2 x 12V 70W LED Panels = 14,000 Lumens
Discussion
For a long while now I've been running LED tail light bulbs which are significantly brighter, but even with these the smoked lenses TVR used still hinder light output.
To help mark the car out in poor weather and dark nights I fitted a pair of these behind the number plate which worked really well.
Two of the above fit neatly in the void behind the back light number late, but I still felt I could do with more light as the TVR smoked taillight lenses really do hinder the ability for other road uses to see the car during the winter months.
So last week I went full out by fitting a pair of these 7,000 lumen 70W LED Panels...
The results take it to another level, my new super bright number plate light is so powerful it actually also helps visibility significantly when reversing the car in the dark.
Here's a longer range full daylight photo:
Now a little closer:
And now even closer at dusk:
And finally this is the full effect at night:
TBH the photos dont do the setup justice, this is a huge 14,000 Lumen step up in safety, and despite the photo you can still read the numbers with the effect is even more impressive in the real world, a great little mod for just £15
To help mark the car out in poor weather and dark nights I fitted a pair of these behind the number plate which worked really well.
Two of the above fit neatly in the void behind the back light number late, but I still felt I could do with more light as the TVR smoked taillight lenses really do hinder the ability for other road uses to see the car during the winter months.
So last week I went full out by fitting a pair of these 7,000 lumen 70W LED Panels...
The results take it to another level, my new super bright number plate light is so powerful it actually also helps visibility significantly when reversing the car in the dark.
Here's a longer range full daylight photo:
Now a little closer:
And now even closer at dusk:
And finally this is the full effect at night:
TBH the photos dont do the setup justice, this is a huge 14,000 Lumen step up in safety, and despite the photo you can still read the numbers with the effect is even more impressive in the real world, a great little mod for just £15
N7GTX said:
Will these lights dazzle the driver sat behind you at traffic lights like modern brake lights? From a legal point of view, white light to the rear must not exceed 24 watts. That's why brake light bulbs and indicators are all 21w. Just a thought. 
Absolutely not, the number plate is still back lit so the light source still has to pass through 4mm of translucent yellow perspex, you could put two of the most powerful headlights behind there and the light would still be massively diffused. Let me reassure everyone that no one is even remotely dazzled by my set up, it's just now the back of my car is much more visible to following road uses at night and in poor conditions because as we all know the smoked rear tail light lenses TVR chose to cover the upside down (already covered sealed unit) Fiesta lights makes for a very poor arrangement.Take a look at any modern car and you'll see not only are the tail lights massively brighter, the designers spread that light over a huge surface area which helps considerably to mark the car out to following road users, follow any modern car and you'll soon see what I mean. The issue for the Chimaera is it doesn't matter what you do with the tail lights you are never going to increase the surface area of red light, the solution of course is to take advantage of the back lit number plate on Chimaeras built before 1998 when TVR moved to an angled reflective plate lit in a more traditional way from two upper number plate lights shining down on it.
Penelope Stopit said:
This is a huge 14,000 Lumen step up in danger and my car is no longer road legal
Next time you're following a car with a reflective number plate you'll see it reflects a huge percentage of your own headlight power, trust me the result at close range is actually brighter on your eyes than my back lit number plate. However the further you are from a reflective number plate the less light it reflects, there comes a point where my back lit number plate marks the car out much better so ultimately it becomes more visible to other road uses from a much further distance, as I say the light must travel through 4mm of yellow translucent perspex so rest assured no one is getting dazzled here!steveo3002 said:
did you rewire it ? imagine 2x 70 watts is a big vs the small bulbs it originally came with
Of course as we all know these LED watt ratings are not true watt rating in the proper sense, they are used by manufactures of LED lights to represent the equivalent output of an incandescent light source, what they are saying is you would need a 70 watt incandescent bulb to generate the same light output as each of these LED panels, to be clear they draw nowhere near 70w each, I tested them and they actually draw no more than the standard incandescent festoon bulbs the car came with from the factory. LEDs draw every little current for their given light output, this is one of their key advantages, an LED panel that genuinely consumed 70w would probably light a football stadium!I would also take the 7,000 lumen rating of each panel with a pinch of salt, the Chinese are notorious for over stating the power of their LEDs and in any case the light output should be measured in lux not lumens if a true measurement of light seen my the human eye is to be given. That's not to say these panels are not bright, they are very powerful indeed, I also chose them because two fit in the void perfectly following a small amount of trimming.
Their spread of light behind the plate is also very clean & even, I've tried a number of solutions over the years and what you often get is a patchy light effect through the plate which is not to my liking, these new LED panels solve this issue in a stroke, all you end up with is a bright but perfectly safe to other road users effect that marks the car our even from great distance in a way no Chimaera before has ever enjoyed.
I recommend using the Warm White panels which are sealed in a layer of yellow silicone, this diffuses the light perfectly and gives a very even spread of light through the plate.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-70W-LED-Panel-COB-S...
This is a great improvement in safety for people who actually own a TVR and use it all year round as I do, others may choose to criticize from their arm chairs but I would like to reassure the doubting Thomas' that I would never ever fit something that dazzles other road uses, but thanks for your concern anyway guys
Moving on to what I'm trying to present here, which is an improvement in our cars being seen at night and in poor conditions, I hope others find this post helpful?. I just hope this post in some small way serves to help this great (and mostly positive minded) community of fellow TVR owners?
Edited by ChimpOnGas on Saturday 20th October 09:22
N7GTX said:
Will these lights dazzle the driver sat behind you at traffic lights like modern brake lights? From a legal point of view, white light to the rear must not exceed 24 watts. That's why brake light bulbs and indicators are all 21w. Just a thought.
That, plus when someone stuffs their polo/kadjar up yer jacksy because the glare coming off the back of your car took the emphasis off the brake lights!Teddy Lop said:
N7GTX said:
Will these lights dazzle the driver sat behind you at traffic lights like modern brake lights? From a legal point of view, white light to the rear must not exceed 24 watts. That's why brake light bulbs and indicators are all 21w. Just a thought.
That, plus when someone stuffs their polo/kadjar up yer jacksy because the glare coming off the back of your car took the emphasis off the brake lights!Please read my response above, especially the part where I talk about the brightness of a traditional reflector plate being far greater to following road users at close to medium range than what Im presenting here, this is a proven fact I demonstrated to myself by parking my wife's Mazda2 next to my TVR then putting my Audi company car lights on while sat 15 meters behind the two examples.
To be honest I hadn't anticipated such negativity especially when all I'm doing is presenting something that works brilliantly and definitely improves the safety of our great cars, of course this is only relevant to those who actually own a TVR which is worth consideration here.
I also didn't think I would need to explain that photos are very different to what you see in real life but I'll correct this for next time. In this case and for the avoidance of any doubt a smart phone image is not a real world representaion of what the human eye sees at night, this is especially relevent when the photograph is of a light source as it is in this case.
Never mind, over the years I've come to expect this kind of miserable minded naysayer response, revealingly it typically tends to come from those who either have never owned a TVR or have for whatever reason been forced to sell theirs but still come on the forum to share their happy comments of positivity and joy.
All I'm left with is the hope the intention of my post is understood by others in our great community and helps someone make their TVR a little safer during the dark inclement winter months fast approaching us all?
And finally please don't worry yourselves on my behalf, if you upgrade your number plate light as presented here you won't dazzle anyone, to be clear I would never present something on these pages before testing it and I can 100% reasure everyone this is not only safe to other road users its actully a great improvement in safety for all.
Thanks for your interest, Dave.
steveo3002 said:
very true about the 70watt output...id just woke up lol
be intresting to see what amps they pull
ive got some smaller ones like that no bigger than a stamp as boot lights , the output is incredible
Exactly, its not like these little things are 80w either.be intresting to see what amps they pull
ive got some smaller ones like that no bigger than a stamp as boot lights , the output is incredible
|https://thumbsnap.com/vL4Ic5p2[/url]The thing people forget is how light works and what we are actually trying to achieve here.
To mark the car out at night to other road users a larger surface area of light is what you need, which is why for safety the larger surface area of the number plate is actually a better option to work with than the two tiny surface areas of light offered by the Fiesta tail lights themselves.
Judging by the amount of these lights being sold off that site, I think there's people out there snapping them up to do something and I'm sure that a good many of them are from here.
I for one really appreciate your efforts COG and have a couple of your suggestions in the past, Inc LED's.....I may even take you up of this one, despite my lack of night time driving!
I for one really appreciate your efforts COG and have a couple of your suggestions in the past, Inc LED's.....I may even take you up of this one, despite my lack of night time driving!
ChimpOnGas said:
Classic unesseary PH negativity
Never mind, over the years I've come to expect this kind of miserable minded naysayer response
All I'm left with is the hope the intention of my post is understood by others.
Thanks for your interest, Dave.
I always look forward to your posts COG and any other contributors that post modifications and improvements. Never mind, over the years I've come to expect this kind of miserable minded naysayer response
All I'm left with is the hope the intention of my post is understood by others.
Thanks for your interest, Dave.
Keep up the good work.
ChimpOnGas said:
N7GTX said:
Will these lights dazzle the driver sat behind you at traffic lights like modern brake lights? From a legal point of view, white light to the rear must not exceed 24 watts. That's why brake light bulbs and indicators are all 21w. Just a thought.
Absolutely not, the number plate is still back lit so the light source still has to pass through 4mm of translucent yellow perspex, you could put two of the most powerful headlights behind there and the light would still be massively diffused. Let me reassure everyone that no one is even remotely dazzled by my set up, it's just now the back of my car is much more visible to following road uses at night and in poor conditions because as we all know the smoked rear tail light lenses TVR chose to cover the upside down (already covered sealed unit) Fiesta lights makes for a very poor arrangement.Take a look at any modern car and you'll see not only are the tail lights massively brighter, the designers spread that light over a huge surface area which helps considerably to mark the car out to following road users, follow any modern car and you'll soon see what I mean. The issue for the Chimaera is it doesn't matter what you do with the tail lights you are never going to increase the surface area of red light, the solution of course is to take advantage of the back lit number plate on Chimaeras built before 1998 when TVR moved to an angled reflective plate lit in a more traditional way from two upper number plate lights shining down on it.
Penelope Stopit said:
This is a huge 14,000 Lumen step up in danger and my car is no longer road legal
Next time you're following a car with a reflective number plate you'll see it reflects a huge percentage of your own headlight power, trust me the result at close range is actually brighter on your eyes than my back lit number plate. However the further you are from a reflective number plate the less light it reflects, there comes a point where my back lit number plate marks the car out much better so ultimately it becomes more visible to other road uses from a much further distance, as I say the light must travel through 4mm of yellow translucent perspex so rest assured no one is getting dazzled here!steveo3002 said:
did you rewire it ? imagine 2x 70 watts is a big vs the small bulbs it originally came with
Of course as we all know these LED watt ratings are not true watt rating in the proper sense, they are used by manufactures of LED lights to represent the equivalent output of an incandescent light source, what they are saying is you would need a 70 watt incandescent bulb to generate the same light output as each of these LED panels, to be clear they draw nowhere near 70w each, I tested them and they actually draw no more than the standard incandescent festoon bulbs the car came with from the factory. LEDs draw every little current for their given light output, this is one of their key advantages, an LED panel that genuinely consumed 70w would probably light a football stadium!I would also take the 7,000 lumen rating of each panel with a pinch of salt, the Chinese are notorious for over stating the power of their LEDs and in any case the light output should be measured in lux not lumens if a true measurement of light seen my the human eye is to be given. That's not to say these panels are not bright, they are very powerful indeed, I also chose them because two fit in the void perfectly following a small amount of trimming.
Their spread of light behind the plate is also very clean & even, I've tried a number of solutions over the years and what you often get is a patchy light effect through the plate which is not to my liking, these new LED panels solve this issue in a stroke, all you end up with is a bright but perfectly safe to other road users effect that marks the car our even from great distance in a way no Chimaera before has ever enjoyed.
I recommend using the Warm White panels which are sealed in a layer of yellow silicone, this diffuses the light perfectly and gives a very even spread of light through the plate.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-70W-LED-Panel-COB-S...
This is a great improvement in safety for people who actually own a TVR and use it all year round as I do, others may choose to criticize from their arm chairs but I would like to reassure the doubting Thomas' that I would never ever fit something that dazzles other road uses, but thanks for your concern anyway guys
Moving on to what I'm trying to present here, which is an improvement in our cars being seen at night and in poor conditions, I hope others find this post helpful?. I just hope this post in some small way serves to help this great (and mostly positive minded) community of fellow TVR owners?
Edited by ChimpOnGas on Saturday 20th October 09:22
lancelin said:
Interesting stuff. For the front headlights, is there an easy fit replacement LED bulb that fits the existing TVR reflector and actually works in optical terms. Apparently LED bulbs don’t necessarily work with the old reflectors?
My LEDS worked ok'ish with my original reflectors, might or mighr not of passed an MOT for there pattern, but got a brand new set of reflectors to go on as part my mk3 conversion and as part of this conversion I'm adding PIAA's in the same way as COG......there he went AGAIN spending MY money for me! 
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