Back up lights?

[lars11]

Thinking of putting somekind of extra backup lights on my grand cherokee. The tinted rear windows makes it difficult to see anything in reverse and the current back up lights... well...

Anyne knows of good, fairly flat mounting led lights that I can put either on top of the hatch or on the bumper? I don't mind carving them in, don't want the car to look like a patrol car.

 

[jorton]

I took the film off the back window of my f150.

 

[toneydoc]

I do not think that the back up lights are there to light up your movement. I think they let others know you have vehicle in reverse.

 

[marc1]

I have the same concerns (unable to see backing up), I have considerd these but I am concerned about melting the lens / housing. I am guessing your BU lights are 1156 if not change the part number accordingly. Halogens are made for almost every bulb type (1157 etc.).

http://classicgarage.com/hal11bul.html

 

[bigmike]

I can understand wanting to be able to see while backing up. I tend to back my truck into tight spaces. I put a 60" LED light bar on mine that has reverse lights on it. It seems to help enough. I can't recall the brand because it's been 3 or 4 years ago.

 

[dparm]

Use halogen bulbs instead. Puts out two or three times more light.

 

[HerrStig]

A couple of small fog lights will do fine. You ought to use the backup light connection to drive a relay, though, and source the fog lamp current from a high current connection. If the car HAS a bcakup lamp relay, check on the the relay rating and the fuse size for the circuit. A pair of H3 fog lights will draw about 55 watts each.

 

[abycat]

I have two 55w spotlights that come on with my reverse lights on my truck and i can pretty much see perfect without my rear window tinted. I also put two high lumen replacement bulbs in the fron, with some yellow fog lamps on the push bar. its all i need but I would love a roll bar with a couple forward facing and some side and rear facing ones for off road but for on road my setup is perfect for me.

I would be carefull putting higher wattage ones in the plastic taillight lenses. I once put some 75 watt halogens in my 1990 sunbird and it was like the sun in reverse. I guess not leaving the vehicle in reverse for a long time would be okay in most situations (like my old car) but could melt in some other styles.

Ive seen a couple cherokees that had two round or rectangular ones under the rear bumper and it looked like it was ok. The bottom of the bumper was higher than most of the suspension so clearance would only be an issue with extreme angles or off roading.

If you were really devoted you could french some nice ones into the bumper or try to find a replacement bumper with lights in them. I know there are tons for my truck but yours might be a little more difficult.

 

[dparm]

Reverse lights are only on for a few seconds. The extra heat is not a big deal in my opinion.

 

[SteveSRT8]

We have installed huge halogen bulbs in all our fleet trucks for backup lights for many years. No problems.

The extra visibility can save you a lot of money in body and bumper repairs!

 

[dishdude]

They have wireless backup cameras that screw onto the license plate mount and transmit to a monitor or GPS unit inside. I don't think they are very pricey.

 

[rslifkin]

On my Jeep, I attached a pair of 55W Autozone driving lights under the rear bumper, just behind the trailer hitch, connected to the reverse lights with a relay. Works great as far as seeing (the dark factory tint makes it tough).

 

[Cujet]

Harbor freight sells some rubberized "spot" lights for about $6. They work perfectly for this application. But they are ugly.

A high end setup could use LED array's like this:

There are many variants of the LED light bars that would work quite well. There are also some terrible ones. Weeding through the bad ones takes some research.

I saw a small SUV the other day with 4 oval LED backup lights. Looked quite good. I don't have any idea if they were worthless, or not. However, the "off road" guys have an amazing array of products to choose from. Also, you can find some ultra compact, very bright (800++) lumen, single reflector units on Epay. Motorcyclists use them as helmet mount lights.

 

[Scotty1981]

You could try this license plate frame with back up lights http://www.vleds.com/bulb-type/reverse-back-up/lpf-reverse-light.html or these reverse lights with a projector http://store.ijdmtoy.com/T15-912-921-Backup-Reverse-Lights-p/led_hp_t15_sku311.htm or even both together.

 

[mikered30]

What is your bulb number? If it is 1156 as suspected, try these out: http://store.candlepower.com/796upgradebulb.html

 

[HerrStig]

You can put a really powerful LED conversion in a backup lamp housing without melting it. Try Superbright LED.com. First get your bulb type and look at their plug in replacements.

 

[wrcsixeight]

I only have side mirrors in my Van, and to top it off I due to worn linkages I cannot jet my reverse switch in the proper range to alight when in reverse.

So I Wired in an illuminated 20 amp manual switch on my dash, 2 extra fog lamps onto my trailer hitch with 10awg wire, and wired it to alight the regular reverse lights as well. Though the switch does not get very hot, I will be upgrading to a relay on this circuit, when I do the same for my headlights, which suffer from almost 2 volts of loss through the original harness.

Sometimes I let tailgaters know I am not amused, but sometimes I also forget to turn off the lights after reversing in the daylight and the illuminated switch does not remind me. Not a factor at night.

Anyway the rear pointing Fog lights work great and I have total confidence backing up using just my side mirrors. I have no windshield mounted mirror.

 

[UG_Passat]

Originally Posted By: lars11
Thinking of putting somekind of extra backup lights on my grand cherokee. The tinted rear windows makes it difficult to see anything in reverse and the current back up lights... well...

Anyne knows of good, fairly flat mounting led lights that I can put either on top of the hatch or on the bumper? I don't mind carving them in, don't want the car to look like a patrol car.


If your backup lights take P21W/1156 bulbs, then try a 796 bulb, which is a 35W halogen.
http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=15

Otherwise, for extra lighting, you can probably mount some slimer/low profile fog lights if you want a wider spread or driving lights
http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=1007
http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=1008

 

[Sequoiasoon]

Many of the LED replacements have a nice white color but don't throw much light. They are definitely getting better though.

Look for a flood light version. On my Sonata due to bulb style (forgot #) I bought some 50W halogen landscape bulbs and placed where originals went. If my bulbs are on for 1 minute at a time it's long. Longer term in plastic housings I might reconsider but I'm on years and many miles with no issue.

On the Sequoia I got some cheap projector fogs, removed the fog cutoff shield internally making full flood. I wired them (cut,soldered, heat shrink) to my 7 pin Trailer connector wiring. Factory wiring all the way to back bumper with relayed fuse box in engine bay. My trailer doesn't have back up lights anyway.

 

[Ken2]

Agree with the above, first try some brighter bulbs that fit your existing housings. If that's not enough, get some cheapo fog lights for the rear, powered through relays. LEDs that actually put out a lot of light cost a lot of money.