Yes, you would loose the sidelights when reversing, but, would you be able
to see a 5 watt sidelight when it's next to a 21 watt reversing light in
normal light cluster ?
I don't think it would matter if other drivers didn't know which way the car
was facing, if the reversing lights are on you are driving towards them
anyway !, just backwards.
Number plate lights are normally totally separate, i can't think of a newish
car that does use same bulb as the sidelights.
I wasn't including the number plate light.
Being able to see the lights doesn't seem to mater on modern cars, how many
cars have the front indicators in with the headlights lights now (new Beetle
etc), It's almost impossible to see the indicators if the headlights are on.
Jim
--------------------------------------------------
From: "TonyV" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2012 2:43 PM
To: "Quantum Owners Group" <[email protected]>
Subject: [Quantum Owners] Re: More lights
I saw a funny the other day, too. A Golf where the centre brakelight
flashed.
It seemed to be flashing all the time, except when braking when it
came on properly.
At least, I assume it was braking, because he was stopped at a hilly
junction, but there were no other lights to suggest an application of
the centre pedal...
Surely somebody wouldn't have been so daft as to deliberately modify
their rear lights in this way...?
Back to your example.
I'm surprised it's legal merely to flash a light from red to yellow
when operating indicators and sidelights together.
I know it's practical and workable, I'm just surprised it's legal.
But it sounds like an OEM has done it, so I suppose it must be.
It'd be worse when using foglights and indicators - going from bright
red to bright yellow.
I'm not sure that's enough variety to catch the attention of a
following driver.
All too often the change from "off" to "brake lights" isn't, so I
don't think I'd like to rely on a mere colour change.
And that's before we even consider the issue of colour-blindness!
Also, given your priority order, wouldn't this mean that you lose the
rear sidelights when the reversing lights are on? Thereby suggesting
to other drivers that your car is facing the other way?
What about your number plate light? Is that separate, or built-in?
Often manufacturers use the same taillight bulb to illuminate the
plate.
I did buy a few boards to experiment with LED lights - 48 bright white
SMD LEDs pre-soldered to a board and with all the power circuitry
already fixed in and ready to run at 12v.
(Other sizes are available - from 6 up to 64+ LEDs).
They're being sold on ebay as being suitable for replacing interior
lights and come with adapters for a number of different bulb types.
I was going to try them behind various spare lenses (brake, sidelight
etc.) to ensure they're bright enough before doing anything drastic
like actually fitting them.
Pity it's not as easy/straightforward to do the indicators - the
loading is different so the flasher unit would think the bulb has
failed.
But it would save me having to make up huge fibreglass boxes to encase
the rear of the rear lights, as well as solving a few problems with
bad connections due to using 40 year old bulb holders etc.
Question - how legal would this be? Given that I'd be fitting them
behind existing lenses which still carry E-marks.....
For the number plate, I managed to get replacement bulbs which
incorporate 13 SMD LEDs arranged to shine in all directions. These
will fit in the existing bulb holder as a direct swap for the original
tungsten item. I haven't got round to fitting these yet either.
TonyV.
On Feb 20, 10:35 am, "Jim Hearne" <[email protected]> wrote:
The mention of lights reminded me.
I was behind a car the other day in the dark that had LED rear lights
(factory, not OEM), didn't recognise the make/model.
It used the same section of the rear light for sidelights as indicators.
When the indicator was flashing it went from dim red (sidelight) to
bright yellow.
The lead me to think, what would be the minimum number of sections you'd
need for rear lights if you used different colour LEDS to meet the regs.
The 2+2 rear lights use the same bulb for sidelights and fog so i guess
you can combine those.
I think probably 2.
Section 1. Brake lights only.
Section 2. Sidelights (dim red) , Fog lights (bright red) , reversing
lights (white), Indicators (Yellow) in priority order.
Any thoughts ?
Jim
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