Now that the dark nights have returned I decided it was time to look at upgrading my futile reverse lights.
Read the above thread through and see that the best results seem to result from cutting the back off each of the lights or removing the lenses from the back plates and fitting smd or cob panels.
Neither of these solutions appealed to me so I set about finding an led bulb that would fit inside the reverse lights and use the existing reflectors to project the light.
As with others I found that no automotive bulbs appear to be available so i looked further afield and low and behold found what I consider the perfect bulb, a G4 led capsule. This is normally used in domestic situations but given that it runs off 12V dc and has a 5W output I thought I would try a couple.
The reverse lights are not monitored for failure so no need for canbus bulbs.
The results are truly amazing.
If it ever stops raining when it's dark I'll take some photos but in the meantime this is what I did to mount the bulbs into the existing reverse lights.

Materials.
2 G4 led 12Vdc capsules.
2 G4 sockets.
2 ¾in rubber tap washers, Black.

I fitted each of the G4 sockets into a tap washer with 5mm of the socket sticking through the washer and glued them in place with a drop of superglue.
I then checked the polarity of the led bulbs to ensure that when fitted they would light.
I than fitted each of the bulbs into the sockets, first applying a drop of superglue to the head of each socket such that when the bulbs are pushed into place the bulbs are glued to the sockets and will not shake loose in the future.
I then applied superglue to the rear mounting surface of each reverse light and pushed each of the bulbs into place until the tap washer contacted the rear of the light fittings and left them until the superglue cured.
At this point I would recommend testing the light assemblies before fitting into the reverse lights.
The result is surprisingly solidly mounted bulbs.

Each of the lights are now ready to be refitted to the car and connected to the respective wires by whatever method is your preference.

For info,
The internal depth of the light fittings from rear most surface to the inside of the lenses is 40mm.
The minimum hole dia for the bulbs is 12.5mm.
The bulbs have an actual dia of 12mm not 13mm as indicated on the sellers site.
When fitted as above the bulb and socket assemblies each project into the fittings by 32mm ie 8mm from the inner lens surface.
This ensures the the leds project light onto the reflectors.
The colour temperature of the bulbs is 5500-6000K so the light is very bright white.

I appreciate that by gluing the bulbs and tap washers into place replacement of a failed bulb would involve cutting the tap washer from the rear of the light fitting and a new G4 socket but given this is hopefully unlikely and the nominal cost of the bits I am prepared to do this.

Below are a few photos I took which I think are self explanatory.
These are the bulbs I used,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391135621046?_tr...EBIDX%3AIT

and these the G4 sockets,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361184236414?_tr...EBIDX%3AIT

@NDFI - great post - on my list TO DO.

Many thanks for sharing.  Howard
____________________________________________________
2002 4.4 V8 LPG Tartarini
Have RSW AllComms in Cheshire J17 M6 - happy to help.
*Gone: Classic Vogue SE Auto V8 3.9

FYI splitting the reflector from the lens is not that difficult, and I have found that as long as the lights are at room temp or higher they will split with the minimum of fuss. You just need to find the join between the clear and coloured and gently cut along the join, with Stanley, if you start with the long sides first, you'll soon find that the "quality" weld ( ) will give out and you'll be in. There are bits that you can't get the knife in to but I found that once you have the main welds split the rest just waves it's hand's up and gives up.......... no wonder the bloody things leak

The main advantages with splitting the lenses are, one, you can get multiple panels in there, I have 2 x 6 watt cob panels in mine, and two, you do not rely on the slivered reflector to dissipate the light..... so if your lights have been letting the water in (unheard of ) the performance is not effected, and it gives you a chance to take a scrubbing brush and soapy water to the inside to make them less green

NDF I watch this space with interest for "after" shots  Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!

post install night pics!!!

I like this idea versus the LED boards 2014 FF Autobiography 5.0 SC
2008 FFRR (sold)
2008 BMW M5

^ As soon as I get a dry night I will. Been b y raining since I did them.

This thread has night pics of an install that I did for a pal http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic34595.html

The major advantage with the flat panels are you can get multiple units in a lamp, Pete managed to get 4 in each of his, assuming that they were 6w, he'd have been pushing 24 w led that's about 180 w filament output and he had x2

Those pics are of 2 x 6 w led which are putting out the equivalent of 90 w per side, which is why you can actually see behind in the dark  Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!

As requested pictures of the lighting effect of my recent re-lamped reverse lights.
Bit of a murky night but at least it's not raining.
More than adequate for confident reversing without blinding other road users.

^^


very nice...so brighter than stock? That's with those G4 capsule bulbs? Are they slightly different color IRL? The one looks a little greener?

I've seen some that come is different wattage. I think I saw some that go up to 2w..what is the wattage on yours?


Did you cut off the OEM socket base and solder the leads from the G4 connector to the stock wiring? 2014 FF Autobiography 5.0 SC
2008 FFRR (sold)
2008 BMW M5

Definitely brighter than original stock lights.
I used a G4 5W capsule bulb in each reverse light.
I chose to cut the original bulb holders off the wiring and simply soldered the new wires to them.
It's highly unlikely I would ever revert to original but if I did I think I would simply be inclined to buy new reverse lights and replace the present ones. New lights come with a wiring tail about 100mm long with a plug on the end which plugs into the wiring harness so the "cut" ends are then scrap anyway.
The "green" picture shows the view from the reverse camera displayed on the car screen. I'm not sure why it has a green tinge, must be something to do with the camera output and photographing the screen.

nice job dave  ... - .- -.




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nicedayforit wrote:

Definitely brighter than original stock lights.

I'd hope so, discovered that a bloody candle was brighter than the standard lights

I still find it hard to come to terms with how they managed to get it so wrong with the reversing lights in the first place, after all your allowed 21 Watts per side under euro meddling laws, so why opt for 6 watt bulbs? they must have had a balls up in the purchasing department and ended up with a lorry load to get rid of......... only logical reason I can see Maybe they were destined to be instrument lamps but they were so dim they thought they'd get rid of them in the Range Rover, who knows how the German mind works, get a feeling that they were laughing at every under powered car that left the factory But we can have the last laugh, as the led upgrade is way better than anything you'll find on the rear of an X5  Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!

Great job Dave... Much brighter

Was about to order the bulbs but it looks like they (and all other sellers) are from China. How long did it take to get? 2014 FF Autobiography 5.0 SC
2008 FFRR (sold)
2008 BMW M5

The bulbs I purchased were from Hong Kong and took two weeks to arrive.
Be careful when ordering, you need the 5 W , 12V DC version. A 12V AC version is also available but to be honest I'm not sure what the difference between the two is and why they shouldn't also work.

^^ 12v AC is for low voltage domestic lighting, and will have a built in bridge rectifier  Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!