Rear cam vs. License Plate Lights

[Sarge104]

Suggestions I can offer is tilting your license plate to reduce reflection or apply a flat clear coat to reduce the reflection. Modifying the license plate lights with some JB weld to reduce upward glare is also an option.

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[BHunted]

Good suggestions. I will give them a try. In the mean time, I installed 2 cube lights like I posted the other day to help with the darkness factor.
What I did is have my wife take a small strip of black tape and create a lower eyelid on the camera... It cut away just enough to block the lights out. Have to see how much during the day. If I can still see bumpers edge and no other issues. We are good and I'll take a dab of black paint and create a semi-permanent eyelid. If not, I will keep trying the suggestions above. BTW, I tried using window tint to block part of the lights, but believe it or not, not one iota. They are still bright. I did look at the license plate bulbs and also considered smoking them out a tad or at least half of them.... then the only thing would be in the rain which is really hard to see in mirrors or camera...
Much appreciate the suggestions guys...

 

[BHunted]

I want to apologize to anyone here seeing this that is trying to help. The offender is now ignored so my blood pressure should remain calm. Thanks again. Lets move on.....

 

[Walkeraviator]

I saw either on here or the facebook group, a guy wired his license plate lights to turn off when he put the truck in reverse. He used a normally closed relay wired to the reverse lights.

 

[First Ford]

I also have this problem. When I switched the factory lights for $20 LED license plate lights, it got much better for me. Advanced Auto carried the right LED for those license plate lights.

This is not a complete solution but an improvement. Worth the $20

 

[BHunted]

I saw either on here or the facebook group, a guy wired his license plate lights to turn off when he put the truck in reverse. He used a normally closed relay wired to the reverse lights.

DMeyer mentioned it in an above post. Simple and good idea... thanks.

 

[RedlandRanger]

I also have this problem. When I switched the factory lights for $20 LED license plate lights, it got much better for me. Advanced Auto carried the right LED for those license plate lights.

This is not a complete solution but an improvement. Worth the $20

So LED license plate lights are don't affect the camera as much as the halogen ones? That really surprises me since they are brighter.

 

[BHunted]

I also have this problem. When I switched the factory lights for $20 LED license plate lights, it got much better for me. Advanced Auto carried the right LED for those license plate lights.

This is not a complete solution but an improvement. Worth the $20

Do you know the part number? We have an Advanced here in town. I'm surprised it improved. I thought LED would be brighter and worsen it. thanks...

 

[dmeyer302]

LEDs usually have a narrower beam angle...their light is very directional instead of in all directions like incandescent bulbs. This is likely where the improvement comes from.

 

[First Ford]

Do you know the part number? We have an Advanced here in town. I'm surprised it improved. I thought LED would be brighter and worsen it. thanks...

https://www.sylvania-automotive.com/apps/vlrg-us/Vlrg/

They have 3 offerings the ZEVO is the brightest. You might be interested in the first or second tier to have less light and less glare.

 

[beetlespin]

I can see my trailer hitch. That's all that matters.

 

[BHunted]

https://www.sylvania-automotive.com/apps/vlrg-us/Vlrg/

They have 3 offerings the ZEVO is the brightest. You might be interested in the first or second tier to have less light and less glare.

Thank you sir!

 

[BHunted]

https://www.sylvania-automotive.com/apps/vlrg-us/Vlrg/

They have 3 offerings the ZEVO is the brightest. You might be interested in the first or second tier to have less light and less glare.

OK, experiments not quite done yet. Here is what I tried so far.

- Made an eyelid for the camera out of left over window tint. Worked ok, but it's tedious to get it in the right spot with a helper and watching the cam. You can get it to block just enough to still see the bumper/hitch.
- Added similar tint to the lens. Full was too much. It left the light come through, imho which was good enough. But didn't want LEO to hassle me.
- Went to half lens and too much light still came through. Lets face it, those biotches are bright.
- Did above with black electrical tape. Eyelid vs tint wasn't bad. Prob can use lighter tint but I'm not buying a whole roll just for the little I need. Tape would not stay put long so you'd have to use maybe black duct tape. Only had gray.
- Finally, used the bulbs above but the medium grade. They are frosted. I took off all tapes and tints and just used bulbs.
Eureka! Seems to have solved the problem. Plenty of light for the plates and subdued a bit for the camera. Only thing I can't test yet at night is how much rain would reflect back. Suppose to rain next few days, so shall see. New bulbs used in conjunction with my rear cube lights seems to have resolved problem for now. Neighbor wants to do the same thing on his truck because of similar issues.

If all goes well, I'll just stick with the bulbs. If not, I will add back some tinting starting on the light lens. As far as leds being super bright? Perhaps. I don't know if the first tier would have worked. Think they were out and was planning on the middle grade. So not sure if the top grade is frosted but that seems to be what really fixed it. Frosted vs Clear? @First Ford, is your top tier frosted too?

 

[RedlandRanger]

OK, experiments not quite done yet. Here is what I tried so far.

- Made an eyelid for the camera out of left over window tint. Worked ok, but it's tedious to get it in the right spot with a helper and watching the cam. You can get it to block just enough to still see the bumper/hitch.
- Added similar tint to the lens. Full was too much. It left the light come through, imho which was good enough. But didn't want LEO to hassle me.
- Went to half lens and too much light still came through. Lets face it, those biotches are bright.
- Did above with black electrical tape. Eyelid vs tint wasn't bad. Prob can use lighter tint but I'm not buying a whole roll just for the little I need. Tape would not stay put long so you'd have to use maybe black duct tape. Only had gray.
- Finally, used the bulbs above but the medium grade. They are frosted. I took off all tapes and tints and just used bulbs.
Eureka! Seems to have solved the problem. Plenty of light for the plates and subdued a bit for the camera. Only thing I can't test yet at night is how much rain would reflect back. Suppose to rain next few days, so shall see. New bulbs used in conjunction with my rear cube lights seems to have resolved problem for now. Neighbor wants to do the same thing on his truck because of similar issues.

If all goes well, I'll just stick with the bulbs. If not, I will add back some tinting starting on the light lens. As far as leds being super bright? Perhaps. I don't know if the first tier would have worked. Think they were out and was planning on the middle grade. So not sure if the top grade is frosted but that seems to be what really fixed it. Frosted vs Clear? @First Ford, is your top tier frosted too?

I'd love to see a photo of the camera in the dark with the LEDs. It is interesting that the "brighter" LEDs seems to produce less glare on the camera.

I'm also curious if anyone has any good ideas for keeping the camera clear in the rain - is rain-x or something like that the best solution? Currently, on both of our vehicles, when it rains the camera is not terribly useful since the rain beads on the lens and distorts everything.

 

[BHunted]

I'd love to see a photo of the camera in the dark with the LEDs. It is interesting that the "brighter" LEDs seems to produce less glare on the camera.

I'm also curious if anyone has any good ideas for keeping the camera clear in the rain - is rain-x or something like that the best solution? Currently, on both of our vehicles, when it rains the camera is not terribly useful since the rain beads on the lens and distorts everything.

Hi Rob,
I'll try but never took a picture of the screen before I changed the bulbs so you'll have to judge for yourself. I'll try get a shot tonight. Hopefully won't be raining although I want it for testing. Hopefully the screenshot comes out good. Keep in mind, these bulbs, like I mentioned, are frosted where factory are clear... Must make the difference.
As for cam, Rainx is fine or some nano polish if you have some. Right now I'm using Rainx.... works ok....

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