Rear cam vs. License Plate Lights

[First Ford]

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?

Yes, top tier bulb is frosted. I'm glad you found something that works better than before.

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[BHunted]

Thanks for the tips....
As requested, a crappy shot of the rear cam with new bulbs. The picture looks like hell. In person, the cam is not quite as bad. Sorry I never got a shot before the switch over. Not perfect but was a lot worse.

 

[VAMike]

Do you have gunk on your lens? Mine doesn't look that bad and I haven't done anything to it.

 

[Deleted member 1634]

Thanks for the tips....
As requested, a crappy shot of the rear cam with new bulbs. The picture looks like hell. In person, the cam is not quite as bad. Sorry I never got a shot before the switch over. Not perfect but was a lot worse.

"Picture looks like hell"? That's probably the best night shot I've seen from the rear camera! Looks like you found a good solution! One I'll have to look into. But probably not worth it for me until winter is over since the camera is always covered in snow, salt, grime, etc. after every little jaunt anyways.

 

[BHunted]

Do you have gunk on your lens? Mine doesn't look that bad and I haven't done anything to it.

Nope, clean as a whistle. Day time its crystal clear. Night time, if in a fairly well lit area, also fine. Just when its pitch dark.... iphone picture is not depicting it correctly. Its not as bad as the photo. But you can see how bright the lights still are and they are much better than factory.

Wonder if this would work for the factory bulbs... give them a quick shot...
https://www.amazon.com/Krylon-I0081...ocphy=9013115&hvtargid=pla-365040463807&psc=1

 

[ShadowKeeper]

I’m fighting this problem now, as I need to park in places like a driveway just pulling off to the side, and in pitch black, as stated above. I’ll back up so I’m lined up and can just pull out onto say a small road. And the only good way I’ve used in my last vehicle to not back over the edge, into a nice deep ditch. Has been my nice high res back up camera in my previous vehicle. Going from that, to what appears to be a standard res camera is like night and day. Then add the washout and I’m scared to backup now. And I also figured out the license plate issue tonight, before finding this post. Hoping for a decent fix to this problem.

 

[ShadowKeeper]

I am thinking of trying the LED lights first, and I’m interested in this part but it says under the bulb “Wait! If you’re upgrading your exterior light from incandescent to new bright white SYLVANIA LED bulbs, you may need a load equalizer”. Did you use an equalizer? It was never stated in the post. TIA

 

[Sandman Ranger]

I am thinking of trying the LED lights first, and I’m interested in this part but it says under the bulb “Wait! If you’re upgrading your exterior light from incandescent to new bright white SYLVANIA LED bulbs, you may need a load equalizer”. Did you use an equalizer? It was never stated in the post. TIA

Forget those!

Link to Lasfit.
Also check out my build thread for others. Lasfit = no resistors.
Built in if needed.

But brighter lights help but also can cause glare. Key is to keep camera clean. Maybe also wax. In rain the Ranger camera is hard. Spray all over. For best camera buy a VW GTI. MK 7 or later.

https://www.lasfit.com/pages/produc...2019~zq_standard-trims~dz_license-plate-light

 

[MyLittleRanger19]

so instead of trying to change the camera and lens i think a better solution would be some sort of cover or hood for the lights so that their beams didnt shine into the camera.

something like this that would allow light to still shine on the plates but not shine up towards the camera.

 

[Sandman Ranger]

so instead of trying to change the camera and lens i think a better solution would be some sort of cover or hood for the lights so that their beams didnt shine into the camera.

something like this that would allow light to still shine on the plates but not shine up towards the camera.

Agree!

Someone 3D print and take my money. Black please.

 

[MyLittleRanger19]

Agree!

Someone 3D print and take my money. Black please.

actually... the company i work for now does stuff like this all the time. lemme see if i can talk my bosses into coming up with something and see what it would cost.

agree on black though. need to be stealthy

 

[ShadowKeeper]

Forget those!

Link to Lasfit.
Also check out my build thread for others. Lasfit = no resistors.
Built in if needed.

But brighter lights help but also can cause glare. Key is to keep camera clean. Maybe also wax. In rain the Ranger camera is hard. Spray all over. For best camera buy a VW GTI. MK 7 or later.

https://www.lasfit.com/pages/produc...2019~zq_standard-trims~dz_license-plate-light

The reason I’m looking at the Sylvania bulb to tryout, is it has a dome light diffuser and no LED chips on the sides of the chipset, plus it’s available locally, I did buy the Sylvania’s, and it helped enough to where I’m able to see better at night. It’s just bright in the bottom corners, instead of washing out almost the entire screen.
I blame Ford being cheap for this, with 2 issues. Inferior camera compared to my previous vehicle, and poorly designed reflector/ lens placement. This isn’t the first issue we’ve had to deal with where ford left something out and other issues, all stemming back to cost cutting. The XLT guys got hurt the worst. If I had known the difference I would of at least tried to find a Lariat, instead of the XLT. The virus was setting in and the supply was limited and dwindling when I bought my truck March 3rd 2020.

 

[Sandman Ranger]

This will not help the Ranger issue now but if car companies would catch on the VW camera is a great tool. In 5 years I have never had to clean the lens or have water get on it. The badge flips up and camera extends from its hiding position.
Only one time on a very cold evening after a night rain did the camera not open fully. But could still see some. Germans live in cold weather so cars are designed for it.

 

[armoredpig]

I did two things: first, installed the weakest cheapest LEDs I could find. Helped a ton. Then I put two pieces of black tape, positioned so it just blocks the light shining above the plate, but the plate is still illuminated.

 

[micl9]

I did two things: first, installed the weakest cheapest LEDs I could find. Helped a ton. Then I put two pieces of black tape, positioned so it just blocks the light shining above the plate, but the plate is still illuminated.

I took the black tape in a different direction - applied to the bottom of the camera lense. I will post pics after dark today. I gauged off my trailer hitch, adjusted tape until I could just see it. But the side need it block more, need put a notch in the middle. Not sure why they aimed the camera to show the lic plate and the entire bumper step.

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