The 921 LED Reverse Light Bulb Study

After reading through most of this post, I thought I'd give my 2 cents worth. My stock backup lights, suck, and that's being polite about it. I removed both of the tail light assembly's and the silver reflective coatings in the reverse light area has turned a blackish color. I'm going to assume it's from time and heat from the bulbs. I had read a comment here on TW from another member that he was going to try using aluminum foil to line the slot this bulb goes in, so I figured why not. So I cut some foil and formed it the best I could to fit, so that when the lens cover is in place it will keep it from moving around. I also ordered a set of inexpensive 921 Led bulbs from Amazon and installed them this evening. I was fairly impressed with the difference these two items made with the light output. Might not be the best solution, but it worked for me. I will at some point replace the tail light assembly's with new ones from parts geek or some other place. Not willing to pay the price for the ones from Toyota. At least now I can see behind my truck looking in all the mirrors when backing up.

 

Holy cow the Lord of lights has spoken!

As usual I'll be need to re-read again. Its mind numbing for mere mortals such as I.

Seriously good stuff, thanks for the effort in sharing this

 

I would like to add this suggestion for backup lights, because the design adds a direct output to the rear as well as the sides.
Thanks for this excellent thread and all who posted
LUYED 912 921 LED Bulbs Reverse Lights Xenon White 2200 Lumens Extremely Bright Canbus Error Free W16W T15 906 3030 20-EX Chipsets with Lens for Backup Lights, Pack of 2
I have a suggestion for those looking at tin foil to get better reflection, try the aluminum foil tape for heating ducts that is inexpensive and sticks very well.
I've not tried this myself.

 

First time seeing this thread. This could be a YouTube video a la Project Farm.

 

Purchased the Osram GY6.35 HIR 880 lumen bulbs for my Grand Cherokee, however I could not get them to securely seat in the bulb holders no matter what I tried with the prong bends

Im looking at those VLED V6 Triton Extreme bulbs, listed at 1,500 lumens each. Downsides are price, CRI of only 70, and they will go into "protection mode" after about 5min of continuous on (probably not a big deal as long as not in reverse for 5 minutes...) I would definitely be interested to see how these compare to the bulbs tested in this thread.
https://www.vleds.com/shop-bulb-numbers/921-led/v6-triton-extreme-kit-w-921.html

 

Unfortunate on the 6.35s. The technique can be tricky, but I'm pretty sure others have gotten it to work in that platform. All the bulb bases should be the same regardless of vehicle.

Personally I'm not a fan of the overdriven LEDs like the Triton Extremes, they fail with continuous use and explicitly call it out in their warranty that they are for short interval use only. Output also tends to drop off quickly from initial on those overpowered models. Inner city very short use, they will perform well. But I'd never recommend a lighting product where even the warranty says if you leave it on to long the product will fail. 70 CRI is poor, but that is the automotive LED lighting standard. Even most OEM LEDs are only 70 CRI, so you're not missing anything there compared to other LEDs. If you were set on PnP LEDs in place of the HIRs, in something that is rated for continuous run time, I'd take a look at Diode Dynamics XPRs. Also not inexpensive, but one of the highest output on the market without runtime limitations:
https://www.diodedynamics.com/921-xpr-cool-white-backup-led-bulbs.html

 

Yeah I was bummed I couldnt get them to fit.

I suppose I can still try again!
It was a couple weeks ago, but from what I recall, there were only 2 contacts in the holder, so the thin metal contacts of the HIR bulb didnt have support to hold it in place. Not a great photo but its the only one i took:


When I google "921 bulb holder" they have like 3 contacts per pin to pinch/hold the bulb. Mine only had 1 contact per pin iirc


Im not too concerned about the continuous run time, if I were to go with LED

 

Did you bend the prongs into outbound curves that won't fit into the housing unless compressed? This requires multiple sets of pliers to have them curve outward. The glass base should then lock into the top of the plug. The bent prongs pressing against the sides keep it in place while the glass base in the top keeps it in position. Too much working of the prongs will cause them to break.

Sure runtime failure of poorly designed LEDs may not be a concern for your use, but I'd never recommend a product designed to fail.

 

there is a limit what you can get from the size of stock housing and small bulb.

if you want more, put aux lights.

 

Yes, I tried the “bow legged” bend as well as this “S” bend. It seems that the bulb prongs are too “thin” (compared to the thickness of the bottom of the bulb) and since the contacts in the holder are only on one side the bulb twists and doesn’t stay in place.

 

Ready to run the Baja 1000 in reverse

 

Let’s Go

 

might need more



had to be why they left spaces

 

Bestview 912 921 LED Bulb for Backup Reverse Light,4000 Lumens T15 904 906 W16W 922 LED Bulbs Reverse Back Up Light,Canbus Error Free for Car Truck, High Bright 6500K White(Pack of 2)

$20 Bestview 912 921 LED Bulb for Backup Reverse Light,4000 Lumens T15 904 906 W16W 922 LED Bulbs Reverse Back Up Light,Canbus Error Free for Car Truck, High Bright 6500K White(Pack of 2)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZ3MCV9Y

I got these type-b 921s recently. I had installed some other LED 921s that weren't any better than the OEM bulbs. I got them for free, so I figured I'd try them out.

The ones I linked to are brighter than OEM! The previous LED didn't have any rearward facing LEDs, so these were a huge upgrade.

I got both sets for free, so if I was going to buy an upgrade, I would have gone with the HIR Osram bulbs. I'm keeping my oem bulbs in the glove box since I don't know how long these will last.

 

So I tried the Morimoto bulbs that were tested in the original post and found that (as crashnburn80 stated) they produce a very bright light focused directly behind them like you'd want in some sort of spotlight but IMO in a reverse light you want something more of a floodlight to cover a large area. I previously had a set of LUYLED bulbs from Amazon and they spread the light over a much larger area. It looks like I'll be switching back to them.

 

Below is my old set that I ran for the first year and a half and I think they pulled around 8w. The new bulbs pull in the low 20s. That is near headlight led wattage.