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View Full Version : pretty LED 3rd brake light

Merlyn
10-25-2004, 06:59 PM
taken with a poopy camera phone thingy.
Merlyn
10-25-2004, 07:01 PM
and another pic from a little further back.....
Sc0oB
10-25-2004, 07:58 PM
looks good man is that an overlay or just some LED's u put in their?,myself i have the 3400 SFI overlay and i like it allot.
Subtle_Cynicism
10-25-2004, 09:35 PM
I have the Pontiac brake light decal from grafxwerks, and I love it.
Merlyn
10-26-2004, 07:18 AM
nope, those are 17 leds in there. no overlay for me.
tdub4life
10-26-2004, 09:35 AM
Looks good, nice work ;)
Bjornboy81
10-26-2004, 10:42 AM
Hey Merlyn, I just orderd the LEDs off of ebay yesterday to do the same thing. And thanks again for giving me the "how-to" at Adams house!
ragepsych0
10-26-2004, 11:31 AM
does anyone know if it is illegal to do a different color, like say, blue, in the third brake light?
Subtle_Cynicism
10-26-2004, 12:14 PM
I'm pretty sure any color aside from standard brake red would be illegal...

Just becuase you can't put it in white (reverse lights) or orange (usually turn signal color)
Merlyn
10-26-2004, 12:34 PM
Originally posted by Bjornboy81
Hey Merlyn, I just orderd the LEDs off of ebay yesterday to do the same thing. And thanks again for giving me the "how-to" at Adams house!

not a problem. if you need assistance, just give me a holler, and we can set something up.
Dave C
10-26-2004, 11:18 PM
Mind posting the how-to on here? I was thinking about doing it sometime... maybe christmas break because I'm hella busy with school until then. It would be much appreciated.
Merlyn
10-27-2004, 07:27 AM
I am sure that I could do that.... may take a little bit... been kinda busy of late.
Bjornboy81
10-28-2004, 06:00 AM
Mind posting the how-to on here? I was thinking about doing it sometime... maybe christmas break because I'm hella busy with school until then. It would be much appreciated.

As soon as I get the leds, and put them in I'll try to put up pics of the process. I am taking a little different approach then Merlyn though...I'm using 5volt leds instead of 12 volt ones. They're cheaper and easier to find, but with the right resistors they'll work the same way. Finally, all my electrical engineering schooling is gonna come in handy!!!!:lol:
Merlyn
10-28-2004, 05:40 PM
yes, electronics degrees are fantastic when one is working with led's..... I happen to have one also.....
highflyer
10-30-2004, 12:33 PM
hopefully I'll get some pix of how I did mine soon....here's what I did, if it makes any sense:

Used about 11" long, 1.5" wide circuit board (had to sand it down a little)...wired 17 leds to one side, all resistors on the other side...made the board so that it set inside the factory brake light reflector assembly...removed original bulbs, wired power to the original bulb contacts in bottom of reflector...to ensure that the board was held firmly in place, I made two 1" wide plastic tabs that fit in the tab holes that hold the red lens, and extend over the board. This way, when you snap the red lens back into place, it presses down on the two tabs, which places pressure on the board. Check car domain for final pix of installed light...

BTW, did this without an electrical engineering degree...lol..;)
Merlyn
10-30-2004, 06:36 PM
Looks good! I like it!
tenspeed
10-30-2004, 11:51 PM
I did the same kind of thing but without the resistors. Find the voltage of the LEDs and wire them in series. In my case I used 2-2.5 VDC LED's and wired six in series. I ended up with 48 LEDs stuffed in there.

LED third brake light thread (http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18907&highlight=brake+light)