300TD back up lights

[billrei]

I finally broke down and dealt with the broken backup light on my wagon. Arriving at work in the snow last week and finding a huge ball of ice attached to the dangling wires from the broken housing finally told it was time! I long ago gave up trying to find a reasonable used set of Hella lights that were both in good condition and low cost. That set me in search of aftermarket lights that would fit. Due to the heavy ricer influence on aftermarket items these days trying to find something that looks traditional is a challenge.

I finally found a rectangular set of fog lights (Cyberlight NV-540) at my local Pepboys for 19 bucks! They are a simple rectangular shape about 5" wide X 2" high and fill the opening in the bumper perfectly. They are not as high as the Hella lights but the untrained eye would never notice. I tried to find a picture of them on the web but it looks like they may have been discontinued. I can post picture of them this weekend if anyone is interested.

The downside is that they come with 55W H3 bulbs. In order to save the tranmission switch from burning out I patched in a relay into the grey/green wire that runs from the switch to the backup lights inside the drivers well. The grey/green wire end from the switch activates the relay solenoid and I tapped into a 12 V source under the hood (glow plug relay power wire) and connected that through the relay to the grey/green end that runs to the lights. It seems to work fine but I have on order a set of 35W H3 bulbs to reduce the load on the original wiring. My driveway curves and descends steeply to my house so backing up at night can be a challenge at night. Now with these lights it makes that much easier.

[R Leo]

Bill,
Thanks for the write-up! My back-ups are also DOA and I'd like to get them going again.

I don't know much about those style of lamps but, would it be possible to find a lower wattage H3?

[billrei]

Originally Posted by R Leo

Bill,
Thanks for the write-up! My back-ups are also DOA and I'd like to get them going again.

I don't know much about those style of lamps but, would it be possible to find a lower wattage H3?

In doing a Google I found some mention of 25W H3 bulbs for motorcycles but I could not find a source for them. With 2 bulbs thats still a 4 amp load. I'm not sure that I would trust the small contact in the trans switch with that load.