# Reverse/back up light for Toyota Avensis



## JohnGalway (Dec 14, 2012)

Hi folks,

Hopefully I have the right forum this time, my posts are always moving lol. Got a 05 Toyota Avensis, the reverse light is just awful, dangerous in my opinion it's so bad. I replaced the standard bulb with an LED one but that's no better. Maybe it's the fact it's so small, and there's only one of them, I don't know.

I am looking for a solution to this problem. I have had to turn on my rear fog light to aid reversing. If it looks good, I don't mind if it's something I have to screw to the underside of the bumper.

Thanks,

John


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## Hamilton Felix (Dec 14, 2012)

You really want the Automotive Motorcycles Included part of the Transportation forum. 

I feel your pain. Our 2007 Corolla has the little 921 wedge based bulbs in its backup lights. Don't waste your money like I did on the overpriced Raybrig R118 bulbs. Face it, there's not a significantly brighter bulb available at the same wattage, and you don't want to put overwattage bulbs onto stock wiring. In fact, one needs to be extra careful about significantly changing load on lighting circuits on many modern cars. 

Putting those LED conversion lights on backup, tail, marker, etc. does not work well and is not legal. You don't ever want to change the type of light source in a lamp. So don't swap incandescent to LED or HID, or for that matter swap the other direction. My experience with both LED indicators and some illegal replacement auto bulbs I've seen is that they are bright from one direction but not another. I looked into this for my motorcycle before I knew better. 

On the other hand, there are plenty of legal LED backup lights that were designed from the start as LED lamps. Companies like Truck-lite, Peterson, Grote and others should have a good selection. 

I think you are on the right track when you speak of adding a lamp or two. I live up in the sticks and sometimes want lots of light in back, so I added some of those little Optronics "Platinum Burners" so-called driving lights that Walmart sells for $18.98 a pair. The very fine print on the back of the box says offroad only because they are not highway legal. They certainly are not driving or fog lights, but those little 50 watt MR16 halogen bulbs throw enough short range light that they work great for backups. I tucked four of these just below the bumper of a Crown Victoria, using my trailer hitch receiver for support. 

In my case, my "brute force" approach meant I wanted a separate fused circuit to a backup relay, then used a connection to the stock backup circuit only to control the relay. Fine for me, since I was setting the car up to pull a big trailer and I was building a four relay panel anyway. I installed a SPDT switch and indicator on my dash, so I can disable the extra lights or I can turn them on when I'm not in reverse. Having light in back for hooking up a trailer or just walking to my mailbox is handy. 

In your case, if you don't need "rear headlights" like I installed, simply buying a pair of LED backup lamps and adding them to your stock circuit might work very well. The LED lamps draw less than an amp, so your backup circuit should handle them OK. I have a small receiver hitch on our Corolla, so I think I can use that to support a pair of small auxiliary backup lights on that car. You may need to be a bit creative on mounting, but I think this is a good solution. 

To start yourself out, just Google "LED backup lamps" and see what Truck-lite and others have to offer. BTW, I've found AW direct is a good company to order from, though not always the cheapest. 

Good Luck.


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