add: A few nights later, I was checking our other property, went in the private road which connects to the Forest Service road, then came out on that. Within sight of the Highway, a good sized Alder was across the road, and I did not have saw with me. So I backed up about 1/4 mile to where I could catch a right-of-way that took me across to the private road. Once again, REALLY glad I have functional backup lights.

 

[Hamilton Felix]

I bought some of those LED backup lights from Foxtail Lights (appeared to be shipped directly from Peterson). Be warned, that website is not entirely clear. And its search engine sucks. I thought I was ordering lights with grommet mounting kits, but was apparently ordering only lights designed to be grommet mounted. Also thought I was ordering a pack of extra grommets, but was in fact ordering one grommet.

These lights do NOT use the 3-pin bullet connector common to my other sealed Truck-lites. They have two tiny pins and need a connector to fit that. Needless to say, my second Foxtail Lights order was placed carefully, after considerable searching of the site. I look forward to receiving the rest of the components I need.

Edited to add: Well, they delivered quickly, and now I have the right pieces. Assuming one uses their site with care, they do deliver quickly and as ordered.

 

[Inspector71]

This 1156 thread caught my attention but not because I need to upgrade backup lights. I have a John Deere 318 garden tractor which utilizes three 1156 bulbs for headlights. The standard 1156 is far from great when working at night. The issue is that the tractor only has a 15amp charging system so it is easily overloaded if not careful. In reading this thread the 796 might work but I suspect would put too much load on the charging system. So I have been looking for LED 1156 replacements. I tried one style off ebay but despite being a 1156 base they would not fit my sockets because the bulb section was shaped more like a barrel and became the maximum OD as soon as it came out of the base. The Phillips Vision LED discussed earlier looks like it would fit my socket but there was some discussion about the nature of the reflector. My tractor reflector is simply a recess that is painted with silver paint (not chrome) so I was wondering if anyone knows how much of the light produced by the Phillips is directed straight forward from the bulb.

 

[Bill Idaho]

In your application, it seems as though a completely separate light (LED of course) would work better than trying to make what you already have work better. I think, and to quote Forrest Gump " I'm not a smart man.", but one of those LED light bars people are putting on the front of their pickups might actually work good in your case.

 

[-Virgil-]

I have a John Deere 318 garden tractor which utilizes three 1156 bulbs for headlights.

Try these and these. You need three bulbs anyway, and this way you can figure out which design works best with your particular lamps.

 

[Inspector71]

I was actually looking at the Phillips Bright White Vision on Amazon based on earlier discussions in this thread. I just wondered what the light output was directly in front of the bulb since the reflector is not great.

 

[-Virgil-]

There is no 1156 (or other filament bulb) that puts much of any useful light straight forward -- in order for forward light to be useable, it has to be magnified and focused by fresnel optics, which your lenses don't have. That said, the linked Philips bulb puts out more forward light than the only other legitimate 1156 LED bulb (which is the linked Sylvania).

 

[alpg88]

be careful with higher wattage inc\halogen bulbs, warped\melted taillights are real thing, seen it happen more than once. some cars lights have enough interior volume to dissipate heat somewhat, others do not.

 

[-Virgil-]

That's a problem with the silly 50w halogen "upgrades" that are out there. The 35w 796 doesn't cause these problems, because they're only 7w more than a stock 1156 and the reversing lamps are not used for prolonged periods of time.

 

[Ofelas]

Will a 3497 work ?

 

[-Virgil-]

A 3497 will make a 40% improvement over an 1156. A 796 will make a 194% improvement over an 1156.

 

[Hamilton Felix]

Dredging up this old thread to add a reminder about voltage drop and wimpy factory wiring. As mentioned earlier in the thread, I put 796 bulbs into the new backup light fixtures of my 1986 F250, then I installed a pair of the oval LED backups Virgil recommended, into the rear bumper. Nice setup.

I often want a work light in back, or hooking up a trailer, unloading the truck, etc. I finally got around to installing a manual switch. I went brute force simple: From a stout fuse holder at the battery, I ran #10 (60 strand type SIS "hinge" wire, but that's the sort of scraps that turn up in my industry) under the cab and up to a push-pull switch with red indicator mounted on the gear shift, then on to the backup lights on the rear of the truck. BTW, in addition to chassis ground at the back, there's a #12 running ground going up front to the battery. I found that if I turn the truck on and hit reverse, I get backup lights, but switching on the manual switch makes a very significant improvement.

I haven't put a volt meter on the bulbs, but I'd guess more than a volt difference. You really see the lights get brighter with that manual switch. This is just a good reminder that factory wiring is usually barely adequate on its best day, so you need to beef things up a bit to get full performance from your bulbs.

BTW, that same truck has H4 headlights, standard wattage but premium Xtreme Vision bulbs. Adding a HD wiring harness and relays visibly improved lighting output there, too.