Reverse Lamp LED Conversion

So on 4 January, while satisfying my OCD need to clean the less visible parts of the car, I decided to spend a few minutes during the afternoon, and later at night, to see how the latest LED bulbs compare to the OEM back up lights.

I had done substantial research and decided I wanted to find, and then try, the brightest LED bulbs possible.  A few years ago I had experimented with back up bulbs on my GT-R, and ended up installing an HID bulb - mainly because the GT-R only has one reverse light and in the dark it can be hard to see while backing up.

Anyway, the results were discouraging back then, and I still was not sure whether LED technology had improved to the point where such bulbs, even at high lumens, were comparable to good halogen bulbs. There is also the issue of the reflectors being designed for halogens which emit light in all directions versus LEDs which tend to shine light in one direction.

Flash forward a couple of years, LED technology seems to have improved - my research had found these as the (claimed) brightest T16 size LEDs available in Japan - in fact the retailer is a mostly Toyota/Lexus LED bulb specialist so naturally there was a price premium. However their claims of 900 lumens, being 340% brighter than a regular white bulb, as well as using Chip On Board (COB) technology (which I was totally impressed with in a mod for my GT-R), convinced me to take a chance and buy a pair.

They arrived the day after I ordered... thank you Amazon!

I first used a special tool I had recently picked up to remove the clips holding the lining to the trunk lid:

Interesting how Lexus uses Velcro ensure the lining stays flush with the trunk lid!

Yellow arrow is the back up bulb... note the wiring is held in by a clip. The clip has to be undone, otherwise there is not enough slack in the wiring to remove the bulb from the trunk lid-side housing easily.

iPhone photo comparison

So as the above photo shows, despite supposedly being 3.4x brighter and 900 lumens, the OEM halogen bulb on the left still seems to be brighter.  Or maybe it's the camera? With the naked eye the difference didn't seem this large.

Nikon DSLR photo

This above photo is more accurate as to how I saw it. I did try to do a comparison, by using my hand to shield each bulb in turn to see which lit up the back of the garage better.  (Incidentally, the halogen got hot very quickly but even these COB LEDs stayed cool...) But during the day it was hard to tell. From the perspective of a car behind me, the LED obviously looked whiter and cleaner.

iPhone photo at night

When I covered up each bulb in turn, admittedly the halogen seemed to cast more shadows than the LED bulb - implying that the halogen was indeed brighter.  I then opened the trunk to see how the lights would look on the ceiling of the garage:

But the difference is slight, I think. The LED seems to have a more focused light than the halogen, if anything.

But as I had come this far, and if the difference was indeed slight, I decided to install the LED on the right side as well. And then see how these lights worked when viewed in the back up monitor from the driver's seat - would there be an improvement?

Again iPhone photo, no flash, both LEDs installed.

Oh, and if you're wondering about that OEM ISF alloy wheel in the corner... well I hope to have a blog post about what I was doing soon enough!

Nikon DSLR photo, without flash.
Compare the brightness of these LEDs with the OEM LED bulb used to light up the license plate.

What's interesting is that, while from the outside the halogens do seem slightly brighter, from INSIDE the car, these LEDs clearly work better with the back up camera than the OEM halogens.  I initially believed the difference to be one of color - one can see clearly in the rear view mirrors that the LEDs provide a whiter light - but on the navigation screen, the light coloring and brightness seemed to be the same.... until I took a close look at what these following photos revealed:

Backing up - OEM back up lamps while braking

Backing up - same spot in garage - with the LEDs and braking... see the difference?

While the rear view camera appears to automatically adjust to get the brightest image possible, the LEDs (second photo) allow the camera to transmit a cleaner, crisper image.

Even without brake application:

OEM back up lamps, no braking

LED back up lamps, no braking

Everything is crisp and there seems to be more definition, and there is no yellowish tinge.

So my conclusion is that even if not quite as bright in relative terms with the halogens, to the extent these LEDs work well with the reverse monitor camera, I will use them until either someone comes out with an even more clearly brighter LED, or there is a need to put the halogens back.

Oh, and now that I've tinkered with some LEDs...I've begun to research what other bulbs in the ISF can be replaced with LEDs that actually improve the lighting. Stay tuned!