Upgraded reverse lights

[Qship1996]

300 lumens from a 9 watt led ? I will stick with my #796 bulbs for the reverse lights!

 

[-Virgil-]

"LED bulbs" do not work correctly or safely in a vehicle's exterior lights. Play with them in the interior lights if you wish, but spoiling the safety performance of your vehicle's safety lighting system is just as illegal in Australia as it is in Europe or Japan or America or Korea or pretty much anywhere else. Rule 11 of this board prohibits advocating illegal activity; please stop it now.

As for this LED putting out "much more light" than the bulb it replaces: False. The P21W bulb you took out produces 460 lumens at 13.5 volts. If (a very big 'if') the LED produces the claimed 300 lumens, then the LED puts out about 35% less light than the standard bulb you took out. Add to that the improper distribution of the light from the LED because it is installed in a lamp designed for a filament bulb, and you have a situation where the reality does not match the advertising claims.

 

[Rat]

Sorry if I broke some rules I will make sure I will not do it again.

Reality is in what I can see with my eyes and the Standard bulbs are not even close to lighting up as much as the LED's do.
But I do know one thing regardless of what the spec's are telling you the LED are so much brighter than the standard ones.
Maybe the standard bulbs are losing brightness because they are not as focused and the light is spread everywhere.
I now can see very well when reversing at night at my brother's farm which is very dark no outside street lights. As far as the standard bulbs went they were useless I could not see anything. So I am not sure where the light is lost but the two lights are not even close. And as far as safety goes I fell much safer as I can now see if my brother's kids run behind my truck when I am reversing.

cheeers

 

[-Virgil-]

Sorry if I broke some rules I will make sure I will not do it again.

Thank you.

Reality is in what I can see with my eyes

No, reality is objective and measurable. Your opinion, based on subjective impressions of what you think you can see better with one bulb vs. another bulb, is not "reality". It is an opinion based on a subjective impression of what you think you can see with one bulb vs. another bulb.

Maybe the standard bulbs are losing brightness because they are not as focused and the light is spread everywhere.

This, too, is not "reality".

 

[Hamilton Felix]

You know.... what is being described here sounds very much like what I've seen with LED replacements for indicator lamps in my control room at work. The LED does not give good distribution of light; if you're right in line with it, the darned thing seems too bright, but from a side angle it's dim.

I think that aftermarket LED is altering the normal flood pattern of the reverse lamps. If the driver is looking at something in the narrower bright part of the beam, he sees further. If he's looking to the side, where the stock bulb would have illuminated, he sees less. Also, the reduced side light would help make the center of the beam seem brighter by comparison.

So.. Uhh... I guess I've just explained why swapping to a different type of bulb can be a bad idea. The more I think about the reverse lights on our various vehicles, the more I'm convinced that additional lamps constitute the best answer. Maybe switch them so you have stock reverse lights when that's all you need to let others in the parking lot know you're backing up, but you have lots of light when you're way out in the woods at midnight.

 

[Phatty McPatty]

What is the Tc lifespan (13.2v) of the 796 bulb?

 

[Qship1996]

What is the Tc lifespan (13.2v) of the 796 bulb?

Not sure they publish one, but I have been using 2 of them in my reverse lights for about 4 years now {100,000 miles worth of driving} and they are still functioning. Reverse lights dont accumulate hours quickly!

 

[mcapenos]

As noted above (and by many others here), the best solution for me was a pair of $25 'driving lights' from Wal-Mart installed under my back bumper.
I cheated and removed two of the bottom carriage bolts that hold the bumper to the mounting bracket and used the holes to mount my lights.

The trick is keeping the wiring simple...

I LOVE my extra backup lights!!!

Edited by moderator: shilling is not permitted

 

[kingofwylietx]

That is actually a pretty cool connector. I found another one at JC Whitney made by White Night that is about half the cost and still let's you connect your trailer. Either one would be nice for the guys with big trucks.

Edited by moderator to remove quoted shilling

 

[kingofwylietx]

Edited by moderator: Thank you for alerting us to mcapenos' shill activity.

 

[hydro00]

Your baiting post previous to this post has been deleted, it seems you really do need some time off.

Enjoy your long weekend, it'll give you time to investigate Rule #8 - Norm

 

[electromage]

FWIW, my friend installed a 55W flood light (either GE or Hella) under his bumper, tied to the same circuit that drives his back up lamps. He's had zero problems with it and has been using that set-up for about a year.

This probably varies greatly by vehicle, so I can't say it'll work for you.

 

[-Virgil-]

H'mm. Unless your friend put in a relay, he's got a circuit designed for 54w maximum (less than that on most modern vehicles), now driving the original reversing lamps plus another 55w, is not a recipe for "zero problems". It's a recipe for gradual progressive damage to the reverse light wiring and switch.

 

[Phatty McPatty]

Any idea what the operating temperature of a 796 bulb is? Seems I've partially melted the plastic part of both the left and right OE bulb sockets. oo:

Would a 1295 bulb produce less heat?

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Any idea what the operating temperature of a 796 bulb is? Seems I've partially melted the plastic part of both the left and right OE bulb sockets. oo:

Would a 1295 bulb produce less heat?

The 796 shouldn't get THAT hot, but if the original assembly was made that cheaply, I suppose it's possible. It's only 35W compared to an 1156 at 27W.

A 1295 is 37.5W, so would produce more heat-- and because rather than a straight filament like the 1156 and 796, the focus of the lamp is changed greatly (going by the "light center length" alone is not enough, you need the filament shape to understand a bulb's characteristics).

 

[-Virgil-]

Any idea what the operating temperature of a 796 bulb is? Seems I've partially melted the plastic part of both the left and right OE bulb sockets.

How long at a time are you operating your back-up lights for? Seems to me you'd have to be leaving them on for prolonged periods of time for the sockets to be affected like that.

Would a 1295 bulb produce less heat?

No, it would produce more.

 

[Phatty McPatty]

Yeah, I can only blame myself. I swapped out the 1156 DRLs with these (hiss boo, I know, I know). In my defense, I swapped them prior to asking your opinions earlier in the thread (it's a weak defense; I should have asked first!). I've since replaced each with a 1156NA, which makes them a bit more visible in sunlight. I guess that's the best I can do.

The 796 shouldn't get THAT hot, but if the original assembly was made that cheaply, I suppose it's possible.

Since the sockets don't seat firmly into the headlight assemblies anymore, I need to replace them. Any suggestions where to purchase quality sockets? I found these but I don't know the lug pattern or focal length. Where can I find this info? Thanks.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Yeah, I can only blame myself. I swapped out the 1156 DRLs with these (hiss boo, I know, I know). In my defense, I swapped them prior to asking your opinions earlier in the thread (it's a weak defense; I should have asked first!). I've since replaced each with a 1156NA, which makes them a bit more visible in sunlight. I guess that's the best I can do.

The NA is "Natural Amber". It might make it more conspicuous in some cases, but not more visible, as the filtering removes a small portion of the light. (It's just that the remaining light is more discernible from a reflection.) Still, the DRL function on your vehicle may require an uncolored bulb to satisfy the intensity requirements (it's not that all DRLs must be white, but those DRLs were designed around a clear bulb).

 

[Hamilton Felix]

Years ago I had a Saab that used 1156 bulbs for turn, backup, and even brake if memory serves. I stumbled onto some 1195 bulbs and put those in as backup lights. I was swapping 21W, 32CP to 35W, 50CP if I remember right. But it worked and the backup lights were a definitely brighter. Of course, those were pretty roomy lamps, so the larger bulbs were no problem.

 

[Phatty McPatty]

Thanks Alaric. Yes, conspicuous is the right word. Judging (albeit subjectively) the intensity of the OE setup, I'd wager these DRLs just squeak by the minimum intensity requirements -- It is in fact, a Mitsubishi! Like you mentioned, NA bulbs can be more conspicuous than their clear enveloped counterparts, but the amber glass inherently filters some of the light, which could reduce intensities below DRL requirements. These are the reasons I asked about the higher intensity 1295NA bulbs (BTW, I didn't think this up out of thin air, I saw them mentioned by Scheinwerfermann in this thread. I must have misunderstood his suggestion to use 1295NA's in place of 1156NA's.).

So this would have been unwise as well (aside from the unforeseen heat issue)?