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My wife drives a 2001 LX sedan and the reverse lights SUCK.
I know the 01-03 reverse lights have the ugly pink lenses and the 04-05 have the clear lenses.
Is there a brighter bulb that can be installed?
Can I bolt in the 04-05 sedan tail lights on my 01?
I saw that stickied tail light thread but it's for the coupe so no help there.

Thanks,
Nathan

 
Rep Power: 812

yup, there are pricey but the brightest by far are the raybrig hyper clear series. 01-05 civic sedan uses 7440 bulb for reverse. the raybrig version is clear but uses a pressurized capsule and tighter filament to produce noticably whiter and brighter light than oem while using the stock wattage (21w). upgrading to 03-05 tails with chrome/clear reverse housing will help even more since the 01-02 pink tinted tail does not have chrome reflector, only silver. the new sedan tails will bolt right in and use exactly the same bulbs and sockets you have now. i have the 05 tails with raybrig bulbs and can see just about everything behind me.



depending on your budget, the raybrigs are also great in the turn signals and top/middle 3rd brake light. for the park/brake bulbs, they are 7443 and the only upgrade is polarg lens type ($40 a pair).

 
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Or you can buy LED reverse lights, those will be really bright, and cheaper

 
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i would not recommend leds because while they may seem whiter, this makes it terrible for daytime visibility since its pretty much the same color as daylight. the off-white filament bulb is actually better and will definately be brighter with more lumens unless you are using bright hi power leds with optics (custom, not pnp bulbs). and even then i wouldnt bother with expensive leds for a light thats hardly ever used.

 
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go to pepboys or autozone and pick up a pair of SYLVANIA SilverStar bulbs there like $8 dollars they are 30% brighter and whiter then stock and if your not satisfied just return them i use them on my 04 and they completely light up my culdeasack at night here is a bulb guide http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProd...RG-Results.htm

 
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Have you ever used full LED taillights, Gearbox?

I like the look, but if they don't give good light output I'll stick with 04/05 taillights.

 
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yeah i had the ebay led tails at one point and they were crazy bright, but they were too cheap looking during the day. at night they were awesome tho. now i have the 04-05 tails with all upgraded filament bulbs raybrig/polarg except the turn signals (those have 5w red elef bulbs with a single osram diamond dragon led at 200 lumens with focusing optics). the led signal is slightly brighter than stock from the rear and blinding from the 45 degree side angle due to how the bulb mounts. i wouldve kept the stock bulb but i had all the front turn and markers as leds and wanted the blink speed to match.

 
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glue a H7 bulb in the reverse socket.

 
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I'm guessing that is a joke. Ha ha. Melt the tail light assembly funnay.

 
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I may go with the SilverStar 7440ST. From the pics I have seen they look great.
FYI, your link does not work on my end. I did find my way there.
Thank you.

Nathan

 
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i was being serious actually. they wont melt, its the same poly carbonate material made from aftermarket headlights.

plus, the lights arent on long enough to melt anything.

 
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Serious members know better than to give out bad advice, you can put an H7 into a tail light socket.

I swear I'm tempted to retrofit a ddm kit into my tailights and put it on a separate switch, tailgaters are driving me nuts. Of course, thats illegal and dangerous so I never would, nor should anyone else.

 
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Or...
Get Bright blue LEDs for reverse lights,
Can see em day or night.

I've seen it done, looks nice...but illegal
Not like they're on all the time anyways, unless you're parking in front of an officer...then I suggest you not parallel park

 
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Just to specify why brighter reverse lights are needed.
While exiting my parents driveway in reverse, and the 35% tint, we can't see the neighbors mailboxes or the end of the driveway. It's pitch black dark while leaving my parents house at night.

I'm not sold on the LED bulbs. I have zero experience with aftermarket automotive LED bulbs. I do have experience with flashlight LED bulbs.
The LED bulbs in my flashlights are fawking awesome! The bulb is located where it should be in the reflector for the best illumination. I don't know if that is the case for the LED reverse bulbs I have seen on ebay.

I cannot find the Raybrig bulbs on ebay. That's the only place I looked for them.

Thank you for the help!

 
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i will make a DIY within a few days from now about it. i have both LED + H7 bulbs.


as for the LED reverse tail light, u can use a drop-in FLASHLIGHT led (R5, R2 and Q5 leds are good. they produce anywhere from 200lm-300lm). they accept anywhere from 3v-18v (safe for car's fluctuating 11v-15v)

heres a pix of the drop in flashlight led (for a surefire)




or, if u want something that will produce about 1000 lumen, put an H7 bulb in there. they are 55w and the stock wires should be able to handle them. its not like u will be leaving them on for an hr. (how long does it take u to reverse? 20sec?)


if u notice on the h7 bulb, there are two prongs that come out. u can use quick female disconnects and tap into the +/- wire of the reverse light. and bam! instant.

and since the H7 bulbs last for about 500hrs, u should be fine without replace it any time soon.

 
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there isnt really a LED reverse light that you can buy that will provide enough light output for you to see. the stock halogen bulb will provide much more.


now, if u want to DIY with the LED i talked about on the previous post, you will get about 200-300 lumen... which is about the same (a little more actually) than the stock reverse halogen.



NOW, if u REALLY want output.....i would suggest u looking into buying a H7 bulb or equivalent and just putting a bit of silicone glue around the socket and you would be good to go.

you would be throwing about 1500-2000Lm out ur rear. i will be doing this tomorrow.

 
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I want to see the results of the h7 conversion. I'd love to be able to flip those on when being tailgated.

 
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+1 after I finish installing the pile of stuff next to my desk, this is next up on my mod list.

If someone made a wiring diagram for adding a switch to flip the reverse light on while driving that would be awesome, you have no idea what the extent of my tailgating hatred is.

 
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i dont like tailgaters as well. the 55w H7 should be more than enough.

unless u wanna go DDM 35w HIDs...lol.

those would not burn out anytime soon (life span is like 3000hrs)

 
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I wonder how illegal headlights in your taillights is.. I wonder if it is illegal?

 
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dont worry. i will put a disclaimer: for off road use only. check with local laws.

something like that. lol

 
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I don't care if you get in trouble haha

I'm worried about doing the DIY and getting some overly bright tail light ticket! I'll ask a cop tomorrow to find out.

 
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they're not going to ticket you unless its rediculously bright. like HIDs.


the H7 only produce 700-1000lm per bulb. hids produce 2000-3200lm per bulb. lol


but yes, a LEO can ticket u if he wants.
its the same iillegal modification ticket as if u were to put blue led reverse light.

 
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True enough..

Its not obvious either, they would have to rip the tail light apart to see our weird modded bulb set-up

 
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thats if u put the H7 halogen in there.

if you put a 6000k hid bulb in there, its gonna be suspicious.

 
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I would love to see some before/after pics about that H7 swap sl33pyriceboi that you will be doing.
I am on the hook. Very interested now.
I forgot to mention that my back yard is very dark and has a ninja tree and a ninja hedge that owns my wife. No serious damage so far, just some minor scratches that buffed out.

Nathan

 
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You could retrofit HIDs into EDM rear fogs and make it slightly more stealth.

 
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the silverstar bulbs are dimmer than stock, it just has a blue coating to rob light. here a link to the raybrigs. very good deal since im still on my first set from 5+yrs ago. they last a long time esp since you dont use em that long or often.

http://www.optionstage.com/raybrig-mini-bulb.html

 
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The thing about adding H7 bulbs to your tail light is just making an accident waiting to happen

If you have a serious tailgating problem, adding a bright tail light would be dangerous
Imagine if you're driving behind someone, and you get a camera flash of light
The driver would be blinded for a couple of seconds, and driving at high speeds...
Well you get the picture

Reverse lights aren't supposed to be overly bright, thats why I suggest the LEDs.
You arent meant to "see" in your rear through your tail lights.

and another reason why I suggest LEDs are because they are directional, they shoot out, as opposed to needing to be reflected, perfect for reverse lights.

As for OP's driveway problem
Help your parents install a motion light on their house driveway, will do you more better than a bright reverse light

 
Rep Power: 353

i dont think my origional intent was to blind tailgaters. its jsut an idea stemmed from someone here.

the original idea was to make the path BRIGHTER when you are in reverse (and only in reverse)