LED Lightbar for Truck Rear Bumper

I have a 2019 F150 and would like to add two light bars to the bottom of the rear bumper. It will be wired to only operate while in reverse. I'm thinking of buying a cheap pair of lightbars and then upgrade the led's. So what led die would be the one to get that has a nice colour and decent output?

dafeichu said:

I have a 2019 F150 and would like to add two light bars to the bottom of the rear bumper.

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There are plenty of genuine LED reversing lamps from Peterson and Grote and JW Speaker.

It will be wired to only operate while in reverse.

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Automatically, or wired to only be *permitted* to operate while in reverse? If automatically, there are plenty of genuine LED reversing lamps from Peterson and Grote and JW Speaker.

If wired such that they can only be activated manually while already in reverse (and require manual reactivation every time you switch out of and back into reverse), there are LED work lights and other scene lighting from the same makers.

The distinction is that if they are wired to come on automatically then you need to stick with actual reversing lamps ("backup lights", colloquially) -- and there's a point where you can have too many and reduce safety for others by increasing glare.

I'm thinking of buying a cheap pair of lightbars and then upgrade the led's.

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It is impossible to change the LEDs in such a lamp assembly and come out ahead. The amount of precision it takes to place the new LEDs (assuming their emission pattern is the same as the ones they replaced) means you'll just end up ruining the lamp-- and that's not to mention the sealing (and potential ventilation) issues introduced by breaking the seal on the lamp, let alone then trying to work on the optics themselves.

dafeichu said:

I have a 2019 F150 and would like to add two light bars to the bottom of the rear bumper. It will be wired to only operate while in reverse. I'm thinking of buying a cheap pair of lightbars and then upgrade the led's. So what led die would be the one to get that has a nice colour and decent output?

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There are several fatal problems with this idea. For one thing, reversing lamps (like all other vehicle exterior lights) are regulated, in detail, as far as their light distribution and other performance, construction, and durability aspects go. You cannot just throw any old white light on there and say "Well, it's a reversing lamp because it only comes on when I shift into reverse, it's white, and it faces rearward". That's not safe or legal. Also, no, you cannot "upgrade the LEDs" in an already-built vehicle lamp -- you'll wind up with an even bigger safety hazard than you would have already created if you went ahead with this light bar idea.

That doesn't mean you have to live with the useless lights Ford gave you. Get a pair of these specific lights. You'll need grommets like these. You can either slot them into the rear bumper or mount them on brackets like these. You can tap them directly into the existing reversing lamp wiring (they take very little current, so there will be no overload danger) and they will provide a much wider, much brighter spread of light behind you without causing unsafe/illegal glare to others in traffic. They're also a whole lot easier and less expensive than the light bar plus "upgrade" mods. Win-win-win-win.

A while back, I followed Virgil's advice, installing those lights he recommends above, in the step bumper of my 1986 F250 - after buying new tail lights and putting #796 bulbs in the small factory reverse lights. I then installed a manual switch with heavy duty wiring (I used a pull switch with bright indicator, mounted on my floor shifter, so anyone who recalls driving a 1940's or 1950's medium truck with two speed axle will have a flashback). This has worked well, and has the added benefit of the switch with HD wiring eliminating voltage drop on the factory wiring. I can see the lights get brighter when the manual switch is closed. I have decent light for hooking up a trailer or working behind the truck, when out in the woods at night.

I still have plans to augment the stock cargo light with floods atop the cab guard, along with some side floods, but these will be separate circuits. All of this is on an old truck that actually does get used to harvest firewood and yard logs in a selective logged area, so appearance is not an issue.

I rewired my 1988 car hauler trailer before LEDs caught on, and the job has held up fairly well. But next time, the trailer definitely gets four of the lights Virgil recommends, in place of its incandescent Trucklite reverse lamps.

The lights will only turn on when the truck is put into reverse. There won't be a separate switch to operate it. I'll be wiring it to the reverse wire in the trailer harness so it doesn't have to be a dedicated reverse light. I've replaced leds on a bunch of cheap Chinesium flashlights many years ago and also on three 4Sevens lights so I'm not too concerned about taking them apart and putting them back together. Thanks for the link to those lights but not what I'm looking for. I'm going to bolt them to the bottom of the bumper so they need to have brackets to allow me to do that.

I've been out of the flashlight scene for a while so I'm just curious what the latest leds are. What led would you recommend?

dafeichu said:

Thanks for the link to those lights but not what I'm looking for. I'm going to bolt them to the bottom of the bumper so they need to have brackets to allow me to do that.

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Oh! So something like…the brackets you were linked to in post #3 of this thread?

The lights will only turn on when the truck is put into reverse. I'll be wiring it to the reverse wire in the trailer harness so it doesn't have to be a dedicated reverse light.

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Yes, it actually does. Refer to post #3 of this thread and Rule #11 of this board. Car lights are not like flashlights; there's a public safety aspect to car lights, so no, you don't get to just do whatever you think you want to do with the lights on a roadgoing vehicle. At least, you aren't getting any help on this board with your effort to endanger traffic safety, whether or not you want to believe that's what you're doing. You got the answer you need, even if it's not the answer you want, and that's that.