[marzterra]

like the title says, I feel that the backup lights are too dim, yet i dont want to add more "light housings" so what do ya do?!?!?!?

after about a weeks worth of research I believe i came up with a solution and as the parts come in I will keep people updated. they were ordered 3/1 with an expected arrival date of 3/7

as it is right now our X has 18w reverse lights bulb style 921, if you do the math we have 36 watts of light when in revers.

After evaluating a number of factors i have concluded that I can "mod" a similar light to work in the socket and not damage anything.

There is a 10 amp fuse for the revers lights currently and the usage with the 921 is only 4 amps.

by my calculations the "new bulbs" will use 8.5 amps of power

oh and if your wondering the bulbs that were ordered are ERD, thats the bulb style, they are 35 watt bulb so I will have a total of 70 watts reverse lighting with out adding any brackets or doing any special harness.

I will take pics, before and after, I am just waiting on the bulbs to get here....along with my gibson exhaust....

exhaust due in wednesday and lights due in friday! :cheers:

 

[motor city x]

Just be careful about heat buildup inside the stock housing. Those brighter bulbs will put out more heat than the stock ones. A lot of Titan/Armada owners tried a similar idea with the fog lamps and ended up melting their lamps.

 

[marzterra]

they are on for a max of 2 minutes....not hours....I was concerned about heat build up but my research concluded that it should be ok....there are multiple people on a toyaot forum that have done this with no complaints....some eveused 50w bulbs and had no issues.

 

[IZVERG]

Def looking forward to this update, especially w/ my aftermarket tint it makes it hard to see at night when backing up.

 

[David S]

I wonder if anyone makes LEDs for that type of socket. An array of 30 1-watt LEDs in there would be pretty sweet. 2-3 times the light (depending on the efficacy ((<-- not typo) of the LEDs), and the same amount of power. Not cheap though.

 

[IZVERG]

Someone, I forget who but I'm sure it will come up in a search in the electrical forums, did the LED tail-lights. Hell, I think he even put up a YouTube video to see the comparison.

 

[marzterra]

I wonder if anyone makes LEDs for that type of socket. An array of 30 1-watt LEDs in there would be pretty sweet. 2-3 times the light (depending on the efficacy ((<-- not typo) of the LEDs), and the same amount of power. Not cheap though.

LED in that array will create a very narrow beam...wont gain any refelector benifit. may be brighter but like i said very narrow field of light

 

[David S]

Eh, after a bit of googling, automotive LED replacement bulbs are all a bunch of hogwash. Noone that sells them publishes the important specs, and if you dig a little bit, they are all just crap, from a functionality standpoint, if you are trying to do anything other than replace the map reading light.

Keep us posted on the higher wattage replacement. Sounds like a good idea.

 

[c.p]

This is an old thread but any news on the new setup?

 

[marzterra]

sorry...been very busy...
I did put the lights in...not to noticable of a differnce, then again maybe its me....

 

[RussellB]

I think I already decided I'm gonna rewire all the rear lights. I want to put a yellow bulb in the current reverse lights, and then wire all 4 red sections into the brake, while adding on new lights for reverse maybe around the license plate.

Seems strange but I want good reverse light, and when I go storm chasing I care a lot about rear visibility in heavy rain. We'll see how it goes. Sounds simple enough.