Really Bright LED Reverse Lights in Stock Housing

jjvw

useless stäff member
Supporting Member
Ride of the Month Winner
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Messages
26,084
Location
Colorado, USA
This is a silly project I've been figuring out over the last few weeks. On more than one occasion I have wanted brighter reverse lights, but didn't want the added clutter of more lights bolted to the Jeep. I got this solution recently from someone on the forums who briefly mentioned that he put LED projectors in the stock taillight housing. Sorry, I don't recall the thread to give proper credit. This is my version.

20150608_183957.jpg


You need a pair of Socket Wires Connector Base Adapters
61VbNkWyV3L._SL1500_.jpg


A pair of Turn Tail Wired Light Socket Housings
41wlYoiONeL.jpg


A pair of 41mm flashlight reflector cones.
$_1.jpg


And finally a pair of 1156 base LED projectors measuring 1.75" in length.
$_57.jpg


Use a stepped drill bit to drill the flashlight reflector out to to the size of the 1156 light socket. Insert the LED. I used superglue to hold it in place.
20150603_133430_Wynkoop St.jpg


Connect the socket housing and socket adaptor together.
20150608_162048_Wynkoop St.jpg


Our light housing is about 2.25" deep from lens to back. Because the projector needs to point straight back, the LED and socket housing needs to stack to stack up to less than that. I re-routed the wires in the new socket to come out the side of the socket to save space. The socket gets epoxied to the back of the tail light housing. The adapter is inserted into the factory socket.
20150608_190055_Clarkson St.jpg

That's it.

LED projector with reflector cone is on the left. Factory incandescent is on the right.
20150620_211258_Argentine St.jpg


I don't know the lumens of the $15 Chinese LEDs I bought, but with the flashlight reflector cone, all 16 LEDs are shining straight back,, rather than filling the housing and relying on the small and not-very-shiny factory "reflector" to push the light backwards.
 
Last edited:
That's cool! I have the Savvy LED taillights, and the reverse lights on them are so bright that you'd think you had a light bar in the back when you put it in reverse. However, if I didn't have them, I'd definitely do something like this, since I like being able to see where I'm going when in reverse, especially at night.
 
Great idea. I took the poor man's route and painted the interior of the taillight housings bright gloss white. Wanted to replace the bulb with LEDs but didn't want to fool with the electrical load issue so just replaced them with brighter halogens. Since this is for the backup light, I may give it a shot since the electrical resistance is moot.... thanks for the write up.
 
I used this it just plugged straight it like a normal bayonet fitting bulb...Huge difference when I'm backing up.
View attachment 50774
View attachment 50775
Do you by chance know a part number on these? I think I found them on gtautosource's website but would like to get some more info on them and see if they might be sold in the states somewhere to save on shipping.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RussTJ
Really appreciate this thread, thank you all. I just replaced the standard 1156 reverse bulbs with a pair of LEDs from Amazon. Very happy with the additional light when backing!

View attachment 52673

View attachment 52674

View attachment 52675

View attachment 52676
I ordered a set of these last night for my wife's XJ. I pulled the NSS and disassembled it to clean it up, thereby getting the reverse lights working again. However, they're reverse lights in name, only. I suspect the 900 Lumen LEDs will be much better. Will probably do the same in my TJ.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: BlueRidge304