The reversing lights on the Benz are not great, they are standard 21w bulbs and there are two of them, but the reflectors are not good, not worn away or anything just poor, the ribbed lenses are thick, which is great because they are as tough as things like this can be, but again tend to diffuse the light.

So after trying to find some more powerful bulbs of the same fitting decided on some Super Nukem retina melting LEDs, got them sent, fitted them, chocolate teapot syndrome, they gave about 60% of the standard 21w bulb output, and put the bulb failure warning light on to boot when on, because they were not ballasted or whatever the term is.

Seemed a good idea at the time.

I didn't want bright white lights, its an 18 year old car, if it had DRL style bright LED's it would look like Barries car from the town drug dealers street, but for reversing light increase i could have coped i s'pose, anyway its not to be, i'll just have to peer carefully as i have done for the last 11 or more years.

I could i suppose remove the lenses and glue some gucci tin foil in the right place, or paint the reflectors with chrome paint, but not that bothered...:-)

Something went wrong on last post,but never mind.

some led`s as GB mentioned are dimmer than standard like the warm whites, but I use the cool whites,much better from point of view people and other drivers see you much better,apart from the fact they dont use the current standard bulbs do.

I use them for side lights/no plate lights and reversing lights,interior lamps (handy in winter) I dont understand why some people are against them apart from price, and, ok an ordinary filament bulb may last as long, but IMO the light given from LED is much better if you get the right ones

But there are bad ones about as well as good ones

Even the house led warm whites are improving, but again you have to be carefull where you buy them

"gordonbennet

The reversing lights on the Benz are not great, they are standard 21w bulbs and there are two of them, but the reflectors are not good, not worn away or anything just poor, the ribbed lenses are thick, which is great because they are as tough as things like this can be, but again tend to diffuse the light….but for reversing light increase I could have coped I suppose, anyway its not to be, I'll just have to peer carefully as I have done for the last 11 or more years."

I've the problem that my Subaru Outback has only one reversing light, set high. It gives only an indication, or signal, that reverse gear is selected and is pretty useless for seeing anything, especially on rainy nights. So, I installed aftermarket reversing lights from S-V-C and have transferred them over three cars now. But age and the environment have degraded them and I've bought new ones. The new ones have 21W halogen bulbs. I was wondering if I could get LED bulbs to replace them and reduce the current at the same time. Part of the problem is that the reflector and lens in the fitting need the filament to be in the focal centre to get any kind of distribution efficiency. And, the bulbs don't have a 'standard' lampholder.

gordonbennet

Last year I had a problem getting a reply from S-V-C so I bought a set of two Ring Microline spotlights and tried one of those. The bulbs were 55W halogen and my technical informant advised changing them to 21W. It seems that the reversing switch in the gearbox is a flimsy thing and hard to replace should it burn out, so the current should be reduced to the minimum. Reducing the current is why I want to locate LED bulbs.

The Ring Microline fitting is a spotlight with a very narrow beam and needs careful aiming to light the kerb. The casing is plastic and the fixing can’t be tightened too much for fear of crushing it. It moves easily because of the slipstream under the car. That makes the beam aim anywhere but where it’s needed.

So I’m back to the S-V-C ones (they’ve started answering emails again). The S-V-C fittings are wide angle distribution which is what I need, and once they are aligned they don’t move.

Because I have to mount them upside down to get the ground clearance the original S-V-C ones filled with water however I tried to seal them. So I have drilled drain holes in the new ones. The original ones lasted seven years before they started to give trouble so I’m not worried.

When I was parking up in the Council car-park a very nice young woman kindly point out to me that only one of the reversing lights on the boot lid was working. I thanked her gracefully, not saying that the other light, although it looked white is actually the fog light and turns red in use.

If you use a relay, It won't overload the switch on the gearbox.

Wot 'e said..^ ^