One of my reverse lights (1156) blew out. I have rear tinted windows, and with trying to back up at night, the regular bulbs were always kind of weak. I was wondering if picking up some LEDs would brighten things up.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/tail-brake-turn.html

I would obviously have to measure to see which size would fit into the housing, but would LEDs work as reverse lights? I know for turn signals I would need a load resistor, but I'm not sure if I would need that for this application. Thanks guys!

 

They would, but nothing from there will work well, they'll still be really dim.

If you want to get creative, then a 5W white LED from www.lumileds.com would give the light that you need, but you'd need a piece of aluminum to mount it too, and custom wire it with a power resistor.

 

i have 10 of the 10mm leds from super bright leds lighting my tag. and its really bright

 

ok, in comparison....

those 10mm LEDs have a 2V drop, and draw about 20mA max current... so.. Power=Current*Voltage, Power = 2 * .020 = .04Watts... even with 10 of those you're still only at .4 Watts... the LED's that I'm talking are 12* the power of that. Trust me, I'm a Solid-State Lighting designer... I design LED aircraft lights for a living.

A pair of 5W or 3W LEDs, Lambertian Stars is what you want to buy; will be MORE than enough light for what you need, and should work well. Just use a decent enough resistor to handle it; I can spec one out if you want.

Figure $40 give or take total for these, and they will last the life of the car if not longer.

 

Thanks 97Form, I was hoping you'd reply to this because of all of your lighting experience. I was hoping more for a plug and play deal. I knew that LEDs aren't as bright as regular bulbs, but I didn't think $40 custom made bright. I'll just stick with the regular bulbs. Thanks for the responce!

 

yea, for reverse lights, bulbs are your best bet. I would suggest looking at a halogen type though if you can find it. They are a little more expensive, but they do produce more light; it might help with your tint issue.

 

Yep, and be sure to check the wattage of the bulb. I think standards run 27 watts, but I think the halogen are equal to 40 watt bulbs or some such.

 

Check www.superbrightleds.com too, they might make a direct fit replacement.

 

I have noticed a few newer cars that appear to be using LED for reverse lights. One in particular looked very good and seemed to produce a good amount of light.

 

Probably not a bad idea to put behind tail blackouts too huh? Might get me some. Hell, I might just change all of my lights out with LED's.

 

Yea, but they are using the LEDs that I listed for reverse lights.

Lumileds leads the market, especially automotive, for high-power LED lighting.