Reversing lights.

no, some have two, some have one, some have none, depends on model & manufacture, you might find theres even a connection for it but no bulb fitted.

Reg

Ian Stirling ( snipped-for-privacy@mauve.demon.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

No, but there is a regulation requiring a rear fog light on the driver's side.

Smallish hatch, is it? Go and have a look. Betcha that one lamp position is white on the passenger side and red on the driver's side...

No, you will probably find you only have one fog light, as a single fog light must be fitted on the right, the reverse light takes the corresponding position on the left, there are no regulations about reverse light position.

Mrcheerful

It does.

I suspect it will soon grow a 1W high output LED light on the edge of the foglight. (I happen to have some very, very bright LEDs around, equivalent to a 10W conventional bulb or so)

I ended up reversing with the aid of my keychain light

Are you sure that the reversing light has the right bulb in it? It should (probably) have a 21w bulb, someone may have put a 5w sidelight bulb in, it happens. My daughters car only has one reversing light, but the light is sufficient.

Steve

shazzbat ( snipped-for-privacy@spamlessness.fsnet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

I only have one car with reversing lights, out of six. They don't really illuminate anything, despite there being a pair.

I've always thought of them more as information for other road users than illumination.

They're not a legal requirement either as far as I'm aware, hence their failure not being marked down during an MOT.

Some cheapskate makers have one reversing light one side and one fog warning the other. The fog warning must be on the offside, so the reversing one has to go where it's worst for giving any working light.

They should on unlit roads, but not very well.

Is there a legal way of providing reasonable illumination to the rear?

ISTR regulations limit you to 2x21Watts.

Chris

Well, your brake lights *must* work. The police will pull you over for them not working, for example, and if you're a cockbag, they'll issue a fine.

On the other hand, as far as I'm aware, you can't get fined for having non-working reverse lights.

Yup. However 42 watts of efficient lights like LED or HID would be quite sufficient. ;-)

I *think* you can get away with having an auxiliary lamp run off it's own switch (which must have a tell light in the circuit).

At least, I seem to recall that was the case a few years ago, but who knows if it's changed now?

Just because it's not required for an mot, doesn't mean you can't get done for it.

Reverse lights come under the Construction and Use regs, which the police can quite easily enforce.

I assume the light in the offside cluster is 21W - however.

The geometry - the light cluster is on the corner, means that the light falls rapidly to zero as you approach the nearside rear wheel, because it's occluded. Even 45 degrees back from the offside cluster, it's not really what you'd call bright - as a good half of the light goes sideways, not back at all, and the bit that goes towards the drivers side is really quite dim.

(the 1W LED torch pointed backwards was around 10-20 times as bright)

Care to point where regulations specify the requirement for a reversing light? I'm blowed if I can find it.

All I can find are references to a regulation making it an offence for a reversing light to remain on when the vehicle is travelling forwards, regulations specifying the maximum power of 21 Watts, and a regulation allowing a maximum of two lamps.

Nothing about reversing lamps being compulsory, or about those fitted having to work.

Chris

It doesn't. There is however a requirement for a fog lamp on the drivers side so in order to save a few pence per car by reducing the number of wires and bulb sockets, whilst keeping things nice and symmetrical, they design a light cluster with 3 bulb sockets giving:

N/S: Indicator, Tail/Brake, Reverse Lamp (no requirement to have one on passenger side) O/S: Indicator, Tail/Brake, Fog lamp (in same position as reverse lamp on passenger side)

my old t reg octavia has 2 reversing lamps.

tested the fogs only to find the left one worked.

took out the right cluster to find a bulb there. but the loom to the cluster socket had a blank where a contact would be.

So i got a lenth of wire and linked the left to the right and had 2 foglights woprking :-) (ratings checked)

..for cars built since a certain date, yes. One of my cars had no reversing lights nor fog lamps.