Cheap and easy backup light upgrade

[geodude]

Thought I would share my recent upgrade to my backup lights since I didn't see anything like it when I searched. This is an easy upgrade and cheap. As anyone who has opened up their tail lights knows there is no reflector for the back up lights. The housing is just black plastic, except for a galvanized steel plate on the top. That struck me as stupid; most of the light of the bulb would be absorbed by the housing and only a bit goes out the back. So this is what I did.

1. Found something reflective that wasn't conductive on one side. In my case I used that really shiny bubble insulation (I had some laying around so really cheap). To make it non-conductive on one side I ripped one facing off (seen rolled up).

2. Cut the sheet to an appropriate size. The housing isn't totally rectangular so I made it wide enough to fit in the space near the bulb. I trimmed the length so I could bend it to cover the bottom of the housing and up the back to the galvanized sheet at the top. I didn't cover the top as I figure that is were most of the heat would end up.

3. Cut a hole in the back centered on the sheet so the bulb could go through.

4. Slipped the sheet over the bulb bent it to covert the bottom of the housing and reassembled the tail light.

Here is a comparison shot showing one side "upgraded". It is significantly brighter. Not sure why it rotated when I posted this pic, but the bottom one is the upgraded light. Total time to do this upgrade about 30 minutes.

I wouldn't recommend using the same reflector material for lights that stay on continuously, it may melt. But for something that stays on for only a minute or so I thought it would be fine.
_________________
1988 GL Camper
1991 Multivan — the basket case

[purplepeopleeater]

HVAC foil tape works better

[K58]

[geodude]

The stuff was free and sitting there But good ideas, maybe I'll do the side of the housings with the tape.
_________________
1988 GL Camper
1991 Multivan — the basket case

[seanjenn]

[bluebus86]

[Sodo]

The HVAC stuff I have is true aluminum. It's much thicker than tinfoil. You peel of the protective paper and there'a adhesive on the back. I'd call it a tape-ized metal. Its easy to find on Amazon, search Aluminum Tape. http://a.co/fjvQrh9
_________________


'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[erste]

Thanks for bumping this bluebus86.
Hard to believe there's nothing reflective in the housing. Such a simple fix.

[Wildthings]

I would guess that there are some LED bulbs out there that have a directional output that would make having any reflector unnecessary.

[jimf909]

^^^ I'm leery of LED lamps used in fresnel fixtures designed for specific incandescent lamps. The LED may be brighter in a narrow angle but it's much less visible slightly off center because the light source is not positioned correctly for the fresnel lens. Most noticeable to me are motorcycles with LED lamps in old-school fixtures and how much less effective they are than with the incandescent lamps they were designed for. And both are much less effective compared to purpose-built LED tail lights.
_________________
- Jim

[bluebus86]

[Steve M.]

[bluebus86]

[Steve M.]

[IdahoDoug]

That's a terrific idea - love it. Cheap fix of the week and it's a safety improvement which is my favorite place to spend money and time.
_________________
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