I've been having a lot of trouble with visibility at night, especially with tints. Has anybody replaced their reverse lights? If so which bulb did you use and how did it turn out? And where did you get it from?
haha sorry for all the questions. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

I've got Polarg M6s which do seem brighter than stock and definitely brighter than the PIAA Xtreme Whites. Got them from http://www.eautoworks.com/ .

 

its hard to make the reverse lights really bright for the 5th gen since the reverse light is soo small.... i got hyper whites with tints and its still hard to see....

 

I have tints to, i found it tough getting out my spot at my house at night B/c i have to reverse 200ft though a tight dark parking lot. so hacked the bottom off of some H3 bulbs i had lying around. BIG difference, I had them in there for about 3mo now w/ no problem, dont think it will fry anything since lights are only on for brief periods of time

 

do you have a write-up on that?

 

That's a great idea, I got a bunch of standard h3s laying around... got 10 of them for $1 on ebay a while back...

 

I agree that the stock bulbs are really not bright at all. However, going to any of those superwhite bulbs will only make it WORSE.

 

no, no writeup. it wasnt tough though only took a few minutes to do. I just took them out & took a pic of the bulbs next to a assembled h3 and the scraps that were still in toolbox. pretty self explanitory.
just take a pair of tin shears and cut basicaly everything off, be carefull while cutting the leads coming from the bulb, if you bend them the glass will easily crack,(hence a blue and clear bulb). take 1/2 the metal jacket around bulb (below center bulb) cut it down so it looks like the piece to the right, put on whats left on the bulb base, this helps keep the bulb in place, bend and clean the leads so they make a conection & install. presto 110w of bright reverse light.

 

It amazes me how many people think that using a coated bulb that filters light is going to put out more of it.

 

^^^ ok than ,see this
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=360363

 

And that proves what? A camera is hardly a tool for measuring light output.

Take a regular light bulb (that's on) in your house and look at it. Then look at it with sunglasses on. Which way is the bulb brighter? Same principle.

 

if a camera cant prove anything, how come theres so much more light shining on the ground? you dont necessarily need to see it in person to see how much more light is shining...

 

Lots of reasons. Look through your camera sometime and examine the settings for exposure time, white balance, etc.

The coating might change the color of the light, but it certainly won't increase its output.

And since no one seems to believe that <gasp> a bulb that's been painted blue puts out less light than its clear counterpart..

For all the skeptics:

http://www.overboost.com/story.asp?id=102

 

Meta: There are a few on here that realize this. For the rest, we just gotta hope they come to grips with reality someday...

 

LOL, yeah I'm starting to come to that conclusion.

 

I ordered some plolargs yesterday, but if those arent that great I'll definately try the h3's. Never would have thought of that Dr Roy, that's crazy man... I like you.. but your crazy man.

 

so is this polarg m-6 any good for my backup? anybrighter?

 

this was a very good idea...i'ma ctually attempting this now. thanks for the good job...great work.

 

got a quick question for you. the glass part of the H3 bulb is too wide to fit into the reverse pocket. how did you get around that?

edit: scratch that...i just figured it out. this was just too easy. let's see how much brighter they really are....

 

Done....

Left is New H3 bulb, Right is old reverse bulb

Comparison Picture

 

nice.. that looks a lot better. I'm sure the visibility is a lot better also.

 

link no workie

 

works...prolly host overload....in the process of transferring the server over to a propietary T3 line.

anywho, yes, the visibility is 100000 times better. i really was shocked.

and, this was only with the OEM fog bulbs (35w or 55w), so imagine if i had used some stronger (85w persay) bulbs. maybe then there'd be a worry of harness frying, but with these, i'm not worried, and i am VERY VERY happy.
a must for tinted windows.

 

They actually make what you did by hand.. I worked at an auto parts store and we carried a couple different sizes, they were all just basically re-based h3 bulbs. Good job on doing it yourself though.

 

Hey Dr.Roy Getting back to the long driveway you have to back out of during the night. Why not just back in during the daytime so you can just drive out easily during the night.

 

thought? look at the timestamps of my post...took me a few minutes to take apart the bulb. and you don't even need to cut anything. everything is pressed together, so just make sure you unpress all the overlapping pieces. also, one of hte bulb leads, is pressed together by some of the metal. separate that, and you literally string it out. so now you have it in your hand. bend the lead so it looks like a regular bulb.

the hard part is that the h3 is wider than the oem backup light, so you need to go into your socket and move some stuff out of the way so it'll fit.

point being though, it took me about 40 minutes to do the whole job, in 20 degree weather, with my only "light" being the glow from my cell phone, and i did it. it's not that hard. i loved it last nite when i was backing out my driveway,literally lit up everything in sight, and that's with 15% tints.

 

what did you use to "unpress all the overlapping pieces"? because i dont have anything to cut the metal pieces off like Dr.Roy stated...thanks in advance

 

scissors, a flat head screwdriver...if you look really close, the goal is to just move the metal away from the glass. pretend you're just bending them out of hte way, cause that is essentially what you're doing. but that is not what is holding the bulb in. the bulb has 2 leads. 1 leads to that long wire that connects to the fog harness. the OTHER is pressed by 2 pieces of metal, inside the metal pack. when you bend the lower part back, you'll see it. i took scissors but you could grab anything and just try to separate it. as you do, you grab the glass and try to pull out. you'll see that you'll succeed. the hard part is when you get to the socket. it's only a certain width and the h3 bulb is too wide. you need pull out the contacts from the socket and break off the end pieces.

*this is the key, the end pieces is what holds the contacts in their place. so you want to bend them off, but ABOVE the protrusion that snaps the contacts into place. if you bend it aboe that, then you've removed neough and the contacts will still snap into place. if you bend below that, they will not hold and when you pu them back in, they will just fall right back out. again, once you remove the contacts, you'll see what i'm talking about and what's not letting the bulb go in.*

once you remove the end metal pieces, you can just push the bulb in and it will slide right in.

 

o wow..i was thinking that if i did something like that, i would break the bulb...i'll go try it then, thanks a lot...i can see what youre talking about, where that metal piece is holding the glass part in there, so i'll try to be careful and pry it out. thanks alot!

 

alright i got the bulb off, and i went to see if it would fit, and now i see what you mean..im gonna go try what you said to do and report back soon

 

TOLD YOU IT WAS EASY.

again, there are 2 "bumps" on those metal ends. you want to cut or bend that metal ABOVE the 2nd bend. that will clear the bulb. do that, snap the contacts back into place, and BAM, you're done.

 

alright, i went and tried it, but i cant even get the contacts out of the socket! haha...(im not very skilled with electrical work) but if someone could tell me that'd be great

 

ok, you need to push the ends towards the middle of the socket. that will push it away from the "locK" that's holdign it in. do that and pull the wire from below, and you'll hae the contact in your hand.

 

awesome thanks!!

 

You guy don't seem to understand that the point of the back-up lights is not to help YOU see what's behind you as much as it is to let people BEHIND YOU know that you're backing up.....If your tint is so dark, why not just use the side-view mirrors? (and yes, you can roll the windows down if they are too dark for that...)

 

don't really care. i wanna see when i back up. the better lights help me, therefore i'm content. it's not blinding.

 

exactly..i mean you do need to see where youre going when you back up at night..especially out where i live, because it is pitch black at night, and those trees tend to just jump out right behind you if youre not careful...and it doesnt matter if i roll down my windows, i still cant see...if i want to do something just let me do it and stop flaming me for it, along with all the other people you flame daily....that aside...this is how it is right now, the light works and everything, i just cant get it far enough into that light grey plastic piece for the connectors to hit it...so i guess im just going to have to shave a bit off of each side in order for them to fit...but so far, it looks good and the lights are a LOT brighter than the stock ones! thanks for the help PoLo

 

i must be retarded or something, but i just cant get the bulb to fit...it doesnt go in far enough to hit the connectors...i cut the sides off of the connectors until i reached the clip that holds them in, but no i just cant fit the bulb in there...im gonna go try it again later tho

 

the metal contacts have 2 ends. did you remove those ends? that's the only thing NOT allowing you. i'm telling you. look at it deper. you NEED to take out the contacts to notice the 2 ends.

 

WHOA this mod is great!!!!! all i did was take my alligator clamps and squeeze the two ends it it fits perfect in there and if i want i can put back the regular reverse lights in there too cuz it fits back in place and doesnt fall out