MindBomber

Yes, blinding tailgaters is a joke, obviously that would be incredibly dangerous and illegal. Neither of us would ever actually consider doing something like that.

The idea behind brighter bulbs is to make reversing less difficult, and thats the only time reverse lights turn on so it really wouldn't be a hazard to anyone. Wiring a motion light would be way more expensive and difficult than any tail light upgrade, even EDM rear fogs would be less expensive.

DieMaster

iTrader: (5)

OMG gearbox i cant beleve you said that.

stock reverse use 921 bulbs. the 7440 are the 03-05 turnsignal lights.

i say do like pickup trucks and take out the reverse lights and get pepboys style driving lights and mount them to under your bumper.

lordhelmet

iTrader: (3)

It was my idea to flip them on when being tailgated. If tailgater hits me, he's at fault, no? Also, I don't see this being any different than oncoming glare from lifted trucks or ricers who put HIDs into halogen housing. If someone drives by you with bright headlights are you ever completely blinded? If you are, you probably shouldn't be driving at night.

Kennykid2002

iTrader: (1)

Hey, I have HIDs in halogen housing :P

And those people who drives by, arent directly in front of me

PS.
If your tailights are blindingly bright, you are 100% at fault for a rear end
Same reason you are 100% at fault if your tail lights are tinted, they are driving hazards.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

lol, the king of lighting make a mistake like that? if so then ban me now

all 01-05 sedan tails use 7440 for reverse and turn, 7443 for park/brake, and w5w for park. upper mount stop light is also a 7440. for coupes youre right, reverse takes 921 and they make a raybrig of that too! i got one for my dads old miata 3rd brake because the oem was dimmer than the normal brakes and the raybrig version is at least twice the brightness. i was amazed for an 18w bulb.

MindBomber

If thats the case you'll need to find a source and post it. In British Columbia the car in the rear would be at fault for both collisions, unless the tail lights were completely indiscernible in which case the maximum liability would be 20% fault. The insurer would need to prove criminal negligence to make either case 100% at fault, and they would never bother taking the case to court.

By that logic, your illegal HID in stock housings would make you liable for any front end collision.

Kennykid2002

iTrader: (1)

Lol, well laws are different in Canada...

But then again, I live in Cali, where cops will hate on anything you do to your car.

And my HIDs would not make me liable for front end collisions for being "overly bright"
My lights just have to be white, and pointed down, which they are.
When I pull up behind a car, 20 ft away, my lights arent in their rear view mirror, so it's not a problem

I will try and ask my neighbor and some cop friends, I know a ton of Oakland PD folks :P

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

you wouldnt necessarily be liable, but if the other side's lawyer wanted to fight it, he could use that excuse that you had illegal modified headlights that impaired his client. anything is possible.


in CA (and i believe everywhere else in the US as well) it is illegal to modify your OE lighting system. and yes, even a proper retrofit is illegal. but HIDs are like burning CDs....everyone does it. its just another tool in their arsenal that LEOs could use to pull u over.

MindBomber

I know your responsible enough not to blind everyone kenny, it was more a general statement on HID lights relation to liability

It being illegal to modify your lighting system in any form makes sense, but are there any restrictions on the number of lumens emitted by a given bulb?

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

i keep hitting "edit"

i gotta get use to this..


anyways, i dont think there is a "limit restriction" on bulbs per say. but most halogen bulbs are around 700-1000Lm a bulb and the higher end silverstars or philisXP are close to 1100-1300lm. these are OE replacement legal.

stock OE HIDs @ 4300k produce about 3200Lm (usually a lil less).

MindBomber

Thats what I thought. I think I'm going to add the H7 bulbs for the reverse lights with Raybrig bulbs everywhere else in the tail lights, then add a switch to the reverse lights and treat them like rear fogs.

I just need to find a set of 04-05 tail lights, I've been searching for awhile.

lordhelmet

iTrader: (3)

I still find it hard to believe you wouldn't be able to see brake lights through h7 beams. If an accident were to result from that then the person following would most likely be at fault for following too close.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

guys please dont do stupid stuff like turning your reverse lights on while driving. alot of people on the road do carry guns and would not hesitate to shoot out your reverse lights and maybe your head too depending how angry they got.

as for hids, just to clear up a few things hid kits in halogen housing are illegal and always will be. this can work against you in an accident if the other guy says he couldnt see due to your illegal lights. as for real hids, the bulb may be 3200 lumen but barely 1/2 that light makes it out the projector and onto the road. the law about auto headlight adjusters is you dont need em unless the actual output is above 2000 lumens. if its below this, you can have a fixed hid projector (but very few projectors qualify for this like valeo, e39, and maybe few other older technologies). so even if you do a retrofit you still have to be cautious about blinding people since a TL projector puts out nearly 2x the light as older style projector like valeo. this can cause alot of blinding even more than hid kit if the projectors do not auto adjust on hills and bumps.

lordhelmet

iTrader: (3)

Fixed

Biscuit

To whom ever it was that mentioned the motion lights:
My parents driveway is lit with flood lights for about 50'. The house is way out in the county (no city street lights) with a 200' driveway. It's as my wife says, "Spooky dark". Backing out of that driveway is the #1 bitch because of the mailboxes across the street that can easily be backed into.
The ninja hedge that is behind my house is the greatest concern so I don't have to do more buffing.
I personally don't worry at all about backing up in my car. My 1988 Acura Integra has 3497 reverse bulbs that are so damn bright I have no trouble seeing through my 20% tinted windows.

I would love to see how the H7 bulbs get installed in an 01 Civic sedan reverse housing.
If I don't see how to do it I know I can get it done but the more help the better.

Nathan

Kennykid2002

iTrader: (1)

Maybe you should set up those solar garden lights then lol

Biscuit

You got That DIY posted?
I found some ebay H7 bulbs for $6.50 shipped.
More info please!

Nathan

lowlife9

dude seriously don't put high beams in your reverse housings thats not very brite just get replacements .

Biscuit

HAHA at the "brite" spelling! The sarcasm is thick in that post.

I just ordered 2 H7 bulbs on ebay for $3.89 shipped.
Just have to wait 2-3 weeks before they show up to knock out this little project.

Nathan

lowlife9

why don't you just bolt on some spot lights to the rear of the car or possibly to your house so you can see at night maybe evan get a one with a motion detector.

Biscuit

My neighbor has a bright *** motion light that sucks at lighting up the back yard but is great for detecting any tiny *** movement on my property.

To get back on track here, my 2001 Civic Sedan needs brighter reverse lights for backing out of my yard and my parents at night. I forgot to add she cleans two places on the weekend and those properties are poorly lit.
I am really surprised at how dim the stock reverse lights are on the Civic.
They are worse than what was on my 1994 Jeep Wrangler. I did add tractor lights to the Jeep that were actuated with a manual switch when I wanted to reverse.

I do not want to have reverse lights activated with a manual switch on the Civic. That's an option that my wife does not want.

Nathan

electric130

iTrader: (44)

exactly. why are headlights white? so you can see. why are reverse lights white? so they light up the area behind the car at night. if they weren't supposed to be practical, then they could have made them blue or green, or flashing, or something other than white to make a distinctive "reverse indicator". take your reverse lights out, go somewhere dark with no lights and try to back up. you'll realize how much light they actually provide.

Kennykid2002

iTrader: (1)

Then again, you get the same effective light output by slightly holding your brakes while backing up.

And i believe laws only permit automakers to use white/amber/red/orange lights, and thats why reverse are white.

Honestly, if you need to see reversing out of YOUR driveway, you should install lights on your driveway, not brighter lights on the car
Either that, or back into the driveway, so you leave front facing, with headlights :3

electric130

iTrader: (44)

brake lights add to it, but i know in my civic and my bimmer, the white reverse lights were much brighter than the brake lights were as far as usable light for reversing (just pop you tranny into neutral the next time your backing and you'll see how much they add).

okay, so adding lights to your house will help, but what about when your backing out of every other place that's dimly lit? (every one of my 8 family member's houses are barely lit) so it helps at home, but nowhere else. that's where brighter reverse lights would help. that's why you see 4x4 trucks with driving lights on their rear bumpers. it looks plain retarded on a coupe or sedan though. i'm sure manufacturers have to meet a certain footcandles per sq ft, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be brighter. same thing with headlights. sure halogens meet the minimum requirements, but OEM HID's add more light by far.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

unh, actually OP have manual switch for his car, the civic is his wife's and she needs to reverse on other's driveways, so it's still valid.
my former GF was totally dumb to drive and a real hazard in the roads (could easily get into the canada's worst driver in discovery channel canada...), so i know what he means, even if she is not a hazard as mine was...

Biscuit

The real reason of this thread is to have brighter reverse lights in bad lighting situations that you have no control over. Namely for my wife while reversing in areas that I know she could back into something and damage the Civic.
I'm just trying to save me from repairing the rear in the event of an accident when it could be avoided due to bad lighting and to save her the guilt she will flood me with if an accident happens. I'm not worried about her guilt. She has never backed into anything solid in our twelve years of marriage. "Knocks on wood!"
Take this thread as a marriage tool to cover your *** and hers, and embrace it.

Nathan

Biscuit

The bulbs finally got here two days ago.
DIY is soon to come for H7 reverse lights! I will get it done in the next few days.

Nathan

Kennykid2002

iTrader: (1)

Remember to post your results!

Biscuit

I cannot make a new thread in the DIY forum.
Do I have to start it in this forum or thread?

Nathan

MindBomber

we closed a few forums awhile back in our ongoing efforts to improve the site, specifically that was an effort to get the site better organized.

Here's the appropriate area to post a 7th gen DIY, just hit new thread.
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/118-lighting