Recommendations on led reverse bulbs

[LarsfromNorway]

Has anyone tried the different types as found on eBay? Or other shops that ships to Norway? It's a jungle of them. I would like some 360 degrees to get the full use of the reflector to get the same light pattern as when using a standard filament bulb, but i am open to other suggestions. I am going to use both lhd and rhd versions of the light housings to make dual lights, so max 10 watts current draw from each bulb so the fuse still stays happy😀

What i miss is some real comparasion pics before and after installation of the bulbs, it's not enough to see only the light, but also the beam behind the car and how much more light they throw. 

Thanks in advance for your reply!

[Luke4efc]

Autobeam/auxbeam are popular in the UK for direct replacement bulbs. Not sure whether they'll ship to Norway.

3 hours ago, LarsfromNorway said:

but also the beam behind the car and how much more light they throw. 

They're not meant to throw a beam for you to see where you are reversing. They're there to warn other people that you're reversing.

[LarsfromNorway]

Ok, thanks, i will have a look at them. If i were to buy here in Norway i would have to pay at least £60 a pair, so that's not gonna happen.

[StephenFord]

I had to try 3 different LED Bulbs before I got one that actually works. This is the one I got, though it's still only a single bulb and still didn't help much lighting a dark area! (But it was definitely better than the stock filament one)

LED reverse bulb for Focus Mk2

So I went all out, and upgraded/modified to provide a light that I could actually see what I was backing up in to!

 

[LarsfromNorway]

I was thinking of doing this, putting a small led-bar/working light unit into one of these slots in the valance, but to keep it clean and symmetrical i got a rhd lamp housing. 

On my mk1 i did this, hacked away the stock reverse light to keep the reflex and put the light in as it was very small. Have you tried CREE-leds at any time on your way to find the best bulb? 

[F0CUE]

You should pretty much get all your answers below 😁

 

[LarsfromNorway]

Through looking for tips and ideas upon buying my car last year i came across this thread, and it's brilliant, like all the other how to's Lenny has contributed with! It's also one of the reasons for joining here! But i have forgotten he mentioned the LED Bulbs in this thread, so now i know what bulbs to look for. Thanks for the heads up! Now if only Lenny could link to the actual bulbs he used it would be nice, the link in his thread is dead.

[StephenFord]

2 hours ago, LarsfromNorway said:

I was thinking of doing this, putting a small led-bar/working light unit into one of these slots in the valance, but to keep it clean and symmetrical i got a rhd lamp housing. 

On my mk1 i did this, hacked away the stock reverse light to keep the reflex and put the light in as it was very small. Have you tried CREE-leds at any time on your way to find the best bulb? 

Must admit, if I had a fancy valance like that, I would have suck 2 x small light bars in those slots (and maybe wired an override switch on dash to signal my annoyance at following drivers if they got too close LOL)

[LarsfromNorway]

Yeah, i've always fancy the thought of being able to flash backwards in annoyance, like when getting full beams or similar behind me into the mirrors. 

[Ennvoqation]

If you do want to replace the bulbs with something a bit brighter then I can recommend the Autobeam lights, as that's what I use in my own Focus. 

https://autobeam.co.uk/collections/focus-mk2-0-2004-2008

Other than that, rigging up the solution like Stephen's is great especially if you're trying to hook up a tow hitch at night! I used a dual purpose white/amber light on a friends Focus for that purpose, I think it was a Banksman BM3 for trucks, to avoid dazzling people in cities it was rigged to an over-ride switch which would enable/disable linking with the reversing light automatically to comply with the MOT. If you look around on the commercial vehicle companies that sell lighting then you'll find a bunch of slimline lighting that can be taped, bonded or bolted to a bumper or tailgate. You can easily add a second reversing light to your rear light housing depend on if you have any clear glass and get grommet LED's for this purpose and all you'd have to do is drill a small hole into the rear light cluster.

[LarsfromNorway]

Yeah, i have a lot of Norwegian stores selling these slim lights, but i stick to my plan with running dual stock ones. Can you recommend any good ones from eBay or similar? Many are listed as cree, but i am not sure if all of them has really got crees in them😂 seems like some of them just using it as a search frase to hook up customers.

@Lenny? Are you out there somewhere?

[Ennvoqation]

Cree is an American designer and manufacturer of the LED chips, it's up to other manufacturers to design and build the actual housing/circuitry (one of the reasons you can get 'bad' Cree lights).  They're considered some of the best, if not the best chips you can buy but there is other LED chip manufacturers. I don't really use eBay very often, as I get most of what I need at trade stores.

[LarsfromNorway]

I see, i see. I can add some links later here so you can see what i am thinking of buying. 

[Stoney871]

Best cree bulbs to use are the ones with filler LED Bulbs around the main cree lens, this gives a wider light output while still maintaining the bright central beam.

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[Stoney871]

This type of thing for visual reference-



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[F0CUE]

5 hours ago, Stoney871 said:

This type of thing for visual reference-



Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
 

I had similar ones for brake lights in my old mk2 and you could see the brake lights lighting things up for miles 😂 

[LarsfromNorway]

7 hours ago, Stoney871 said:

This type of thing for visual reference-



Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
 

Thanks! Yeah, i've seen this one and similar and they looks like something worth trying. 

[Alex.S]

On 10/10/2020 at 3:39 PM, Luke4efc said:

Autobeam/auxbeam are popular in the UK for direct replacement bulbs. Not sure whether they'll ship to Norway.

They're not meant to throw a beam for you to see where you are reversing. They're there to warn other people that you're reversing.

Meant for both. Unfortunately mk4 single reverse light is worse than candle light! My old Vauxhalls reverse lights were 10x better for reversing in the pitch black.