Reverse lights

This topic probably spits in the face of DOT, but anyways...

One of the joys of having tinted windows is that reversing at night becomes a little challenging. The reverse light bulbs are inadequate. What I've been thinking of doing is getting some high wattage bulbs. The regular bulbs are 1156, 21W. There are special 37W bulbs which I can get.

Will the electrical system hold? I know there will be a lot more heat, but once again - these are only for the reverse lights, which are never ON for more than a minute at a time.

And if these are not a good idea, would LED's be better?

Are reverse lights actually supposed to be a read-facing "headlight" and not just as a signal to others? I don't think I've ever used them as such...everything behind just looks red from the taillights.

Then you may have a problem too. My old car had really bright backup lights which made it really easy to backup at night. However, the lens design was different and the windows weren't so tinted.

The Audi had pretty bright reverse lights even with a 25% tint on the back they helped quite a bit. They don't really work as a rear headlight but do help. As far as electrical system I would check on Volvo forums to see what kind of wiring is in there, if it has some extra capacity it should be fine but if its made JUST it might melt/short even while being on for a little while.

_HighVoltage_ said:

Then you may have a problem too.

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In every car I've ever driven? It never occurred to me that there was a need for more lighting in my 16 years of driving. If I can't see, it's not because of lighting, it's just because of blind spots...but I've also never had tinted windows beyond the minimal factory tint in my late '96 Explorer so I never thought it was important. Interesting.

I have used fog lights as backup lights. When towing a trailer, they can be a lifesaver.