Brighter Tail Lights

[billy739]

has the op made sure he has clean lenses and 10w bulbs?

very often they are replaced with 5 w bulbs that are very dim!

[toomanytoys]

Well.. try the schrome foil and the 10w bulbs.. they are a lot brighter.. all that black inside the lamps absorbs a massive amount of light I Will post a pic later.. I will put an un chromed lens on for comparision...
Reverse was just comment in passing.. off road and with the trailer on.. I wanted better revese lights.. and I got it.. he he he
yep.. supplying the headlamps witb the full power makes a massive difference.. its a must do mod I my opinion...

[jed the spread]

We got white red and orange

Jed

[PetenAli]

We got white red and orange

Jed

When will you have the reversing lights back in stock Jed?

[jed the spread]

We got white red and orange

Jed

When will you have the reversing lights back in stock Jed?

Had a big box of them arrive while we were away. I spent today sorting the stock out that came ready for opening next week, all the new stuff will be added when Alan gets back in a little while I should think but we have loads of reverse lights and about a million Westy fridge vents in black and white for some reason so all our regular stuff will be on the shelf. Jake has been busy spending while we were gone thats for sure

Jed

[slowcoach]

has the op made sure he has clean lenses and 10w bulbs?

very often they are replaced with 5w bulbs that are very dim!

not yet! the first dry day in what seems about 4 weeks, ill try and look tonight.

good discussion here, it seems to echo a lot of what i read over on the samba, re reflectors, LED colours and spread. Ive already bought some reflective tape for the insides of the light housings, and ill strip them all down and check the bulbs out. Very interested in Jed's LED tail lights too, to see what they're like and the costs. I've not read of anyone having LEDs in the back working correctly (and legal).

So next on the job list is pulling the clusters apart and making the best of what ive got, and go from there...

[slowcoach]

So I've got the lamp housing off after finding some time, and have some reflective tape ready. 10 w little bulbs for the side lights are already in place.

But how do I take the coloured lenses out of the housing to get inside and clean it up? Visions of it cracking are stopping me force anything. . thanks!

[tforturton]

Been waiting for Jed to get back to business ever since he left for his mammoth expedition! Ah well, at least now he has rear lights as well as brake lights.
How come there's no Campervanculture calendar?

[300CE]

So I've got the lamp housing off after finding some time, and have some reflective tape ready. 10 w little bulbs for the side lights are already in place.

But how do I take the coloured lenses out of the housing to get inside and clean it up? Visions of it cracking are stopping me force anything. . thanks!

Hi Slowcoach, don't separate the lens from the housing, just place them in the dishwasher if you can (lens upwards so the water drains out). This does work well. Then leave them outside to dry off. Admittedly, i did mine last summer and just stuck them in direct sunlight - didn't take long to dry out. Also, if the screws are rusty, replace them with some nice stainless steel ones

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[slowcoach]

Thanks 300, i had heard about the dishwasher trick, good to know that works Ive got them all out and cleaned up now. one side had a 5w bulb in the running light slot (doh!), and a 10 in the other (even though they didn't really look much different when illuminated...?). i do get a good 13+ volts at the multi plugs though.

so ive taped the insides up with reflective tape and should be good to go, though i would like some brighter bulbs if the difference isn't great after the cleanup. wide angle spread leds perhaps.

Ive also only just found that these vans only have a fog lamp on one side, though there is a empty socket (with a power feed in the meta, tracer lines), it just doesnt have a spring terminal coming from the +ve. Is this normal? A samba thread (http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=185350) shows a donor cluster being used to add the spring points into another cluster (pics towards the bottom). looks like its maybe a simple fix to have fogs on both sides if you want. theres a single pic of the spring connector in that thread too.

heres my left hand side set showing the empty fog socket at the right..




(also in my rooting ive found my hazzards are flashing on one side only, though i think that's the hazzard switch, since the indicators are fine...correct? )

cheers!

[silverbullet]

That's a really old fog lamp mod but well worth doing. Had to retro-fit all that to the SA because they didn't build them with fog lamps at all...
Anyone know the legal implications of mega-bright tail lamps and the potential to dazzle following motorists? There must be some limit on the allowable light output (in Lumens)
Remember: just because its for sale, doesnt make it legal to use on UK roads.

[garyd]

You'll note that not only is the spring contact missing but usually there is no reflector in the lens housing either. Unless, of course, you have got hold of a LHD left side lens unit.

[AdrianC]

Unless, of course, you have got hold of a LHD left side lens unit.

Even then, it might not be there. Our '88 German market van didn't have a fog light/switch/wiring - it wasn't a legal requirement to have one over there back then, so they didn't bother.

[slowcoach]

There doesn't appear to be a reflector on either side in the fog housing here. Its an Australian import, so could be due to that..

[keytouch]

Campervan culture do a range of led lights

Just took delivery of a whole new range of new stuff. Tail light LED bulbs is one of the items that will be on the web shop next week when we open after our Morocco trip.

Jed

Did these ever appear?