Hi folks, I know a few people make their own rear light clusters and I was thinking about doing this (probably won't, but hey ho). What are the rules with regard to SVA and DIY lights? Do they just have to pass regs with regard to how bright they are, position and viewing angle etc?

Cheers!

They need to E marked to show they are European legal...

I know a company who makes them for OEM's but they do have a lot of scrap which suggest they are difficult to manufacture.

We've made our own light clusters for LED's as they were far too expencive to buy at the time!.

There brilliant at night but not quite bright enough during the day.. which were fixing with some new Luxeon Star LED's.

For the SVA and subsequent MOT's we've just fitted some Trailer lights (with the Triangle reflectors removed).. just a 5 min job, 2 screws and a few crimps.

So thats always another option for ya.

Ah, i see. I presume that taking the trailer lights off afterwards would lose the vehicle's approval?

Is there any way you can get through SVA with your own lights, ie getting them approved as compliant with EU regulations? I was thinking the same as you, making my own LED based lights I can be really creative (if I'm not just desperate to get the thing on the road and use trailer lights after all).

Rear lights do not have to be E marked but it helps. They just have to have a 'suitable' brightness & beam pattern.

I converted my lights to Luxeon Star leds (the only ones worth trying imo) and they passed SVA without incident - the tester loved them in fact, saying they were much faster than filament bulbs.

Raz,

where did you get the Luxeon bulbs from?

We got ours Luxeon's off ebay....
We though normal Superbright/Hyperbright LED's are Adequate for the brakes and rear lights (as there used in lots of aftermarked high level brake lights). Look for the highest brightness with the widest viewing angle.

But we had to resort to luxeons for the indicators as Standard LED's aren't available with enough brightness and viewing angle and were very hard to see in direct sunlight.

[Edited on 14/1/07 by MkIndy7]

On eBay - there is just one supplier as far as I know - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/warden-jp2002

Good prices and fast delivery too. I have tried most of his led bulb replacements and have quite a few of the older types left over if anyone wants them for a few beer tokens. Every bulb on my car except headlights are Luxeon leds now and although they are not suited to all light units they are by far the brightest & widest angle leds I have come across.
They are available in stop/tail, indicator & wedge side lights forms.
Rescued attachment 1157_3wled10.jpg

Excellent, that's what i was hoping to hear!

I was thinking of bending a polycarbonate cover for each rear light cluster to match the profile of the rear panel and say 5cm of the curve (so they're visible from the side), cutting a hole in the panel to shape and "joggling" the hole to mount the cover. The LEDs will be mounted beneath this so the finished rear clusters are flush and follow the countours of the rear panel. Can't decide if they'll look nice or like something of a chav'ed nova. Opinions?

Of course chances are i can't be bothered by the time I've got everything else done, but if we can't think of anything to talk about on here we'd have to spend time with our wives!

Can't find it in the history..

We bought individual LED's to solder up into clusters due to the design of our lights...
Had to buy them in like 50 or 100 a time for about £20 with all the resistors for 12v included. Probably for Hong Kong, China or Australia but there were here damned quick!