LED 3rd Brake Light - $10, 30min Dremeling, bit of JBwel

[Taras]

I always wanted to change my third brake light to an LED. A few older cars used them and a lot of new ones do so more and more. Today instead of the little 5mm LED's most use anything from Lumileds to Nichia ones to cheapos.

I like the fast response of LED and given enough brightness and proper current management, it could be a safety feature so a driver behind you will react faster. So, had a dry and free day today and decided to go junkyarding. I thought I will find something from a newer Honda or a MonteCarlo or VW to retro into my stock unit. I think our lights are overkill at 3 bulbs at 21w each and draw a lot of power too.

So I could not find anything decent, but thought I will take a shot at $10 Ford Explorer funny angled unit from a liftgate. Surpringly the LED's were made by "hp" which owns Luxeon with Philips. Ha, they looked exactly like Lumiled Supeflux designed for automotive use. Alone the colour was Amber-Red, so they should be around 7-10lm each. Smart Ford... see the pics for yourself.

-ripped apart-

http://onfinite.com/libraries/208899/2ea.jpg

-power from a 9v D-cell-

http://onfinite.com/libraries/208900/8ee.jpg

-in action with flash-

http://onfinite.com/libraries/208901/837.jpg

-in action w/o flash at night-

http://onfinite.com/libraries/208902/a5c.jpg

<small>[ December 03, 2004, 01:48 AM: Message edited by: JDM ]</small>

[bubbaflaat]

ahhh... very trick. Alright I have a question though JDM. Are you the type of person that is drivin to build things custom because of lack of funding (like me), or just because you can? Because damn you are a thinker. Every time I read your posts I remember how dumb I am!! LOL now to lower your self asteem back to normal... ummm you smell..

[Taras]

Thanks for your comments. But, you wanna LED light, gotta build ot semi-custom : I did steal a LED string from Ford though. And custom is not always cheap, in this case it was, surprisingly.
Cheers.

[jumboplay]

That's HOT!

All right, so next questions: what year Ford Explorer? Now I want LED brake light and won't stop until I get it!

Got any pics of your process work?

Thanks!

[mitmaks]

thats nice

[Taras]

I have no pic of the process, but the first one will tell you how much I Dremeled out. Basically it is pretty simple. You carefully take apart the Ford or whatever brake light to get to the internal guts (usually LED string with some kind of a reflector). Then you take apart stock 3rd brake light (two screws to get the red lans off and pull all the bulbs with wires, three little metal plates under each bulb could be left in). Then you Dremel ctock housing such that the LED reflector will fit. Glue it in and wire it up.

I do not know what year Explorer it was from. The newer one. It's not an ideal choice though, because it had LEDs sitting at a funny angle aad Ford had its light right at the top of the liftgate. I think better choices would be lights from newer Chev MonteCarlo, VW Beetle or Golf, may be others. Drive around, see wehich ones you notice are short in length and are at a straight angle.

Cheers.

[jschrauwen]

OK Taras....what's next....knitting new seat covers. LOL

[Taras]

[quote]Originally posted by jschrauwen:
OK Taras....what's next....knitting new seat covers. LOL

[n_o_s_21]

You could always fabricate hydrolic lambo doors that open automatically with your alarm remote....
something to think about eh?

[MX-3 Money]

meh the light looks the same at night as any mx-3's normal break light. A lot of work for nothing special.

[mx3frik]

Good job Taras. Good find and awesome worksmanship like always.

As for your comment mx-3 money:

Originally posted by MX-3 Money:
meh the light looks the same at night as any mx-3's normal break light. A lot of work for nothing special.

Looks like someone missed the LED101 session...

cheers,

EH

[Taras]

Originally posted by Eugene H.:
As for your comment mx-3 money:

Originally posted by MX-3 Money:
meh the light looks the same at night as any mx-3's normal break light. A lot of work for nothing special.

Looks like someone missed the LED101 session...

cheers,

EH

Ditto. Actually, it's brighter than the halogens even in daylight, besides the rest of the positives for LED.... blah, blah.

[fry_81]

well done, maybe i should try that too

[Grants]

Looks good - did this effect your bulb out warning light?

[Taras]

Grants - North American spec vehicles do not have a bulb-out warning system for the brake lights. Only the blinkers.