I had a thought about fitting a rear fog light into the standard back light fitting.
On eBay there are lots of sellers offering 68mm circular LED "reflector" fittings for Toyota Corolla and several other types of (mainly Japanese) cars. I worked out that these could probably be trimmed down to make an approximately 50mm square component which I might be able to fit in the place of the reflector of the standard light. OK, so I would be missing a reflector, which makes something else to think about, but I decided to go ahead anyway.

I chose one in which I could see that the LED cluster was likely to be outside of the range of the necessary trimming. Cutting a square out of the polycarbonate lense was quite tricky, even with the super-Dremel and after a couple of pieces split away from it I resorted to cannibalising a more resilient lense from another vehicle.

Trimming the backing to the LED cluster was more straightforward. Neatly cutting the reflector out of my spare rear lense was another challenge on which I failed:bang: Neatly glueing in the new lense and then the LEDs likewise. But I have proved that my device works as intended although I'm not sure it will fit onto the light-fitting without more surgery which I will be reluctant to carry out on my original lights.

After this prototype I will probably buy a couple of matching brand new rear light covers and start again from scratch...it's going to look a bit odd with non-matching ones. I even had a thought that the idea could be adapted and used to replace the tail/stoplight bulb because the LED unit has two brightnesses and two input connections (three including the ground), one of which is 30% of the brightest intensity shown in the image. For comparison, the standard tail-lamp is also showing in the image

By the way, this is not a modification because I haven't put it on the car (yet).

fiat500 said:

........................................................
By the way, this is not a modification because I haven't put it on the car (yet).

Click to expand...

So a sort of "ProtoPrototypi"

Bigvtwin996 said:

So a sort of "ProtoPrototypi"

Click to expand...

....it is a mock-up, as are all typi of prototypi...

This idea wasn't particularly good in practise but I didn't intend to waste all my wiring efforts; so I am testing another concept.

I made a lighting bracket which is fixed to the interior rear shelf using the same screws that hold the bracket for the seat-strap. Whilst everything was removed I repainted the components matt black as original.

I've wired the brighter set of LEDs to the fog-light switch. Obviously I could rewire it to become a high level stop-light. There is a second set of LEDs in the light which give a lower level of brightness that is actually brighter than the standard Fiat 500 tail-lights ; I've extended the wire from these so that I have the options to have a stop-light or additional tail-light in addition to the fog-light.

Whilst I was busy with electrics I've fitted removable, spade-type wiring plugs to my new circuits which have an "original" appearance.:idea:

fiat500 said:

This idea wasn't particularly good in practise but I didn't intend to waste all my wiring efforts; so I am testing another concept.

I made a lighting bracket which is fixed to the interior rear shelf using the same screws that hold the bracket for the seat-strap. Whilst everything was removed I repainted the components matt black as original.

I've wired the brighter set of LEDs to the fog-light switch. Obviously I could rewire it to become a high level stop-light. There is a second set of LEDs in the light which give a lower level of brightness that is actually brighter than the standard Fiat 500 tail-lights ; I've extended the wire from these so that I have the options to have a stop-light or additional tail-light in addition to the fog-light.

Whilst I was busy with electrics I've fitted removable, spade-type wiring plugs to my new circuits which have an "original" appearance.:idea:

Click to expand...

If you placed a pair on the roof, one either side above the door pillars, they would look like little Mouse ears... A true Topolino

fiat500 said:

This idea wasn't particularly good in practise but I didn't intend to waste all my wiring efforts; so I am testing another concept.

I made a lighting bracket which is fixed to the interior rear shelf using the same screws that hold the bracket for the seat-strap. Whilst everything was removed I repainted the components matt black as original.

I've wired the brighter set of LEDs to the fog-light switch. Obviously I could rewire it to become a high level stop-light. There is a second set of LEDs in the light which give a lower level of brightness that is actually brighter than the standard Fiat 500 tail-lights ; I've extended the wire from these so that I have the options to have a stop-light or additional tail-light in addition to the fog-light.

Whilst I was busy with electrics I've fitted removable, spade-type wiring plugs to my new circuits which have an "original" appearance.:idea:

Click to expand...

OOOO , I can just imagine the subtle red reflection that illuminates the cabin - mood lighting, who would have though
Ian.

Bleeding Knuckles said:

OOOO , I can just imagine the subtle red reflection that illuminates the cabin - mood lighting, who would have though
Ian.

Click to expand...

...whatever floats your boat Ian. But I admit, the lighting is always rosy whenever Murf and me are together. [emoji16]

Joking apart, there wasn't signifcant glare from the light. But when I decided to supplement the security of its fixing using double-sided tape to the window, it soon transpired that I didn't need a bracket at all. So here it is in its glory. It now works as either a foglight and a supplementary brake-light.

The reversing light is also now fully functional after an array of logistical difficulties.