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I am posting this here because there is an update problem with the site per TRIZ.


I ordered some 5000K H7 bulbs on ebay for $3.89 shipped to my door.
I simply hot-glued the bulbs into the housings. Apply glue to the metal base of the bulbs upper shoulder and install. Fill in some of the gap where you see the glue in the pic.


This is how I wired the bulbs. It's not perfect but that is what I had to work with.


Here is the result. It's much better than stock but would be so much better in an 04-05 housing. 55 watts of goodness!


The 01-03 reverse reflector has a really bad coating of what appears to be oxidized aluminum or zinc. The 04-05 reverse reflector has a nice shiny chrome coating.

Questions and comments are welcome here regarding the DIY.

Thank you sl33pyriceboi for the inspiration to do this mod!

Nathan

 
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Jeez is that the front of the car or the back?! Lmfao good job, i just don't want to be behind you when you're reversing :P

P.s: Shoulda put this in the DIY section

 
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its good for people who have tinted windows. plus u are only using it to back up, not to drive so all is good.

thanks for the DIY. u saved me. lol

+1

 
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Good for those who also have no street lights.
No save from me. You just had the bad luck of getting rear-ended.
Thanks for getting me on the hook of the H7 conversion!

Nathan

 
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It's really not that bad if you are behind thanks to the shitty reflectors.
I'm guessing you did not read the text and only looked at the pics.
Have another look.

Nathan

 
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no i did read the text ... but it still looked pretty bright, could just be the shot

 
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yea. there is no controlled shot or comparison shot.

remember kenny's (or was it mindbombers) rear led. they're not to bright, but he knew how to take the pixs, so they came out real bright.

 
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Actually, I took the pics according to my eye, it looks pretty much the way i see it at night

They arent blindingly bright, it's actually just the way I want it, I can see when parallel parking, and it doesnt blind anyone

But very good for you to attempt something different

Any distance tests? Visability from a distance?

 
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looks good, but just a few things. dont leave them on too long and check that hot glue after a few times of using. alot of glues arent rated for hi temps and it can start melting. yeah the 04-05 housing is a ton better with chrome reflector instead of silver. and a clear lens instead of pink.

 
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i'm more worried about the wires melting than the glue. an H7 is 55w. the stock reverse bulb should be 21w or less. so you're more than doubling the current draw on the same size wire. this is the same concern with people putting PNP HID's on the stock headlight harness (or people who put larger fuses in to stop them from blowing when there's a legitimate problem). my concern is drawing more current than the wires are designed to handle without putting a relay harness in.

 
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you have to be technical lol. yeah i dont even think those wires are enough for the 21w bulbs to be honest. if i had time i would build a harness just to make em brighter. its a pain running power wires to the battery tho.

 
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just tap it from an amp/sub if u have one in ur car. build a relay from there.

 
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That pic of the reverse lights is how my eyes viewed the scene. Note the illumination on the driveway and on my Integra. That bulb illuminating the rear of my house is a 13watt yellow CFL bulb.

I bracketed the photos for the best illumination to show what I saw with my eyes and posted the best photo of what I saw.
I have been an avid photographer for the past 20 years. I know what I am doing when displaying a photo as it needs to appear to the naked eye.

The glue and wires at the connection to the bulbs do not get hot after one minute. The reverse fuse is not warped and has not failed and will not any time soon.

Nathan

 
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I was also worried about the hot glue since it is meant to melt at hot temperatures but if you say it works then I can't argue. Great job!

 
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There is an issue with the glue.
It got warm here and at some point the reverse lights were left on for a few minutes and melted the glue. The bulbs are now sitting in the housings at an angle due to the glue melting.
I have a fix for locating the bulb in the housing.
In the mean time the reverse lights are disconnected to prevent further damage.

Nathan

 
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I thought that would happen, maybe consider using silicone?

 
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Someone please help. My 98 Honda Civic hatchback's taillights will not work! I have checked fuses, bulbs, replaced both and still nothing. The rest of the lights work but when I press the brake pedal that bulb does not light. Please any help will do.

 
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Welcome to the forum. First rule: No thread jacking lol. Rule #2 search. I did not search this topic and im going to assume you already did. What fuses have you replaced? and what fuses have you checked? There is the main fuse box in the engine bay and then a fuse box under your dash. Go in your trunk and also check for a loose connector.

 
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Sorry I didn't know where to post. I checked the fuse box under the steering column and under the hood. The fuses under the steering wheel are fine and the ones under the hood are good except fuse 3 is empty. There should be a 30 v one there. Then I checked the brake pedal and all looks good there. As for finding a ground wire or loose connector I am unsure where they are located.

 
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Right above the brake pedal is a switch that controls the brake lights. stick your head in the footwell, then press the pedal and you should see it. the pedal should press the switch when normal, then it should release the switch when depressed and thats what activates the lights. they do go bad sometimes.

 
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OK I see that piece, the brake light switch, and the pedal is pressing the button. All the pieces are intact. How would I go about testing the switch to make sure it's good?

 
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What about 15W reverse HID kits? I found one for $51 on aliexpress if you do super economy shipping. From China of course. It's supposed to be plug and play with the existing wiring. http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm...olesalers.html

EDIT: Here is a good video of some random 15w reverse HID kit on a Nissan, towards the end you see various shots showing the brightness. It's too bad DDMtuning doesn't have 15w kits!

EDIT: Yeah, I think I'll try the H7 bulb thing first and see how it works out. Much cheaper and the bulbs don't care if there is low voltage going to it because of the thin gauge wire.
I don't think the 15w HID kits would be as bright as an H7 bulb.

 
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You're logic is wrong. A thin wire won't limit the bulb. The bulb will try to pull 55w regardless of the wire size. If the wire is to small, it will heat up and possibly catch on fire. Same logic applies to fuses. They're sized to protect the wires. If a 15a fuse blows, and u replace it with a 20a, you risk exceeding the capacity of the wires. Since the fuse won't blow, the wires get hot and maybe cause a fire. Best way is to use a relay.

 
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Well the halogen bulb is a resistor and I thought that amperage is more or less set by the design , it'll probably change somewhat with temperature but the voltage dictates the wattage and voltage lowers when resistance goes up (thinner wire, higher temp in copper).

Like the dome light or halogen headlight, it dims when you start turning on other accessories with the engine off, it doesn't pull more amps or at least not enough more amps to fully compensate.
I=V/R voltage lowers, so current lowers? I don't know I'm not an expert.

But yeah I hear you. I'm not going to do this on stock wiring. I think I'll buy a 15w HID kit that is plug and play with the stock wiring and see if it is bright enough and see how it works with the 7.5A fuse.
I don't have a tint or anything, it just seems like the 21w backup lights are just for other people to see but not to help the driver see!

 
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yes, you're correct, but if the thin wire has 12v on it, the bulb is still going to try to produce 55w of light and draw ~4.58A.

I'd say it dims because the voltage system of the car has dropped due to extra load being put on the battery that the battery can't compensate for. nothing physically changed with the bulbs.

i almost did this too (never got around to it.) i live in a neighborhood kind of in the country. there's no street lights and everyone has at least 1 acre lots. so when i back out of my driveway in the morning, it's hard to see.

the only thing i'd caution you on with the 15w kit is to measure what the startup amperage of the ballasts is. when i had my TSX retro and HID foglights, the OEM ballasts I had for the lowbeams only minimally spiked on startup (the exact numbers are in a thread somewhere, either here or hidplanet.com) whereas the chinese ballasts for the fogs spiked upto 15A on startup. so instead of only pulling ~3A, it pulled 15 times that. that's why i (and many others on here) preach using relay harnesses for HID kits. you may be okay, but just keep that in mind.

 
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OK, I've installed my DDMtuning 4500K 35w H7 bulbs. I didn't use any of the rubber or plastic bits so I think it's actually an H3 bulb but I don't really know. The bulbs fit in the reverse light slots very well. Nice and flat against the slot and the Ace hardware brand of hot melt hot glue worked really well. Just put a layer around the top of the base of the two bulb things and stuck the bulbs in the slots firmly and instantly the glue hardened up so I had to push it in quickly so it would be tight and make a good connection as it cooled. I then glued onto the outer part a bit too, around the outer part of the slot. I of course cleaned the bulbs with isopropyl alcohol and dried before installing.

Anyway details are in the pics. I did as someone suggested somewhere to initially keep the bulbs on for like 10 minutes so they'll maybe have a longer life. So at about 10 minutes I open the trunk back up from being closed and some plastic smoke was coming out of the passenger side slot! No big deal though, no part of the reverse light lamp reflector was bubbly or anything, just a bit of the inner top part partially melted. No big deal. The hot glue loosened a bit on the right side but still has a darn good connection so the glue held up pretty well. The left side was fine too.

Brightness: Yep, they are bright! The pics show them to be a bit brighter than what they really are, but not by much.
I am having trouble with a voltage drop somewhere, I think. They tend to flicker and the passenger side sometimes doesn't stay lit at all if the voltage is below 12.5V. It's on for a few seconds before flickering out. I haven't tested it much but it should run fine wih the engine on. I am running 14 gauge all the way from the battery to the back so that should be plenty. Maybe the problem is that I made my grounds in the trunk lid and the way that the arms of the trunk connect to the car body, perhaps there is a resistance there.

High resolution photobucket link: http://s909.photobucket.com/albums/a...HID%20project/