I have a spare LED DRL from another car project. The reversing light on the Mk2 is woeful, and I have already upgraded the bulb to an LED which gave a slight improvement. but still not great. I'm now considering mounting a 'DRL' just under the rear bumper wired in to the reverse light. Just afraid it looks a bit boy racerish, rather than someone who no longer has strong teenage eyes LOL

Does it look stupid?

Forgot to state, that is an old fashioned mock up as I'm an old school guy. Photo shows actual light held on by a strip of duct tape LOL

I think that looks pretty darn good actually, but also think having the one on the left ruins the effect too; but I guess I'm used to my old one having a second unit on the right when I did the mod myself with a euro lens..

I dont know here, in one regard it's great. Having a second stops people saying the didn't see your one light because they were on the angle away from the car in a car park (exactly why I did it in the first place!!) And in another it would look.. Odd?

Great idea but maybe given a bit of a struggle to work with.

To throw a spanner and all that, Have you thought about something else- I used a cheapo led pod a bit similar to that DRL you have and had it bonded on the inside of the bonnet with a fridge push-switch for activation for when I was doing anything under it. Potential?

I looked at similar for the boot too but didn't have my car long enough before someone wrote it off....

 

+10 rep for duct tape btw!

OMG, you just bought back a memory almost 40 years old! I hooked up (on my 1st car, a Datsun 120Y) an 'alarm' push bonnet switch to a 12v map reading light (don't think LEDs had been invented yet) so I could see under the bonnet. You also sound as anal as me too (with respect) as on my 1.9 205GTi, I ensured that there was a fog light on both side of the bumper to make it symmetrical! It only came with the drivers side one.

The mod you did using a Euro light to make it symmetrical sounds great, however, my fussiness has died down somewhat over the years, and the mod I'm contemplating is a zero cost one, as I already have the LED light, and it would just take a bit of wiring, again, no cost. I also have a bit of lens black spray paint in garage that maybe I could use to tone the whiteness of the DRL down so it doesn't stand out too much! Thanks for the feedback though, much appreciated...

I replaced the reflectors on my land rover with two LED light bars to improve the reversing illumination which was dire without them, so go for it

Have you thought about buying some cheap LED lights from IKEA to use? They are well suited to vehicle use and they do a wide range of shapes and sizes most of which will run happily off 12v supply. Land Rover users have added them under bonnet and in rear to provide more light than the standard candle supplied with the cars. They look quite stylish and not at all out of place, (You will never look at IKEA lighting in the same way now that snippet has been passed to you) 

7 hours ago, StephenFord said:

I have a spare LED DRL from another car project. The reversing light on the Mk2 is woeful, and I have already upgraded the bulb to an LED which gave a slight improvement. but still not great. I'm now considering mounting a 'DRL' just under the rear bumper wired in to the reverse light. Just afraid it looks a bit boy racerish, rather than someone who no longer has strong teenage eyes LOL

Does it look stupid?

Nice idea. Anything that improves visibility is great especially with having one crap one on the rear. Might just do something similar at some point 😃

Oh heads up as well, doing the second light mod on mine, when declared to insurance and mentioned factory parts etc. They happily put it down as 'Park Assist' on my policy, as it improves rear visibility when reversing. (Strong ***** bulbs helped too, mind!)

But just one to keep in mind for anyone who has / is doing / wants to do it..

8 hours ago, WireyWhenWet said:

Oh heads up as well, doing the second light mod on mine, when declared to insurance and mentioned factory parts etc. They happily put it down as 'Park Assist' on my policy, as it improves rear visibility when reversing. (Strong ***** bulbs helped too, mind!)

But just one to keep in mind for anyone who has / is doing / wants to do it..

I must confess that never in a month of Sundays did I ever think of 'reporting' such a mod to my insurance company. I would be curious under what set of circumstances would it be a detriment to the car? Oh, I just checked ad the DRL I have is 'E' marked.  I can understand a set of expensive alloys, or an uprated turbo. God, when I think of my younger days the stuff I use to put on my car without notifying them is scary!

Believe it or not I enquired about modifications on the last policy I had a few weeks ago as I had a fair bit done with my brum.. (Petrol 2009 1.6 Zetec)

ST Spoiler... Added nothing.

18" Alloy Wheels... Added nothing.

OE cruise... Added nothing.

Priv Glass... Added £56 (Fair)

Interior changes (Seats)... Added nothing.

Lowering Springs... Added nothing.

Dashcam.. Added £40 (???)

Reverse mod (Park Assist)... Added nothing.

 

That was all declared up to April.

 

I asked what else was an option etc. And how it impacted premiums.

Adding any form of bodykit, skirts, bumpers, etc. Adds nothing.

Added a big silly exhaust SAVED me £248!

That got added at the start of May to coincide with replacing my middle box.. Found a daft back box for £10 online (used) and just stuck it on the end. Daft not to and it kept quiet.. Looked stupid but hey, more money in my pocket!

Well, went ahead and did it on the persuasion of earlier darker nights. The most difficult bit was fabricating some custom brackets as the lights I had are 'handed' in that the lights are curved for LHS & RHS and I obviously wanted it to fit flush with the rear bumper, and the original mountings just weren't suitable. Anyway, all done now at zero cost as I had the DRL sitting in garage dong nothing. Happy bunny now...

New brackets...

OK, last photo, honest LOL Goodness that's a bright light! Will definitely help these ageing eyes when backing car up! 😎

5 hours ago, StephenFord said:

OK, last photo, honest LOL Goodness that's a bright light! Will definitely help these ageing eyes when backing car up! 😎

What a difference defo will be not missed now 😃

1 hour ago, mokes said:

Good idea. How about changing the fog light to a second reverse light and adding a fog in the middle instead? 

That's illegal, the fog light needs to be located on the right hand side of the vehicle. Besides, if you go back 2 x posts you'll see it's all done now and all works great...

Good point, well made! I imported a couple of Japanese cars in the late 90s, they did not have rear fog lights fitted at all as they didn't use them in Japan at the time. I know that the law in those days stated that if fitting only one rear fog light, they had to be located on the right hand side of the vehicle. Obviously legislation must have moved on from my experience...

3 hours ago, mokes said:

It now(from 1998)  states is has to be centre line or o/s of the vehicle. 

I've done the LHD clear fog light mod on my focus 

Heres a guide might help in doing yours, 

I went one step further in fitting an "Auto off DRL Relay" to the rear fog light wiring inside the boot compartment, 

Now if the fog light it on; and I put the car in reverse; the relay stops the red light while reverse is active which stops the colours mixing and helps maintain maximum street Credit 👍

Anyway heres the guide in PDF

additional Reverse Light.pdf

And heres my full list:.

 

On 1/18/2020 at 3:26 PM, mokes said:

Amazon finally delivered the aftermarket light unit, but it wasn't the best construction and actually didn't fit the bumper very well. It 'fitted' but left a gap which looked rubbish. Trying to return it for a refund now.

Still not found a breaker willing to sell a wiring connector either, so probably going to scrap this idea Lenny.

The TYC ones on everyone's favourite action site are very well made and fit nicely, even if they are a touch pricey.

If you find a breaker that you can buy a pair of rear units from and ask to snip the wiring secondarily you would probably be in a good position, I get some won't want to go to the extend of just the wiring but ask for the light units first, if they're already doing that then it's worth their time.

Old Post I know not as old as some reserected 😂 My question is an LED strip comes with 2 wires so how do you tap it to the reverse? Do you need something to convert it? Been searching and nothing is giving an answer. 

One goes to earth, the other to the wire that becomes live when you select reverse.

Thanks that's what I imagined but had to make sure. Have done some electrical mods but this confused me a bit 👍

8 minutes ago, F0CUE said:

Thanks that's what I imagined but had to make sure. Have done some electrical mods but this confused me a bit 👍

I know why, you have a much newer car than me, so everything is CAN BUS this, and CAN BUS that, my 21 year old lady was built in the days when a red wire went to positive, and a black wire to earth LOL You were simply overthinking it...

15 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

I know why, you have a much newer car than me, so everything is CAN BUS this, and CAN BUS that, my 21 year old lady was built in the days when a red wire went to positive, and a black wire to earth LOL You were simply overthinking it...

Yep defo 😂 got bored and thought of an idea to make use of this part of the bumper which serves no purpose. 

Now, that looks like a candidate for some of these LOL (I too often have time on my hands LOL)

F1 rear LED light