Adding backup light, your recommendation please

[syncrodoka]

[Altoona]

[r.e.wing_fc3s]

just so were clear, 2x55w reverse lights in the standard reverse light location in the taillight housing isnt going to blind anyone. if youve got aux lights back there with an actual beam pattern, maybe, but it wont be anything compared to all the kids out their with their hidz in reflector housings.
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Reference Automotive: NW Washingtons Vanagon Specialist. (360)366-6965. referenceautomotive.com

[IdahoDoug]

Beam pattern is worth pursuing (to get a good one) for a lot of reasons, but I guess potentially giving another driver fits is another besides seeing what you're approaching. My Hella has a pattern specifically tailored to being mounted up high pointing down and disbursing the light in a nice, wide and even pattern. It's a thing of beauty, really. Clearly a tool well matched and designed for the job. Twin 55w bulbs provide a powerful but even layer of light everywhere behind you. Check the linky I provided and you'll see Hella put a lot of thought into the product.

R E WIng mentions 2 55w bulbs in the factory housings. Is anyone actually doing this and not melting the housing or wires? That's a lot of power and with such a tiny reflector and small lense only a fraction of the usable light is getting to use.

DougM
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[syncrodoka]

[syncrodoka]

[IdahoDoug]

It's nice to see a bit of debate and clarification on a light's beam pattern - especially here in the US. Home of the "all aux lights are the same" debate.

Even a fog lamp is completely wrong for this application. Its pattern is a narrow and wide one - like a lighted slot. Designed to point parallel to the ground and go out perhaps 500 feet. Raise it and point it down at the ground at a 45 degree angle and you get an arced curve of light about 6 feet wide. Dark beyond, dark closer to the van.

The Hella series of work lamps are designed for close in widely dispersed light from a high angle. Huge difference in what happens when you flip the switch on a dark trail where some obstacle has stopped you and you need to make another pass. Once I was with a buddy in a new Grand Cherokee on a difficult trail and a rock face was giving him fits climbing up out of wallowed out loose dirt and we'd been caught by darkness with more tough stuff coming. His lights as he got close just gave him two ultrabright glary circles and he could not pick well. So I pulled my Montero off to the side, spun the rear mounted Hella sideways (comes with a nice swivel mount) and lit it up for him. Looked like a mining site. I got some great video of the excellent Jeep gerotor system (I think it was the Quadra Trac models that came with this system in about 1999) grappling with a really, really tough obstacle at night, beautifully lit. For those who know, it's the tall wall about 5 feet high near the top of Miller Jeep Trail in Anza Borrego - a formidable obstacle.

So, just a contrast between a product engineered for a certain application and "other stuff". The light will be mounted soon on the THIRD vehicle of its career with nary a malfunction..
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[IrideWheelies]

[randywebb]

there are a lot of different conversations going on in this thread...

- backup lights fulfill several different functions:

1. a rear fog, so people closing on your (slow) vehicle can see you are there from a distance in fog and not smack into you

2. backing up in a parking lot or a street (this can turn into situation #3 if you miss a ditch on the side of the road tho), where you risk blinding some guy behind you

3. backing up in an OHV or off-road situation where you will need a lot of light, including to the sides

4. work lights, for when you need to do something behind the Van - usually you'll be stopped

- recognize that you will likely need different lights for at least some of these situations, and you may need different controls to run the lights on also
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1986 2.1L Westy 2wd Auto Trans.

[VisPacem]

[r.e.wing_fc3s]

[Altoona]

[VisPacem]

Blue, yellow, white pink or pretty psYchedelic has NOTHING to do with the light being a fog, driving, spot/pencil light. The beam pattern determined by the lens, clear , fluted, partially fluted, focused and the reflector design. Another example, the US lights design and lighting pattern and the European design and lighting pattern of the main headlights, low.High beams. I believe they call them European codes (?) Well guess what in Germany and UK for example they were white and in France yellow. Did not make them fog lights or landing lights or Christmas lights.

duuuhhhhhh


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LG aka VisPacemPB, *The* party Pooper

No Regrets (Nothing to do with Vanagons)

[IdahoDoug]

Vis,

What he is referring to with "blue" is not a beam color, but the Hella logo which is blue. I think its presence or absence denotes whether a lamp is a fog pattern, a driving pattern, etc.

DougM
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[syncrodoka]

If you are talking about my post go back and reread it VisPacem.

[syncrodoka]

You see something blue on the fog light version?
duuuhhhhhh

Fog light

Driving light

I still wouldn't point the

[IdahoDoug]

Looks like I misstated. That's not a logo as my hella lamps have but actually what is known as a "mask". It prevents light from the bulb of a dipped beam or tightly controlled beam such as a fog lamp from leaving the lamp in an uncontrolled fashion. An unmasked bulb throws light everywhere, including places you don't want it in a fog lamp such as upward. Interesting shape on this one with a lower opening. Typical of Hella to include such details.
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[highsierra]

Well, its been a while so I'm not sure if anyone cares but I picked up one of the GW aux reverse light kits. Nothing in the kit specifies the beam pattern but it does have, what idahodoug describes as, a "mask" over the bulb. Looks just like the blue one in the shot syncrodoka posted. I tried to get a good close up shot.

Also, the cover that goes over the light seems very secure. So much so that I doubt I will bother to put it back on now that I've gotten it off. It is not a smooth off/on type of affair so I might be stuck choosing between leaving the cover off and run the risk of being a jerk in the parking lot or keep the cover on and have the light obscured when I might actually be able to use it. Being lazy is hard sometimes.

The fact that the wiring is all pre-packaged with clear instructions is a big plus for a dumb guy like me.

Road test pics to follow...

[nod7]

I have limo tent on all my windows except drivers and passengers side which are still very dark. I have to look through those to see the mirror and the back windows otherwise. So, I wanted the brightest reverse lights I could find but, didn't want cosmetically alter the van. I found these bulbs and they work great in my stock bulb location; 7 Watt LED Cree 1156 Reverse Light. This 7 Watt LED is brighter then any 55 Watt Incandescent. They are hard to find except on eBay. They light up the world and even with limo tint, I am able to see.

-nod7
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[joseph928]