LED backup lights

You nailed it: "extra step" . You have to cut OEM wires to add resistors and at the end you don't gain anything besides the instant on and off when blinking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV1XDHycPpY

 

Not that I'm going to, I only ask for learning, but could you fab a little harness with connectors on the ends and the resistor in line? I guess you would have to find where a plug would be in the run from fuse box to the back lamps huh? Supposing you have a plug to be able to use, does the idea work? In my head it does but I'm wrong often enough that I want to ask

 

OK, maybe for turn signals, but this whole thread is about backup LEDs.

And it looks like it's pretty easy to add them without wiring AND get a huge increase in light output. @jbrandt has made me want to order a set of his.

 

Realistically you'll probably be just fine doing this. RysiuM has worse OEM analness then I do

 

Yep all the resistors do is help set the time constant for the flasher relay. Since backup light don't need to cycle on/off, there is no time constant of the backup circuit to worry about, and no resistors are necessary for your backup LEDs. Also, instead of using resistors to adjust the turn signal time constant, it is more power efficient to just replace the flasher with one that does not depend on the resistance of the load for the flashing time constant. A single 6 Ohm resistor with 12V across it draws (12_V)^2/6_Ohms=25W of power from the battery and creates this much wasted heat per resistor. These LED flashers have a built-in RC circuit to set the flash rate and it is therefore not a function of the resistance load of the lights. These flashers are sold specifically for use with LED lighting and any autoparts store and Amazon have them in stock for gen1 for ~$10 and are faster and possibly cheaper than installing resistors.

I just put a set of these in my gen1 backup lights and they improved the night time view behind the cab when backing up enough that I no longer am waiting to get a set of external backup lights installed.

$14 iBrightstar Newest 9-30V Super Bright Error Free 921 T15 912 W16W LED Bulbs with Projector Replacement for Back Up Reverse Lights, Truck Cargo Lights, 3rd Brake Lights, Xenon White

https://www.amazon.com/iBrightstar-Newest-Projector-replacement-Reverse/dp/B074RFY776

 

100% agree. Get the best backup LED bulbs you can find. No question about it. As long as you don't expect them to provide 1200lm, but even with realistic 500lm (this is what these bulbs do) you will be fine and better than with stock incandescent bulbs. "OEM analness" - I have to remember that as that describes me very well .

 

I knew you'd know it was truly a compliment

 

I've had these for a few years now and no problems. Kind of expensive though if I recall. Funny, I tried their LED brake light bulb replacements and they were actually dimmer than the stock incandescents. So I only have LED in the reverse lights and front marker lights. Also the interior lights as well.
https://www.sylvania-automotive.com/products/interior-and-exterior-bulbs/zevo-led/921_zevo.jsp

 

Just my 2 cents since I love LEDs and have a lot of experience with all kinds:

From a scientific standpoint, your lens/reflector housing will not impede a brighter light from coming out of it...unless you change a backup light to red or something and the filter was red lol.
The SMD ships they use on a given listing will make or break the LED, especially on eBay. The advertised power & lumens are not reliable. Look up what SMD chips they use, how many lumens, watts, and lumens per watt on average they use, and then look back at the listing and estimate how many they use. This is how you can accurately compare brightness and power. Too much power can be an issue. Some newer designs use newer SMDs that are wayyy too power dense for the housings they're trying to cram them in. On backup lights that are on for like a max of 10 seconds, this is fine. For things like sidemarkers (in my case), its a huge problem that will result in flickering and eventual death due to the tremendous heat (added resistors inline the housing not for flicker, but to reduce power). A reasonable rule of thumb I supposed could be no more than 5W (real, not advertised) per thumb...volume

Example:
The ones you have posted look like 5630s. There are rows of 6, about 5 rows per quarter, or 128 chips on the outside. Best case these are 50 lumens each, so 128*50 = 6800lumens, which is ridiculous, so we know the assumption was wrong. Having seen these before, these chips are probably what are inside the projection lens portion, and there are probably two, so we can assume there are 100 lumens in the project lens, and at ~100 lumens per watt, we are at 1W, which is reasonable for the brightest section of the light. Now lets go back to the small ones. 5730s are another similar option. At 0.15W, 12lumens, we see 19.2Watts, or 1536 lumens. Since 20 watts would kill package that size fairly quickly, they either derate them, or hold you responsible with the phrase "for backup lights only". They could also be the even crappier Chinese version and be 0.09W at 7lumens each. *shrug*

...this turned into my 2 dollars lol