Rear lights ?????

[mowerman]

Can anyone tell me a local (to me) breaker where I might see a terrano/maverick? I am in south essex (Rayleigh near Southend) and have an isse with a rear side light.... seems the previous owner had a problem with the actual bulb holder, the white plastic thing with the bulb in it, and has completely butchered it to try and fix it.... So bad the 'very badly soldered on wires' (= repair????) have come off !!! Never seen such bodgery ..... So the issue is can I just get the bulb holders from Nissan or is it a breakers yard job????

Also wondering if you can convert the rear stop lights into a tail/stop system??? Not keen on the split light set up on the terrano.... any ideas on a conversion anyone??

 

[rustic]

Also wondering if you can convert the rear stop lights into a tail/stop system??? Not keen on the split light set up on the terrano.... any ideas on a conversion anyone??

This has been done before, by either changing the bulb holder to take the stop tail bulb, or as I have done, drilled the side of the reflector and fitted a small 5 watt bulb. Still keep the tail in the bumper though. The more the merrier.

I was concerned that on motorways at night, the tail lights are too low if a high truck tries to cut in behind you, they can't see you.

 

[zippy656]

rustic did you post some pics on this??

might be woth a link if you can find it

 

[mowerman]

Excellent... that was what I had in mind...what type of bulb and fitting did you use? was it easy?????? No problems with the wiring as that I can do :clap:clap...... I didnt know if different bulb holders were available (new or from a doner car with stop/tail in 1 fitting) so was wondering about the 2nd bulb route

 

[jims-terrano]

I think Adz is down your way. Isn't he starting a breakers company or something? Failing that Ebay or Parts Gateway web site.

I think a few people have put some kind of side lights in the rear brake lights too. Can't remember who it was but someone got a round hole saw and fitted some Freelander rear lights in there too.

Jim

 

[makeitfit]

I did the light mod to mine and the pics are on my link
Plenty of bits to suit up the scrappy

 

[mowerman]

Well have ordered a few bits off of e bay .... will look at adding a side light into each stop light so have 4 side lights when the lights are on :clap:clap.... I will have to tour the scrappy's near me.... best I get the yellow pages out !!!

ADZ..... Any help on the local scrappy/breakers around south Essex???

 

[rustic]

rustic did you post some pics on this??

might be woth a link if you can find it

I didn't post a link, but I just mounted a 5 watt bulb (after straightening the legs) on a piece of vero board, soldered and epoxied to the board and soldered 2 wires. The board is attached to the rear reflector by a self tap screw. I made 3/4, kept extra as spares. They are disconnected prior to MOT just in case...:nenau
Access is via the rear panel inside.. simples..

 

[JimmyJaffa]

I was thinking of doing this mod but with an LED. Anyone know what wattage i would need, would it be 5w same as the side light bulbs?:nenau

 

[rustic]

I was thinking of doing this mod but with an LED. Anyone know what wattage i would need, would it be 5w same as the side light bulbs?:nenau

You will need to use high brightness red leds, if you use white, then they will look a poor shade, more like pink.

I changed the Navigation lights on the boat to LED using red and green festoon led's The original lamps were 10 Watts and these LED's consume less than a tenth of the power. They need to cover approx 90 degrees and seem ok for this.

Have a look on ebay there are several LED's that are equivilent to 5 watts.

I am not sure if LED's are legal in cars as they can be a little directional, and don't rely on the reflector unlike a filiament bulb.

 

[(RIP) PLANK]

one issue with power consumption and LED's is - they often (usualy) use a ballast resisitor to run from 12v as most run at betweewn 3v and 5V the heat generated by the resistor dumps the excess power, and in doing so wastes any power saving (or at least a lot of it!)

Modern cars with LED lights as standar have a low voltage system to run them and really do save power.

 

[JimmyJaffa]

Might go for these not to much trouble to fit, drill hole and push fit.:thumbs


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UNIVERSAL-SID...60?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item2c593cf00c

 

[4wheel]

Rear lights

Those look good.What about wiring?Where do you T in ? I think I would like to do the same as good idea to have something at eye level.Could never work out why many of the Jap vehicles have blanks up top.ie - Land Cruiser and Isuzu.:thumb2

 

[rustic]

one issue with power consumption and LED's is - they often (usualy) use a ballast resisitor to run from 12v as most run at betweewn 3v and 5V the heat generated by the resistor dumps the excess power, and in doing so wastes any power saving (or at least a lot of it!)

Modern cars with LED lights as standar have a low voltage system to run them and really do save power.

I agree with the dumping of power, however I made up some white Led's to convert a couple of boat interior lights, however I wired 3 led's in series thus reducing the heat disipated by the current limiting resistor.
You have to select the resistor to maintain a maximum current of 20mA per string at the highest expected voltage otherwise the life expectancy is not 50,000 hours more like less than 100 hours.

However having 3 in series is affected by voltage changes, which on a car can be between 11.6 Volts and 14.5 volts.
On the boat the voltage is more stable, between 12 and 13.6 when fully charged.

 

[makeitfit]

I also put some rear work lights into the reflector

Picked up a bulb holder from the scrappy for the stop tail

Both together mmmmm

Simples

 

[jims-terrano]

How did you convert the stop light to stop tail? I'm assuming you must of got a holder from somewhere. Was it just a straight fit and did you have to play about with it?

Jim

 

[makeitfit]

I got the holder up the scrappy from er um , well a mitsubishi I think. It was a while back now and cant find the thread I did, but just remodelled the lugs on the holder to fit the nissan light. Gently does it and still a good seal:thumbs
Extended the wires to meet the loom and kerching

 

[mowerman]

I got very similar universal bulb holders too..... was going to drill a hole and just pop them into the stop light and then wire them down to the bumper area for the connections...Also got a couple of led bulbs to try and see what the difference was... supposed that as they will be sitting somewhere near the bottom of the light unit they will reflect the light?? Is all a bit hit n miss but worth a go.. I will make sure I can easily disconnect the new additions for the mot tho....

 

[makeitfit]

I tried LEDs in the rear lights and they were poo:doh
The led doesnt actually reflect off the reflector so you just get a crap light. I tried ones that have leds down the side too and they were just a bit better but no where near as good as a 10p filament bulb:augie:thumb2
If you do get an LED to work stick some pics up n show us how it's done
Ignore that lot, I've just seen on the other light bulb thread this lot http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/
They do 360 degree LEDs
Maybe they'll do the job

 

[mowerman]

My thoughts on led's tbh.... however thought I would try them anyway! I have used them for the stop/tail light before in the last car and tbh it was a very 'direct' light so was not very visible from anywhere but directly behind so didnt keep them long as I went back to normal bulbs.....never sure if you should get red or white ones???