anyone ever replace the trusty backup sensors with something useful like an LED or some sort of auxillary backup lighting? mine have never worked since i've owned the truck, and i have a backup camera waiting to install anyways.

 

That would be an awesome idea. Would you wire them into the existing reverse lights, or wire them to a switch? A 3 point toggle switch would be sweet. Have an option to have them come on automatically with the existing reverse lights in one position, off in one position, and a simple hot wire ON for the third position. The ON option would be nice for hooking up trailers or any time you need to see what you are doing out behind your truck.... Now you got me adding projects to my own truck... haha

 

I hate them backup beepers so thats a great idea

 

Interesting idea. In theory I don't see any reason it wouldn't work, there's already power there that's only triggered in reverse (so long as the wiring isn't the reason the sensors don't work). I'm not sure how practical it is though, the holes aren't that large and you would need quite a few led's to produce enough usable light. Even will all the sensor holes filled I'm not sure how much light there would be. Would also need some sort of holder for them.

Why not just fix the sensors? They could be handy in some situations...though I admit mine haven't worked since I've owned it and I haven't tried too hard to fix them either. I just never park anyplace that tight.

 

i would just tap into the reverse light pigtails. they draw so little current i wouldn't worry about pulling too much amperage through the stock wiring.

i suppose you could set up a relay to do what you mentioned. i actually set up some reverse lights on my old truck like that but skipped the relay and just made sure i didn't have it ON when i put the truck in reverse. did forget once and backfed voltage and popped some fuses.

 

i didn't think about using the sensor power for lights. nice.

i'm not sure on light output either. it seems LED technology evolves every day, so really my main point of this thread was to see what exactly anyone has used that had decent output.

i'm with you, the only backing up i do is to a trailer and out of the driveway in the morning.. they aren't valuable to me, especially with a camera.

 

I think you're right about not drawing too many amps, and that would be pretty simple wiring. I have seen turn signal LED clusters of about 15-20 LED's packed into a round formation of about the same size as a reverse sensor. With enough digging you might be able to find one that would fit in place. Might require a little fab work for mounting it securely though. If you could find a Marker lamp for a bed side that fit, it would mount flush. You would just have to make it white LED's.

 

That was my first thought - I'm not entirely sure if there's a module that controls that power or what, so I don't know how the truck would react to a different component...but it would certainly make it easier.

I think it's a neat idea and if you could come up w/ something that would produce usable light I'd certainly be interested. Heck, if it works I could see some commercial potential there. I will of course expect a generous finders fee when you start selling kits!

 

I would love to see LED's tied to the turn signals, with the flashing LED's sequential, like a late 60's Mercury Cougar.

 

I've been thinking about this too.
What about using some grommet mount LEDs?
Here are a few that came to mind...
M09400WCL:*1 1/4" White LED Mini Courtesy Marker Light

I mounted 3 Red 1-1/4 LEDs under the tailgate a while back. They're tied into the parking lights and are pretty bright.

NOTE: Don't judge me based on how dirty my truck is, I've been cold-weather lazy. Also, please understand that the gross double-sided tape residue is from the PO, and I tried like hell to remove it, with poor results.

 

i think you're on to something there.

i haven't pursued this further since spring refuses to show up here in MI and i've been busy otherwise. still on the back burner tho!

 

Also, I think the bumper has a slight downward angle at the sensor location, which would point the LEDs towards the ground just a little bit...

...Even if they didn't provide enough light for better backing-up, they'd still be pretty awesome as 'general purpose back of the truck lighting' if triggered by a switch. Loading and unloading, trailer connecting... whatever.

 

Is this bright enough for everyone?



These are the same LED hideaways used in emergency vehicles that they install in turn signals and headlight housings. This particular product is about $65 to $70 each retail. I installed them because I wanted to add some wig-wag amber LAWs to the truck for on-scene operations with my ambulance squad. But the reverse light housing on the newer SD is tiny and there's no space to leave the existing 921 bulb and still mount the hideaway head.

This light head is actually two banks of high power LEDs. The warning lights are amber (also available in red and blue) and the second bank is white. Both banks of LEDs can be programmed to do various flash pattern either separately or alternating or together. I've got mine set up to wig-wag amber when I flip on my emergency lights. The white side is connected to the truck's regular back-up wiring and the whole thing is programmed so that the white steady burn over rides the amber flash. If I have the emergency lights going and put the truck in reverse, the amber wig-wags shut off and the white steady burn comes on. As soon as I take it out of reverse, the white shuts off and the amber resumes.

These lights draw just about the same amount of current on the white side as the 18 watt 921's do. But, unlike the 921 incandescents which get hot pretty quick, these LED's stay cool in the half mode. If you light all 12 LEDs at once they warm up fast.

For those that are interested and don't need the emergency lighting but just want the enhanced white reverse lighting, there are a number of different products on the market that would be less expensive than the $139 that I paid for these.

 

Sound like the Feniex Cannon LAW's. Very cool product. The first affordable HAW with an available steady-burn feature.

 

You are correct. Some of the other single color LAWs have steady burn I believe, but these Cannons seem to be the first to really make the split or dual color thing work so well. And a huge bonus for those of us with teeny-tiny back up light housings like all the SD's and F150's these days.

I will have more info and pics on the installation when I get the wiring routed for the emergency wig-wags.