Are these brighter bulbs the same ones that some people sell as "special,
brighter bulbs" online for Vanagon owners? I have seen people selling these
brighter bulbs at a much higher cost than the stock bulbs and figured that
they were just alternate bulbs for other applications that people were
re-selling for a profit. Not that there's anything wrong with making a
profit, but I figured it would be cheaper for me if I wanted a brighter bulb
to just find out what bulb that was and buy it at retail. Thanks for the
info.

I hope I don't start  a flame war with this one, but this also reminds me of
the guy on eBay who sells directions for hooking up a second battery for
something like $20, or the people who sell Dometic manuals, both of which
you can get online for free. I guess most people would say that if you are
willing to do the searching, then you can get a lot for free, but if not,
buy from the people who are selling it.

Ed in CT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike S" <mikes@FLATSURFACE.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2007 4:31 PM
Subject: Re: Back-up lights

> At 02:12 PM 9/20/2007, Ron Johnson wrote...
> >In addition to terrifically under-powered headlights on a Vanagon, the
> >back-up lights are also below expectation.
>
> Stock BU lights are a P21W bulbs (so are the rear turn and stop bulbs),
> which is usually crossed to an 1073 or 1156 in the US. One can instead
> use 1295 bulbs for an increase from 32 to 50 candlepower. You could
> also go to a 795, which is a 50W halogen bulb which produces 108
> candlepower. I would be careful with the latter, it gets quite a bit
> hotter than the other bulbs, and could melt the light housing. Should
> be fine for the limited duty cycle of these bulbs, though.
>
> Rear tails are P5W, which crosses to a 67 or 89. A 93 bulb will give
> you an increase from 4 to 15 candlepower.
>
> Oddly enough, my owner's manual says that the rear stop/tail light is a
> dual filament bulb, and spec's a 1034. In actuality, they are separate
> bulbs, as described here.
>
> The front marker/turn bulb is a P21/5W, crossed to a 1034 in the US.
> Brighter is a P3496 (27/8W), brightest a H1157 (50/15W).
>
> The 795, P3496 and H1157 will probably not be found at the local FLAPS.
> You can get them from http://store.candlepower.com/
>