Date:         Sat, 18 Dec 2010 16:35:03 -0500
Reply-To:     Edward Maglott <emaglott3@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Edward Maglott <emaglott3@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: tail lights
In-Reply-To:  <997200548.1944.1292674555758.JavaMail.root@sz0063a.westche
              ster.pa.mail.comcast.net>
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I've been following the tail-light upgrade thread since I am always
looking to prevent vehicles from ramming into the back of my van.  I
often carry a bike or two on the back, which partially obscures the
already dim lights.  I added some lights in at the top inside of the
rear window, one in each corner.  I got them from a surplus place
(mpja.com) but they don't seem to have them any more.  They are LED
and look clear, but glow red.  Pretty bright.  They were made to go
into a standard taillight socket and had 2 "filaments" for both tail,
brake and turn signal.  I mounted them in some PVC pipe I epoxied to
the inside of the window glass, about an inch or 2 long, painted
black.  I added some resistors on one of the circuits, I think so
there would be a bigger difference between the "taillight" mode and
the "Brake/Turn" mode.  I already had installed a device that
converts the 3 bulb European circuit to the 2 bulb American style so
that the lights on my little trailer work properly.  So I wired my
new high mounted lights into that.  They work pretty well at night
and Do make the rear of the van more visible, especially when I have
the bikes on the back.  They are not as visible as I would like them
during the day though.

I am interested in upgrading the stock rear sockets to LEDS.  I have
noticed on ebay a lot of LED bulbs for standard sockets available
direct form sellers in China and Hong Kong for much less than FLAPS
or other online prices.  I ordered some non-automotive LED bulb
arrays from one of those vendors and was impressed with the
quality.  They offer free surface shipping, so the price is right, it
just takes a couple weeks to arrive.

Edward


At 07:15 AM 12/18/2010, J Stewart wrote:
>I've installed the tail light/rear fog light kit in two Westy
>Vanagons from Mark 1 VWs in Walkersville MD. For 20 bucks you get
>two higher watt tail light bulbs and two bulbs with pig tails
>soldered to them to install in the fog light socket. The kit is
>nice, and easy to install, the only issue I've had is the the
>pigtails just need to be an 1/8" longer. Does add a significant
>amount of brightness to the tail lights. AFAIK, he only offers them
>through Ebay. Browsing through Terry Kay's site, he does have some
>nice stuff for Vanagons, but the one that cracked me up was the air
>conditioner attachment. I made one of these years ago for a Bay
>Westy, modified it a bit when I bought a Vanagon. Made mine for less
>than $100.00, including the cost of the air conditioner (In
>September, Target marks down 5000 BTU a/c units to as little as
>$25.00) It doesn't look as pretty as the one Terry sells, but it works! Jeff
>
>
>
>Jeff Stewart