V90 Reversing Lights....Aaagghh!!

[crashbarrier]

Does anyone know of a way to improve the reversing lights on a V90?

The light they emit is the equivalent of waving a photo of a candle out of the window. They are useless and seem to serve no purpose. I presume they are LED so bulb upgrades are not an option or possibly they are.
I did do a quick search of this section of the forum and couldn't find any other discussions on this subject.

Many thanks.

[Philip Fisher]

Originally Posted by crashbarrier

Does anyone know of a way to improve the reversing lights on a V90?

The light they emit is the equivalent of waving a photo of a candle out of the window. They are useless and seem to serve no purpose. I presume they are LED so bulb upgrades are not an option or possibly they are.
I did do a quick search of this section of the forum and couldn't find any other discussions on this subject.

Many thanks.

Long time ago there was a thread on this. Think the guy might have been out of the UK, maybe Norway. He installed strip LEDs under the bumper and hooked into the reversing lights.

[Snoodini]

The reverse lights on the V90 are not LED (well okay, the MY2021 onwards has LED), it was the 60 series which first got full LED rear lights.

I guess you could look at a bulb upgrade but probably risk breaking the law in doing so.

[Davebbass]

I tried sticking LEDs in mine and just got bulb failure on the dash board all the time But yes, they're useless!

[Philip Fisher]

Here's the thread.....

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showt...=278993&page=3

Unfortunately the pictures are no longer on there.

If there are issues with possibly getting bulb warnings then hook it through a relay.

[crashbarrier]

Adding some discrete LED strips sounds like a good idea but having been lectured about the effect on the car's electrical and CAN Bus systems if I was to have my dashcam hardwired to the centre console power socket I have my concerns about tapping into the reversing lights and powering some LED strips.

If anyone kept the photos from that original post I would greatly appreciate them or at least the details of the lights themselves?

I think that this is turning into a case of 'just tolerate it'.

[bornmiddleaged]

I have a 2018 V60 (not sure if this has ful LED rear lights) and I would agree the reversing lights are not great, although only really noticeable when I am reversing into our drive as there are no streetlights on our road.

I tend to have my foot on the brake pedal just enough so that the brake lights come on as these are much brigther than the reversing lights.

[Boatie]

Wait for Clan to come along to tell you that they are NOT reversing lights, they are intended to tell others that you are reversing !!. Seemingly the party line is that you don't need them.

Some might disagree but the mighty Volvo know better. DPF regen warning and lack of dipstick being two other issues.

[crashbarrier]

I was expecting someone to point out that they are an indicator of reversing and not there to light the way. The perfect solution is like nearly every other car manufactured since time began that you at least make them big enough to be an assistance with visibility.

I can add the lack of a water temp gauge to the list of missing fixtures and fittings. It's the first car I've owned or driven without one.

[Boatie]

Originally Posted by crashbarrier

I was expecting someone to point out that they are an indicator of reversing and not there to light the way. The perfect solution is like nearly every other car manufactured since time began that you at least make them big enough to be an assistance with visibility.

I can add the lack of a water temp gauge to the list of missing fixtures and fittings. It's the first car I've owned or driven without one.

To clarify, I was stating what others say not my opinion. So far as I'm concerned they are rubbish. Yes, I forgot the lack of a temp gauge, To rub salt into the wound when I ordered my previous V90 the base instrument panel was 8" as opposed to the optional 12.3" one. The 8" one included a temp gauge.