Looking for input on LED replacement for my reverse/back up light bulb

I love the look of my blacked out LED Tail lights. The one thing that annoyed me a bit was that it didn't come with an LED for the back up / reverse light. The factory bulb and harness just went back in place.

So, made a dumb rookie mistake. Late one night while at a truck stop waiting for my girl to get out the bathroom I started browsing all the cool/random accessories and crap they have stocked up at these places for truckers.

Came across an LED bulb that was supposed to be a direct plug/play replacement for the factory bulb. So, on an impulse I snagged it, instead of doing the smart thing (since I didn't need it right away) and just take note of it and do a little google/amazon research when I got home.

So, yesterday I finally fixed the tail light problem I had been dealing with for about a month and while I was at it I went ahead and swapped in the LED bulbs. First, to not much of a surprise being cheapo's, one of them didn't even work. Second, the one that did work was not even close to being as bright as I hoped it would be (even with a package label saying something like "Ultra Super Bright!). We all know reverse lamps serve 2 purposes: 1 to let other drivers know we are backing up and 2 to make it easier for us to see stuff behind us.

I'm starting to do a bit of research the right way, so as such I always will inquire within, here on the forum and see what you guys think.

So, have any of you used bulbs like these before or know anything about reliability, brightness (lumens), or benefits/down falls of swapping them for the regular ones?

With them in, even though not bright enough, I really like the way they look compared to the reg bulb, and it really completes the whole LED conversion, which was obviously the goal from the start.

Here is a pic of the bulb on and off, for comparison.

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Use superbright LEDs or v-LEDs and get some good quality bulbs. You get what you pay for. I think I spent around $25 a piece for mine and they lit up pretty darn good.

 

Get some Cree LED units. Those are very bright. That is the route I plan on heading when I do my taillights someday.

While we are at it... could you please post some pictures or even a video of those taillights? I am very curious as to how they actually look when braking and signalling. I am looking at the red un-smoked version for an eventual purchase.

 

hey bud check this one out, I got the same ones he has and they are ridiculous bright. try superbrightleds.com not the cheapest place but def the best iv had

 

I have cheapish Ebay ones, and they work Great. I found White LED ones off ebay arnt bad, colored usually are haha.

 

I get my LEDs from Superbrightleds also, and they are excellent quality. Even though I have full LED taillights, I really never saw the need for reverse LEDs.

Here is a crappy video of my LED tails, they look like stock taillights when not lit.

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i want to get a set i plow so they would help at nite plowing

 

Thanks for all the input guys, helps a lot as usual. I'll check out the name brands, and also see if I can find some that have specs on Lumen output or are labeled sort of like "major increase in visibility while backing up" or something.

Good video post Dakotaff, mine look pretty much like that when lit as well.


One thing to take note that you can see in the video (and is significantly more apparent in person) is that the LED's are only super bright when you are directly behind them...as you move side to side they are much dimmer, which really is a good thing IMO.

Even when on the highway, when I put on my turn signal and check my mirrors before lane changes, I can see the reflection of the LED's at least 50+ feet behind me on concrete and stuff very clearly, and easily over a 100+ feet on any kind of signage (front or back).

I mean seriously, if someone tried to say that they didn't see my turn signal, they would have to be straight up cane walking, guide *******, braille reading blind, no joke.



Speaking about tail lights, I learned something this week in regards to trouble shooting and problem prevention...check my thread from Monday morning "Truck getting fixed: Need Advice"

 

I bet that they both work..take the one that didn't work and plug it in 180 degrees from the original position you plugged it in. LED's are polarity sensitive and aren't just a simple plug and play like incandescent bulbs.

 

LOL, yeah stupid me, I should have known. While I was checking a bunch of them out last night, I kept seeing over and over in the description about if it doesn't work to flip it around, and I was like DUH!!! But still they are pretty dim. Anyway, the search continues...there seem to be a lot to choose from and it's kind of hard to judge the customer reviews because it's almost too obvious that there have to be a few from the manufacturer saying that the bulbs are great, super bright or whatever and not from a consumer.