Gy6.35 HIR 921 reverse light upgrade (vs high power LEDs)

Damn, these HIR bulbs are hard to find! The 30W Philips bulb seems to be discontinued. Ended up ordering some of the Osram 35W 615905 (p/n 64432ECO?) but still cant find any info on that online. So long story short, bulb manufactures are useless at documentation, so many thanks OP!

 

On the contrary, lights from real reputable quality lighting manufactures usually have great documentation!

Osram bulbs: https://www.osram.com/ds/ecat/HALOS...PS01_1027719/PP_EUROPE_Europe_eCat/ZMP_57855/

Philips bulbs: http://www.lighting.philips.com/mai...flector/mastercapsule/924898317102_EU/product

The Philips bulbs are still available as far as I know, but they are not sold in the US, which makes finding them much more difficult.
https://www.any-lamp.com/philips-mastercapsule-30w-gy6-35-12v-ir-18161

 

I ordered mine here. I believe its the first time I have ordered anything directly from Europe, so I was a little nervous. It took about 3 weeks for them to arrive and I was able to secure checkout through Paypal. The only thing about the transaction that was strange; I received multiple calls from Slovenia and the country's surrounding it for the next couple weeks. Maybe 5 calls total but they stopped. hahaha

https://www.svetila.com/en/hsg-qt-j...MIoMziw67F3gIViLjACh3QgQmbEAYYASABEgICAfD_BwE

 

3 weeks for shipping actually isnt nearly as bad as I expected. Maybe I should have looked into that haha. Oh well, dont ever plan on being in reverse for long periods of time, plus OP's tests make me feel good about not overloading stuff with 2x 35W bulbs.

 

great little upgrade, really appreciate the time you put into this for the benefit of all

 

what would be a good upgrade besides the hir 921. I pull a trailer weekly and the trailer pulls around 5.4 amps so i don't think they would work for me.

 

To keep things under the 10A circuit, the best plug and play option would be the DeAuto LED bulbs. You can see the comparison that includes them below.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-921-led-reverse-light-bulb-study.490137/

I do plan on building a stand-alone relayed harness for my reverse lights which will remove the load from the circuit and further improve performance. But that is a bit more work.

 

Sometimes you have to be in reverse far longer than you ever expected. Some of the latest ultra high power LEDs specifically warn about using for reverse for only brief periods of time as the product will overheat and fail, and hopefully fail safely. I've had my fair share of having to back out of a tight trail for extended distances to find a turn around point. This past weekend on a snow run a few members had that same experience of being in reverse for 20+ minutes to back up to a safe turn around point. To the right is a steep embankment that the trucks had been struggling to stay out of on off camber portions of the trail, which would slowly pull the trucks in.

 

So I bought these

$11 Osram Northstar AV 69378 Bare Lamp Replacement

Osram 615905-35 and bent the pins as best I could. Wasn't confident in the install and one has fallen out. Any tips to keep the bulb secure?

 

Did you bend them in an arc shape? Or try pinching the clamp tighter in the socket? Mine lock firmly into place.

 

I tried bending into an arc shape. It seemed like the prongs were too long because the base of the bulb never came close to the socket. Should any part of the bulb base seat into the socket?

 

Those are what I used. Dont bend the pins on the bulb because you will risk snapping them off as someone in this thread already said. Take a very small flat head and bend the "prongs" of the bulb socket closer together. Get them as tight as possible then put the bulbs in. And yes they do go into the socket quite a ways.

*Edit you already bent the pins, so dont bother trying to straighten them at this point. That will only risk breaking them more

 

As mentioned try the clips in the socket closer together with a small screwdriver to hold it tighter. If that doesn’t work make sure the apex of your arc bend is a little wider than the slot the bulb goes into so that the tops of the arc are pressing on either side of the socket.

The bulb should look like this when in:


I’ve done several off road trips since doing this and never had an issue with the bulb falling out.

 

Ok I'll try that. I ordered a new set of bulbs just to start fresh. I definitely didn't the bulb as far in as your picture so I'll aim for that. Thanks!

 

As always, @crashnburn80 rocks. I just ordered a set of the Osram 35s from newegg. Amazon only had 1 left, so I looked around and glad I did, it was significantly less expensive.

 

I did the Osram GY635 upgrade and it's nice but sometimes not enough.

My solution: aftermarket bumper with Rigid 202113 LED flood pods on their own harness and switch. I have a Warrior bumper. I like the design a lot but the fit and finish of my bumper is not great and I'm not all that happy with Warrior's customer service, so I don't recommend it specifically, but having the huge flood of rear light available whenever I want is gold. Light mounts are definitely a worthwhile feature in a rear bumper. Photo from Warrior's website.

 

Locate ID2, make Y "cable. Choose your preferred 2 slot mating connectors. Remove terminals 1 & 7 coming from ID2 and insert to new 2 slot connector. Insert Y wire into ID2 slot 7 coming from ID2.

 

Thanks, I was going to go very simple and make it plug and play from the taillights, though that would cut down on some wire distance.

 

Apparently, since many people have commented on Amazon about using the Gy6.35 IR bulb linked from the original post for their taillights, the landscape bulb has been reclassified as an automotive bulb.

Osram 615905-35W 12V GY6.35 OSRAM 64432ECO Miniature Automotive Light Bulb
https://www.amazon.com/Sylvania-588...&qid=1510363962&sr=8-4&keywords=GY6.35+12V+ir

 

Several have asked what to do for a 7440 bulb, which is another common backup bulb. There is no upgraded halogen replacement I am aware of. But you can get an adapter to run a 921 in a 7440 socket, so that you can run a Gy6.35 HIR in the adapter 921 socket while plugged into a 7440 housing.

$17 PA LED 2x T10 168 194 to T20 (7440) Bulb Base Converter

https://www.amazon.com/PA-T10-Bulb-Base-Converter/dp/B013DRTYXA

Edit: I added this link and info to the main thread.