Done a small mod to my MG7 tail lights to improve them

[Rick-sta]

Done a small modification to my MG7 tail lights today. A bit of a issue/complaint about the mg7 tail lights at times is the indicators sometimes cant be seen at night due to the being in the middle of the red rings. Not really been a issue on the sets ive had in general over the years but have had a couple instances where the car behind hasnt spotted my indicator at night.

So to solve this I've swapped the location of the indicators with the reverse lights. Now the indicators are crystal clear and cant be missed reverse lights are also very clear and visible.

A bit difficult to capture clearly on camera in the dark but the indicators are very clearly visible now.







Posted a video of them on my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MGRoverCust...vXep&__tn__=-R

[ZedTeeT]

Good idea, now you won't get clouted up the rear!

[T-Cut]

The underlying reason for this problem (IMO) is that the rear light is inherently too bright. It is as bright as a typical brake lamp, so no wonder following drivers don't see the indicators. It was obvious to me when I first fitted the MG7 lamps that I would be dazzling those behind me. I honestly believed they wouldn't pass a strict MOT examination. So, I did a lot of electrical experimentation using resistors connected at various locations on the ring to dim the LEDs, but nothing worked. In the end, I used several layers of a dark red filter medium to get the brightness down. My lamps are from the early Radioguy batches and I know I wasn't alone with this dilemma. Maybe later batches were better, or maybe not.


TC

[kelvo]

I think the combination of indicators within brake lights is an issue with a lot of modern cars, particularly where they are LEDs, where i have been following a car that does have these combined units, it can often be difficult to see the indicators - I'm thinking those like the Range Rover where the light clusters are just twp circular light clusters.

I think LED DRLs are dangerous as well, they are often so bright that they can dazzle and you can't make out the front indicators, sometimes even blocking out the shape of the car making it actually difficult to see what is approaching you.

[Lordy]

Wow They look the bees knees and love the work you've put into this you've inspired me big style.

[Rick-sta]

Originally Posted by T-Cut

The underlying reason for this problem (IMO) is that the rear light is inherently too bright. It is as bright as a typical brake lamp, so no wonder following drivers don't see the indicators. It was obvious to me when I first fitted the MG7 lamps that I would be dazzling those behind me. I honestly believed they wouldn't pass a strict MOT examination. So, I did a lot of electrical experimentation using resistors connected at various locations on the ring to dim the LEDs, but nothing worked. In the end, I used several layers of a dark red filter medium to get the brightness down. My lamps are from the early Radioguy batches and I know I wasn't alone with this dilemma. Maybe later batches were better, or maybe not.

I don't know if some batches were brighter than others, the 4 sets I've had were brighter than the factory tail lights but not that bright that they matched the brightness of the brake lights or dazzled cars behind me. I did buy my sets quite late so not sure if the earlier sets were brighter. There's also been a lot of owners who've had LEDs on the rings fail but never had this issue on any of my sets, probably because I paid the extra and bought spare rings lol.

If you wanted to dim the brightness of the rings it would be easier to fit a resistor to the positive wire running to the ring (i.e. cut the wire and fit a resistor) than trying to change the resistors on the ring.

Radioguy's ones were Chinese copies, apparently the proper SIAC ones are much better.

TC

Originally Posted by kelvo

I think the combination of indicators within brake lights is an issue with a lot of modern cars, particularly where they are LEDs, where i have been following a car that does have these combined units, it can often be difficult to see the indicators - I'm thinking those like the Range Rover where the light clusters are just twp circular light clusters.

I think LED DRLs are dangerous as well, they are often so bright that they can dazzle and you can't make out the front indicators, sometimes even blocking out the shape of the car making it actually difficult to see what is approaching you.

Have you seen the new range rovers where the tail light turns off whilst the sequential audi style indicator flashes? How stupid is that, no idea how they've been allowed to do that.

There has been studies to show that DRLs have helped reduce accidents particularly on B roads. Brightness is not an issue as they should be only on during the day and should either dim down or switch off when the sidelights or dipped beams are switched on. If an indicator is close to the DRL then the DRL should turn off whilst the indicator is flashing. The problem is where idiots drive around at night or dusk without switching their headlights on so just the DRLs are on at the front. They're always easy to spot as the DRLs are bright and you'll see their tail lights aren't on when they go past.

Originally Posted by Lordy

Wow They look the bees knees and love the work you've put into this you've inspired me big style.

Cheers bud