resurrecting this old thread for another round.
the Northern Tool lights didn't hold up worth a damn. they'd last 6-8-12 months and then die. I've been through 2 sets and they're out again.

Trying again with a different set of lights. Hopefully they will last better. I think i'll run a power wire and a relay this time.

 

I just changed out the POS Blazer lights I had for these: http://www.harborfreight.com/automot...ght-93904.html

They light up SOOOOOO much better. I can see behind me without a problem now. Time will tell on how long they last.

 

i have been thinking about installing some backup lights in my 81 so that i stop parking on the grass at night. otherwise the stock lights work good for me. just hard to see the difference between gravel and grass at night.

another idea i saw in the 3rd gen section was HID backup lights. the idea is cool but a bit expensive.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/JDM-NEW-15W-...1cea4f&vxp=mtr

 

Using HID's as backup lights is a bad idea. They take some time to fully light up, so when you reverse just a short distance or do a multipoint turn, those lights are barely lighted when they are already turned off. This will eventually burn up the lightbulb and/or ballast.

And on a newer vehicles with tons of computers to control everything via CAN-line, you get fault messages when those already starting to die lights are turned on (just a while ago I was working on a semi tractor trailer which also had a middle axle trailer, and when I shifted it to a reverse, I got an EBS-error. As the HID's were fully lighted, error message went away. I disconnected the middle axle trailer, and as I shifted to reverse, no error. Some 60 feet of wire and bad HID-light, when it's lighted up you get current spike that causes problems).

I suggest using LED's instead of HID's as a backup lights. They don't have replaceable bulbs, so the light is fully sealed and therefore perfect to mount under the bumper, and they light up instantly. Also they draw less current when compared to a same candle power halogen light. And currently they aren't even outrageously overpriced as they were couple of years ago.

 

any good links?
i looked through a long google search for LED's, but couldn't find enough information on most to make a decision. I wanted to see watts eqivalent or lumens or candlepower or some indication of brightness, but most didn't have it, or i couldn't understand it...

 

I got these little guys and they've been working great for a while now (more than a year but I don't know how much more). http://www.walmart.com/ip/Driving-Light-Kit/16680059

 

here is the HID backup lights. they look good to me and no one seemed to say anything negative about them
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/4th-gen...-lights-2.html

 

Unfortunately I haven't found any. It was one of our agriculture technical magazine that had tested halogen vs led. And of course I can't that magazine to give some numbers.
I was looking through some catalogs, and one had lumens mentioned on their adds. I don't know that are these any help, but here's some data from those lights. 10W led, 800 lumens, being 1,5x brighter than a 55W H3. 15W worklight (5x3W leds) 1000 lm, 18W light (6x3W) 1400 lm, 28W light (7x3W) 2000 lm.

http://www.ikh.fi/tuotehaku.asp?sua=...&nav=300300886