[Jesse91]

Reversing lights in cars suck, they are more of just an indicator to others that you are reversing and not actually there to help you see at night. The reversing lights in the i30 are barely a light they are just a wedge bulb. So here is what I did today to fix that;

First I bought a pair of these

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/400404045214?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

there are lots of blue and red cased ones on ebay that are cheaper but I went for these as they are pretty much invisible through the tail light.

here are the lights with the tail light removed


as you can see the reversing light is the tiny wedge bulb on the left, and the indicator bulb is the amber one on the right. The cree led lights are a bayonet type bulb and wont fit where the wedge bulb is or even through the hole on the back of the tail lamp.

So what I decided it to was switch the indicator and the reserving lights around so I can use my cree led bulb as the reversing light and replace the wedge bulb to an amber wedge bulb for the indicator.



Orange positive wire for the reversing light cut, and the grey positive wire for the indicator cut. (the black ground wires can stay the same)



grey to orange and orange to grey


soldered.


and heat shrinked




wires wrapped back up, you can see my amber indicator bulb and the cree led one



final result, Indicator is now on the bottom


and reversing light on the top.


There you go all up it is a really easy mod took me about 30mins would be even quicker if you weren't soldering. I haven't tested them at night yet but just backing up into the garage I already noticed the light on the back all was MUCH better.

[Dazzler]

Good work Jesse 

[The Gonz]

Very nice. Good value info.

[Jesse91]

*edit* I may need to switch the ground wires over, the indicators blink twice as fast. When I was testing I was using the hazard and it was working normal but the indicators switch aren't. 

[The Gonz]

In the old electromechanical days of blinker units, 'twice as fast' meant half the current draw. That may still be the case with your swapover of bulbs.

[Mike SX]

A great idea, and well illustrated - but a few years ago, over bright, powerful white reversing lights were seen as a possible UK vehicle testing failure

Some Mini owners were fitted powerful spot/fog lights on the rear bootlid, copying Paddy Hopkirk, and maybe a Rallying Scottish Global Moderator currently viewing this site

[Jesse91]

In the old electromechanical days of blinker units, 'twice as fast' meant half the current draw. That may still be the case with your swapover of bulbs.

ahh of course thank you the original bulbs were 21w and I believe the new ones are 5w I'll either find some 21w wedge bulbs or I'll get some led load resisters from work that bring the draw up to 21w

[baroudeur]

In the old electromechanical days of blinker units, 'twice as fast' meant half the current draw. That may still be the case with your swapover of bulbs.

ahh of course thank you the original bulbs were 21w and I believe the new ones are 5w I'll either find some 21w wedge bulbs or I'll get some led load resisters from work that bring the draw up to 21w

Afraid you have wasted your time.

Your indicator light will not meet regulations with anything other than a 21 watt filament bulb and this is why the flash rate is incorrect..

here is a 21 watt wedge bulb to fit in the reverse light holder but are you sure it is NOT a 21 watt already fitted?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/W5-X-16d-12-VOLT-21-WATT-WEDGE-BASE-BULB-382c-/290362043958

My book says:
Rear turn = 21W
Back up   = 16W

[Jesse91]

Afraid you have wasted your time.

Your indicator light will not meet regulations with anything other than a 21 watt filament bulb and this is why the flash rate is incorrect..

here is a 21 watt wedge bulb to fit in the reverse light holder but are you sure it is NOT a 21 watt already fitted?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/W5-X-16d-12-VOLT-21-WATT-WEDGE-BASE-BULB-382c-/290362043958

not really, I just need to get the right bulbs I have bought a set like these

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/280832039501?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

They are 21w and will fit into the t10 wedge, the ones I had put in there were a 5w wedge causing the fast blinking. For the mean time I have put the original reversing light bulbs which were a 21w wedge in the indicator spot and put some transparent amber tape over the lens. So at least the crazy blinking has stopped. 

[baroudeur]

My book says:
Rear turn = 21W
Back up   = 16W

Sorry you are correct ..........16watt wedge for reverse light.

[baroudeur]

not really, I just need to get the right bulbs I have bought a set like these

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/280832039501?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

They are 21w and will fit into the t10 wedg

So, to improve the reverse lights, which was the object of the exercise, you could have fitted 21 watt wedge bulbs to replace the original 16 watt and not altered any wiring...........

[Jesse91]

So, to improve the reverse lights, which was the object of the exercise, you could have fitted 21 watt wedge bulbs to replace the original 16 watt and not altered any wiring...........

Umm yeah if I wanted to increase the reversing light by like 5w I could have done that but I doubt it would have made any noticeable difference though.

Instead I replaced the original 16w reversing lights with much more brighter 5w cree led bulbs....

I've been looking into replacing my halogen lights at home with LEDs. Rule of thumb I decided is LEDs are 5 times brighter per watt. If that is somewhat close then the LEDs you ended up with are equivalent to 25 watts... not a lot more than the 21 watts from a straight globe swap.

Of course there is more to it than that but how much brighter do you reckon they ended up? Can you see going backwards? I'm interested because I think the reversing lights are as bad as the headlights. Both crappy, and if a simple DIY is helpful then I like the idea.

[baroudeur]

not really, I just need to get the right bulbs I have bought a set like these

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/280832039501?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

They are 21w and will fit into the t10 wedg

So, to improve the reverse lights, which was the object of the exercise, you could have fitted 21 watt wedge bulbs to replace the original 16 watt and not altered any wiring...........

Perhaps the laugh is on me.

The 16 watt wedge are 9.5 mm diameter and the 21 watt are 16 mm diameter so will they fit in the housing?

[baroudeur]

So, to improve the reverse lights, which was the object of the exercise, you could have fitted 21 watt wedge bulbs to replace the original 16 watt and not altered any wiring...........

Umm yeah if I wanted to increase the reversing light by like 5w I could have done that but I doubt it would have made any noticeable difference though.

Instead I replaced the original 16w reversing lights with much more brighter 5w cree led bulbs....

Will any lamp with a reflector  be improved by fitting an LED bulb that does not have a "filament" at the focal point?  The T5/T10 wedge fitting Cree bulbs I have looked at have a claimed 120° angle but it doesn't seem that wide in the video shots.
Be interesting know how you get on.

[The Gonz]

Will any lamp with a reflector  be improved by fitting an LED bulb that does not have a "filament" at the focal point?  The T5/T10 wedge fitting Cree bulbs I have looked at have a claimed 120° angle but it doesn't seem that wide in the video shots.

All in the physics. Unless the LEDs are designed to shine in an omnidirectional way like the original filaments (better still, against a small central reflector at the end of the filament to concentrate the 'cone' of light at the main reflector assembly), I'd expect there to be less than a direct percentage improvement. I'd think most LEDs would focus their own light directly without consideration of a separate reflector assembly behind them.

[Phil №❶]

We will know soon, Gonz 

[baroudeur]

Will any lamp with a reflector  be improved by fitting an LED bulb that does not have a "filament" at the focal point?  The T5/T10 wedge fitting Cree bulbs I have looked at have a claimed 120° angle but it doesn't seem that wide in the video shots.

All in the physics. Unless the LEDs are designed to shine in an omnidirectional way like the original filaments (better still, against a small central reflector at the end of the filament to concentrate the 'cone' of light at the main reflector assembly), I'd expect there to be less than a direct percentage improvement. I'd think most LEDs would focus their own light directly without consideration of a separate reflector assembly behind them.

My point exactly. How will this perform?

[Jesse91]

I've been looking into replacing my halogen lights at home with LEDs. Rule of thumb I decided is LEDs are 5 times brighter per watt. If that is somewhat close then the LEDs you ended up with are equivalent to 25 watts... not a lot more than the 21 watts from a straight globe swap.

Of course there is more to it than that but how much brighter do you reckon they ended up? Can you see going backwards? I'm interested because I think the reversing lights are as bad as the headlights. Both crappy, and if a simple DIY is helpful then I like the idea.

I would say that the area behind me when reversing is at least twice as bright but I could just be getting ahead of myself... I will try to take a decent picture at night and post it. If you wanted even more light you could go with some 50w halogen bulbs like these..

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HALOGEN-1156-BULBS-50w-REVERSE-BACKUP-LIGHTS-50-WATT-/150500493220?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item230a8747a4&_uhb=1

[Phil №❶]

IMO, I think you're heading in the wrong direction. Talk of 50w halogen for reversing is not a good idea. The wiring is not designed for that load and bulbs quickly get hot. They could present a danger to traffic approaching from the rear. The reversing lamp is designed to illuminate your path to avoid obstacles. If you want to improve this, stick with high intensity Led's but they MUST focus their light back to the reflector, not straight out to the rear. The reflector is designed to break up a spotlight into a wide beam reversing light.

[The Gonz]

Phil, Baradeur and I are on the same wavelength  - about 500 nm 
Build an arrangement of high intensity LEDs shining back at the reflector assembly and that will result in a worthy little project with impressive results.