My new reverse lights

[drum655]

So i finally got around to rewiring my lights after i got my new rear bumper. I had to make my old reverse lights my turn signals by rewiring them and changing the bulb to an amber bulb. but that left me without reverse lights. So i got some small driving lights and mounted them under the liscence plate/rear door opener thingy. They look great i think. I also wired my rear fog switch on the binacle to it so i can turn the lights on without being in reverse. They are really bright and work well on dark trails!!! total cost of project...$15. damn i am good with the cheap deals





So what do you guys think...cool or ghetto?

[Discodude19]

Looks cool man the only thing is it doesn't look like you will be able to get light to the pass side cuz of the tire in the way. Or does it still work??

[Disco Mike]

Damm,
Yours looks better then my hook up. good job.
Mike

[Thor]

Remove the 'Discovery' lettering.

Re-stick them in a smiley face pattern!

It will make a friendlier face.

[drum655]

hahaha.....good one..... then i can remove the series II badge and maove it to where the smiley face is sticking its tongue out! haha

[p76rangie]

Did something similar a couple of years back. Same size, same cost. They work well.

[Thor]

You said they are driving beams?

How's the light pattern.

I considered using a very small set of Fog pattern lights on the rear of my RR, but I need to test the beam pattern first. Having a narrow slit of light won't do me much good in that case!

[Funrover]

Very Nice man!!!!! I bet they looks bright at night!!!!

[p76rangie]

Mine are fogs, and looking at the lens on Drum's, they fogs as well. On the Rangie I mounted them under the lip on the tailgate. But mine has a 2 inch lift and the lights clear the bumper when the tailgate is down. I have my two pointing slightly outwards. The beams still cross over, but it gives a bit more light to the sides as well.

[02disco2]

Did you use a relay for the lights? If not, do you have to worry about the load on the reverse wiring since they are only designed to run standard wattage bulbs?

[RageRover]

Man, I wanna get my setup like that done ASAP. I can't see behind me worth a shit with the stick reverse lights.

But 02disco2, yeah it would be a good idea to wire in a relay to the stock lamp power wire and then a good 12 volt fused connection from the battery.

Man, I'd have to draw up a diagram for it, it is easier to draw it than to explain it.

[RageRover]

Here is a crude but OK diagram I sketched up of what I plan to do.

[p76rangie]

Your design allows for them to be switched on manually, but not off. I have found that you need to switch them off if you have a trailer on, as they light up the trailer and you can't see much else.

I would also use a second relay for the switch rather than running the power to the lights on such a long journey.

[RageRover]

Hmmm...Ian, can you help me out on this design before I screw myself up?

What I had followed to do was the power wire from either of the stock reverse bulbs would apply power to the power side of the relay, and click the power switch for power to the modified lights. And once I go from reverse to drive the power to the stock reverse circuit would cut off and in theory turn the relay off.

The additional switch in the diagram is used for like utility purposes like using them for light while I am doing something back there, and the switch would be off when I put the truck into reverse.

I think that would work, but then again I put this design together in like 10 minutes. But hell that's why we're all here...to help out.

Oh and on another note, would the fuse for the reverse lamps require a higher amp fuse to run the relay as well as the stock lamps? I couldn't find a stock reverse lamp wiring diagram to verify.


Thanks Ian!

[p76rangie]

rage rover, your design looks fine. I would run the earth for the relay in your picture to a switch on the dash. Then you can switch off the lights when in reverse, if required, by disconnecting the earth to the relay. I always prefer to have earth wires around rather than power wires. But this is just a personal thing. Where you have your switch to manually operate your lights, I would run the power to activate a second relay rather than directly to the lights. The reason that you can't use the one relay is that it would have to be on the same side of the relay as the existing reversing light wiring you are using to activate the relay when you put it in reverse. This means that you would put power backwards through the existing reverse wiring when flick the manual switch on. Not sure exactly what issues this would cause, but no good can come it. Relays are cheap, so just used two.