Reverse Light Bulb UPGRADE options
Nose
New Wagonist
Greetings all...
Rear tint + sloped driveway + no street lights = I'm gonna run someone over backing out of my driveway someday.
Lightweight wallet + major back surgery = Let's upgrade the reverse light bulbs, using the stock fixtures so I don't have to buy new lights and mount them onto or under the bumper.
I'm under the impression that LED bulbs simply won't do for this purpose, where I want to cast a small lightshow behind the car in all directions, not just blind someone standing directly behind the car. So I'm looking for stock 1156 bulb replacements and I've found three which look like they'll fit the bill. Before I make a decision and place the order, I thought I'd check in with the HCW gurus and see if anyone had two cents to throw in. (Meaning, give their opinion, not actually give me two cents to help pay for the bulbs.)
Here are the three contenders...where my main concerns are wanting to see better, use the stock fixtures without adding wiring, and not spending very much dough. (Note that the stock 1156 bulbs are approx. 27 watts and 402 lumens.)
1) http://store.candlepower.com/796upgradebulb.html - 35 watts with 754 lumens, $18.20/pair + shipping. These folks were smart and knew what they were talking about.
2) http://www.jcwhitney.com/back-up-bulb-5 ... lterid=j1# - 50 watts, $22.99/pair + shipping. The rep couldn't tell me anything about the bulbs, other than what was printed on the packaging which says they're "two-and-a-half times brighter than stock", so if that were really legit then...402 lumens stock x 2.5 = 1005 lumens. That sounds about right I reckon, since in theory the 50 watt bulb "should" be brighter than a 35 watt bulb, right?
3) http://www.summitracing.com/parts/GRM-01-162/ - 50 watts, $15.95/pair + shipping. I called Summit who gave me the manufacturer's phone number, and after three calls and three different conversations I'm quite convinced the manufacturer doesn't really care about details which can be proven scientifically. One guy said this bulb was 8000 lumens, although at first I had to start out explaining to him what the word "lumen" means. I figure he was probably quoting a color temperature of 8000k, which if that were true then these really would be a nice bright white color, and being 50 watt they'd surely be brighter than the stock 27 watt bulbs. Another rep told me they "put out 2 to 3 times as much light" as the stock bulbs, but went off on a tangent about halogen bulbs and candlepower, and eventually came back to saying these are "ten to fifteen times brighter than the stock bulbs".
I don't like the fact that no one could tell me anything intelligent about #3, but I like the fact that they're the cheapest. If anyone has any experience with trying to get the biggest bang for the buck from their reverse sockets, please feel free to chime in. Otherwise I'll post an update in a few weeks.
Happy Wagoning! :-)
Rear tint + sloped driveway + no street lights = I'm gonna run someone over backing out of my driveway someday.
Lightweight wallet + major back surgery = Let's upgrade the reverse light bulbs, using the stock fixtures so I don't have to buy new lights and mount them onto or under the bumper.
I'm under the impression that LED bulbs simply won't do for this purpose, where I want to cast a small lightshow behind the car in all directions, not just blind someone standing directly behind the car. So I'm looking for stock 1156 bulb replacements and I've found three which look like they'll fit the bill. Before I make a decision and place the order, I thought I'd check in with the HCW gurus and see if anyone had two cents to throw in. (Meaning, give their opinion, not actually give me two cents to help pay for the bulbs.)
Here are the three contenders...where my main concerns are wanting to see better, use the stock fixtures without adding wiring, and not spending very much dough. (Note that the stock 1156 bulbs are approx. 27 watts and 402 lumens.)
1) http://store.candlepower.com/796upgradebulb.html - 35 watts with 754 lumens, $18.20/pair + shipping. These folks were smart and knew what they were talking about.
2) http://www.jcwhitney.com/back-up-bulb-5 ... lterid=j1# - 50 watts, $22.99/pair + shipping. The rep couldn't tell me anything about the bulbs, other than what was printed on the packaging which says they're "two-and-a-half times brighter than stock", so if that were really legit then...402 lumens stock x 2.5 = 1005 lumens. That sounds about right I reckon, since in theory the 50 watt bulb "should" be brighter than a 35 watt bulb, right?
3) http://www.summitracing.com/parts/GRM-01-162/ - 50 watts, $15.95/pair + shipping. I called Summit who gave me the manufacturer's phone number, and after three calls and three different conversations I'm quite convinced the manufacturer doesn't really care about details which can be proven scientifically. One guy said this bulb was 8000 lumens, although at first I had to start out explaining to him what the word "lumen" means. I figure he was probably quoting a color temperature of 8000k, which if that were true then these really would be a nice bright white color, and being 50 watt they'd surely be brighter than the stock 27 watt bulbs. Another rep told me they "put out 2 to 3 times as much light" as the stock bulbs, but went off on a tangent about halogen bulbs and candlepower, and eventually came back to saying these are "ten to fifteen times brighter than the stock bulbs".
I don't like the fact that no one could tell me anything intelligent about #3, but I like the fact that they're the cheapest. If anyone has any experience with trying to get the biggest bang for the buck from their reverse sockets, please feel free to chime in. Otherwise I'll post an update in a few weeks.
Happy Wagoning! :-)
Comments
:arrow: Halogen by nature put out lottas HEAT.
I read your post the other day while I was rounding up my kids (three of em...twins + older daughter = our own private circus) heading out to run errands, and initially had that traditional male ego thought of "I'd always remember not to leave it in R too long!"...and you know what happened next, right? The headbow of shame. We were backing out of the driveway when one of the kids says "She doesn't have her seatbelt on!", so I pause and wait to hear the click from the back seat, then there's the "I forgot my car-ride toy" and an unclick, the "Sit back down" and the "Are you buckled yet, and are you re-buckled yet" and the "Can we go off-roading again?" and "Ok I'm buckled now" and "No you're not, there wasn't a click", *click*, *unclick*, "Ok guys, no off-roading without seat belts", *click* *click* *click*...then I reach down to put it back into R and realize that it's been in R the whole time and my taillights would have been melted into little puddles on the ground if they'd had the overly hot bulbs in there all that time. Commence: the headbow of shame for thinking "I'd always remember not to leave it in R too long!" :oops:
Not to mention, Candlepower's reply email was well-written and chock-full of facts, whereas the other two sellers simply kept talking about how their wares were twice as bright, put out ten times more light, etc.
Thanks for the two-cents!
With pics! :P
I got delayed by a dead battery (Texas heat = death to batteries) but next paycheck will cover the new bulbs. I wanted to go for one of those mini-sized batt's but the funds are tight these days. My father-in-law actually had a yellow top Optima lying around from a solar panel experiment of his, so I did some horse trading and nabbed it. The yellow top had been sitting in his ATTIC, unused, for three years. Wanna guess how much juice was left in the battery after sitting stagnant for that long? 11.3 volts. No joke. And no wonder Optimas cost so much!
Updates on the reverse bulbs soon!
Went with Option # 1, the Candlepower bulbs. I'm just a sucker for good customer service I guess.
So, we're $26.45 later...let's see if I'm any wiser once they've arrived and been installed. I'll get before and after pics, both in twilight and at midnight. I realize a pair of stock bulbs can be purchased for almost a tenth of the price I just paid for these bulbs...but I genuinely feel the need to do something about the lackluster visibility, for the safety of the neighborhood's kids if nothin' else.
Apologies for the delay in getting this relatively minor project underway. I got tied up with a battery replacement, but wanted to mess with the rusty battery tray first, so things just got pushed a lil further back and back and back again.
Should have updates in about a week, maybe less if UPS Ground gets em here sooner! :-)
im curious about the outcome here
For the first time in over three years, I can see the ground in my rear view mirrors at night. The bulbs are, overall, a success. I'll post a pic which shows the new bulb on the left, stock bulb on the right, and then a pic with both new bulbs. There's a REAL difference, and I'm relatively pleased with the results.
HOWEVER...if you're willing to spend $27 to get some brighter light behind your wagon, I'm gonna be tempted to suggest going ahead and getting some Much Higher Wattage, off road, non-street-legal spot lamps and mount them yourself out back. As for our stock fixtures and wiring though, methinks this is the best they'll ever be able to do.
I realize the pics don't do much for being able to really judge, but bad pics are better than no pics, right? :P