Has anyone been successful in changing out the 921 bulbs for the backup lights. Please only reply if you have been successful , its dizzying to read this is better on leds, when there is no reliable lumen gage available that isn't reliable. Anybody have real world expierence?

 

The issue with the back up lights is that they aim too high.. They don´t aim to the ground where the back up camera can pick up that light since the Back up lights were designed to be used by tuning your head back.
I have replaced mine with Philips LEDs and back up illumination greatly improved

 

I use the phillips 921 ones listed above in my TL and they are way brighter than stock. Not sure if it will be the same for the MDX. I got them at pep boys for like $20.

 

We all tried and failed to improve the poor back-up lights by replacing the OEM bulb with a lot of different LED aftermarket. Best bet is to add auxiliary lights spliced into the existing back-up lights for any marked improvements in light output and camera image at night. This is out of stock; but, it would be something I would check out once it is available late this fall..

LPF 3500LM LED BACK-UP REVERSE LIGHT SYSTEM: LPF 3500LM LED BACK-UP REVERSE LIGHT SYSTEM - LPF Reverse Light - Shop Products





I have a hitch with harness and went with an El-cheapo 7-pin $12 Blazer C8020 Back-Up/Utility Light from Amazon that inserts into the harness that works 10X than the +$50 I spent on LEDs. Not as elegant as other auxiliary light you could add; but, it does the job.

 

Those Philips bulbs are ok, but not much brighter than stock bulbs, but a whiter color. I just installed these JDM Astar bulbs and they are definitely much brighter. They claim 1000 lumens and have 18 LED chips that actually takes advantage of the reverse light reflectors versus only 1 LED on the Philips bulb that shines straight out back.


Here's a comparison on my MDX. Stock bulbs on the left, JDM Astar 921 GX on the right.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIt2sgeXIBo


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F2MUPZ0/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A126Q4T86 JLNL

 

The whole idea of the Philips Bulb design is to make use of the Reflector Housing that is why the LED is not aiming to the back like cheap LEDs so I dunno what Philips Bulb you used.
Also my Philips LED Bulbs were at least 3x brighter than Stock Bulbs, Made the Reverse light useable now for the Back Up Camera..

 

It was a great upgrade and made a remarkable difference against the weak stock halogen bulbs..
The biggest difference was at the 10ft mark which is what matters for the Backup Camera... There is also more light past 20ft but its useless since the backup camera loses a lot of fidelity past the 10ft, at least where you absolutely need the back up lights its a big difference with the Philips LED Bulbs.

The only pic I have of them is this and it overpowered my iPhone camera so I don´t get how "riontegra" found them not much brighter than stock, Perhaps he got knock offs of Amazon? totally possible. [/URL]

 

I just ordered a pair of the Phillips for the backup lights. I also changed out all the interior light bulbs to LEDs-boy it is BRIGHT when you open the door.

 

I got the Philips 198 LEDs for the License Plate and MAN those things look legit... If you didn't know you would swear my MDX came with those stock..
I am planning on using the Philips 198 LEDs for the Interior, Right now I have those cheap LEDs from EBAY and while they look good they are nowhere near as white as the Philips LEDs..

 

Has anyone had any error issues with replacing the interior with LED's?

 

Not a single issue with mine... I have everything LED now, Even the Festoon lights for the floor in the front and the ones in the doors and tailgate.
The only halogen remaining in the car is in the Parking Lights and Front Turn Lights.

 

Skirmich, how hard was it to change out the License Plate bulbs for the LED's? I've read a few threads, and just about all of them talk about how hard it is to get to those bulbs. I've had a set of LED's sitting here since last winter, but just haven't tried changing them out yet.

 

Never done it beforehand and installed them on the Autozone parking using a Philips and a Flat screwdriver just when I bought the LEDs.
It isn´t that hard you just have to be careful so you don´t break the black plastic trim as you have to pry it off..

 

If you unscrew the little bolt holding the backup camera on, to get trim piece off, will anything bad happen?

 

IIRC If you remove the Philips screw of the camera you just remove the plastic case around it, it doesn't remove the camera.

 

OK, thanks. I got the Phillips LED back up lights installed last evening-they are very bright-made a big difference in the backup camera lighting.
They don't go very far down into the bulb socket though, doesn't seem like they "lock in" real well. Had any problems with them vibrating out or loose?

 

I remember other Aziner said the same thing but in my case the fitting was absolutely snug...
Are you sure the bulb is fitted all the way in? look at my picture in the #2nd comment.
There is no way in hell my bulbs can come loose of the socket as I had a hard time getting them to snap into the socket.

 

Yeah, you were right, I just didn't get aggressive at sticking them in of first attempt. They do lock in well with some force.

 

Glad it worked out.. I think the tolerance was just too little and it required some muscle to overcome the lock, Once locked they aren't going anywhere inside the housing.
Did you like them?

 

I just installed JDM AStar LED reverse and Phillips LED license plate bulbs. Much improved, but like others have said, the direction the reverse lights shine really don't provide much light. LED bulbs and a clean camera lens are the best you'll get without a supplemental light.

Additionally, I installed XenonDepot's HID kit along with their LED DRL w/ canbus error fix. Super easy install and so far, no dash error. We'll see how they hold up.

LED DRL *be sure to select the 'with DRL' option
9005 30W XenonDepot LED Fog Light Bulbs

H11 HID kit - 4300k
H11 Xenon Conversion | XenonDepot Volt H11 HID Kit

 

A little thredjack here, but anyone experience any flickering when replacing the license plate lights? One of my kids noticed it when I dropped them off at night. I don't know if it happens all the time or only at idle or when in park. Unless someone stands or drives behind me I can't see it.

 

Are you using quality LEDs? my Philips bulbs are solid both front (Above HID Light mini light SEE PIC) and License Plates no flickering.
Cheapo EBAY ones tend to be hit and miss, that is why I buy them in the 20 piece packs (Like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/20x-T10-5050-W5W-5-SMD-194-168-LED-White-Car-Side-Wedge-Tail-Light-Lamp-/251687548386?hash=item3a99bf35e2:g:TlcAAOxy6-tR8kId&vxp=mtr) I still have +10 in the PC Desk brand new. You can also find them in every Autozone in the Pilot Brand but they are the same shitty quality and even overpriced:




Here you can notice the Philips LED 194 Bulb above the HID Light.. I guess its a parking light? It matches my Morimoto 5500K perfectly at night.

 

Sk,

I have the Philips in the front marker and side lights and the same in the door bottoms and license plate. Only one flashes and from what the kids told me, it doesn't seem to flash when the engine is above idle.

 

Then use the ridiculous and generous 12yr warranty Philips gives on them and tell us your experience? I am very skeptical on Warrantees like that so it will be good to know if Philips stand up by their products.

 

Hi Skirmich,

Are these the LED's you used for the reverse lights?
https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Brigh.../dp/B00P2D41OQ

Do you happen to have a picture of the nav screen with the back up camera on in the dark? I'm curious to see how much of a difference these lights make with the back up camera.

Thank you,
Keith

 

Yes they are but I dont trust buying them from amazon, lots of knock offs.. They are available at your local Autozone, thats where I bought them.
I dont have a before and after using the back up camera and I already dispossed of the old bulbs perhaps AlanW could help you out.

 

Just a current after shot of how much you can see on the screen is the dark is what I am looking for.

 

My garage is a terrible place to do a test since the car is parked in reverse so the back is facing a wall. If I get the chance this week I will try to get a shot in real life conditions like a parking lot.

 

That would be awesome. No rush either, whenever you are able to is great. Thank you.

 

Well I went ahead and took some pictures for ya.. Sadly my phone camera isn´t really that good for low light and since the MDX camera doesn´t have that much sensitivity it was hard to take a good picture.
Only thing I can say is that I can see the difference in person.. It is at least 2x brighter than stock halogens and the camera is more useful. I took 2 sets of pictures one with surrounding light trying to represent lights in a parking lot and another set with absolutely no surrounding light, This is the hardest since the OEM Backup camera has too little ISO to help bring up light at dark, it was basically semi helpful but at least you could see something not like with halogen lights that it was just a dark screen but the bumper was the only thing on screen.

First set with Surrounding Lights (Ala Parking Lot):


I marked in paint the light cut-off again my phone is not very good on this but on person you could see the cut off very clearly:


Rear pic:


This set now represents full darkness (Zero Surrounding Light) picture is very blurry but you can see the light on the road and the dark security house on the back:


Again take these pics with a grain of salt my phone sucks at low light:





Hope it helps you out.. At least for me they were worth the money.

 

After installing the Phillips LED backup lights and following this thread I've come to about the same conclusion as most everybody else did:
*You can install LED backup lights and they will be brighter than the stock incandescent bulbs, you can clearly see the difference from outside the vehicle looking at them in a side by side comparison.
*The Phillips LED bulbs are certainly fine, well made choices, other LEDs will work fine in most cases, you can argue various LED bulb quality until you're 7000K in the face if you like.
*As far as actual results in the brightness of the backup camera screen, it will probably not be as great as you hoped, but a definite improvement well worth doing.

I've found lightly touching the brake pedal while backing up (just enough to engage the brake lights) will throw a lot of additional light out behind you that seems to light up beyond the backup light range.

 

Thank you Skirmich for taking the time to take some pictures and posting them.

 

Your welcome! Also You can probably find more powerful lights than the Philips so by no means they are the very top of the line for an LED Reverse Lights...
For 29 bucks its a cheap and quality upgrade to the useless halogen lights.

 

subscribing to this thread. will pick up some Philips at a local Auto store. thanks for the tips

 

y'all should look into this if you really need super bright back up lights LPF 3500LM LED BACK-UP REVERSE LIGHT SYSTEM

 

In my experience, the OEM halogen and Philips both deliver the same result. Sure the Philips are brighter, but neither make a difference as far as using the back up cam is concerned. They are white, and if that's what you're going for the Philips LEDs hit the mark, but don't expect the back up cam to be any better at night as a result of just a bulb change. The problem is the back up light lens, not the bulbs.

 

Link does not even work anymore says 0 bucks for kit and "Coming late fall 2016".

 

Patience grasshopper! I had the version 1 of these and they were almost too bright to be honest. It was more of a "here's a potential alternative to just bulbs for discussion" post

 

I can't picture how that would work on our cars. Wouldn't the LEDs blind the back up cam since it sits right over the license plate where that light bar mounts?

 

I ran into that issue with my car too. May have to mount on the bottom two bolts to alleviate that.