INT: LED 3rd brake light

[Quashish]

first DIY. simple enough so here you go.

so get your goodies

just some perf board i used 22awg wiring and the cheapest soldering iron they had at radioshack. like $6 i think. got evrything there except the leds and resistors.

i shaped mine out to fit into the housing and use the reflector because i didnt want to see the bright circles of the individual leds through the lens.

but if you want to do it like that and use less leds then you can shape out your board to hold the leds facing towards the lens more like this


i used theese leds from superbrightleds.com

8mm led 360 degree beam continuous forward current of 60mA (milli amps)
and i paired them with 1 watt 5% 220 ohm resistors from circuitspecialists.com best assortment for resistors i found excellent selection

so i cut out the perf board to my shape. and stripped bare 2 lengths of the 22 awg wire.

find a good starting point and line up the leds. orientation of the bulb should be the same. as in postive ends all on the same side lined up in rows.

after the led is on the board, using some needle nose pliers i bent the base of the wires that were fed through the holes on the perf board on the bulb just a bit. that way it keeps the leds in place on the board.

do this for all of them. then your ready to solder. its easier to connect all the negative up first. i kind of wove my wire through all the negative leads row at a time. then solder up each connection. bend the 22 awg wire at the end of the row and line it up for the next row of negative leads and do the same thing. repeat until done. then clip all the excess negative leads from the leds.

now you might want to put electrical tape over the negative wiring and soldering. i didnt do this but i should have. just because you dont want positive touching negative and somce the fittment is going to be tight in the housing and you want as much room as you can get.

next clip off part of the positive leads on the bulbs. and also clip part of one side of the resistors you will need. solder up your resistors to the positive leads(both short ends).

get your second length of stripped 22 awg wire. and do the same thing you did before. but weve it through the resistor lead. once those are soldered up you can clip the excess resistor leads. it might help if you wrap the resistor lead around the 22 awg wire then soldering it.


once they all soldered up carefully push down the positve stuff. basicly laying it down.

and push the end of the 22 awg wire to be connected to the bulb socket through the perf board to anchor it in place before soldering to bulb socket.

the bulb side of mine

and the underside with all the wiring


get an 1156 bulb and wrap it in a paper towel or rag. and break the globe with a hammer. connect it to the 3rd brake light socket. be careful for sharp edges and have someone apply the brakes and you figure out which side is positive and which is negative by touching the wires of the new led brake light to the wires on the socket. remember which ones which on the socket. and take it back out. again being careful solder them up like so.


what i did at the end there was twist the bare wire i had that was hooked up to the lights with a new piece of unstripped wire and soldered a fat bead on there. did that for both positive and negative wires. and then cleaned it up with some electrical tape and tied it in place with bare wire.

put it in the housing and connect your socket into the socket thingy test again to make sure its all good and if it is your basicly done. just re assemble 3rd brake light housing and rear deck.

heres mine in my room


taken during the day. camera on my evo 4G had to black out the rest of the room to get focused shot of the leds

in a dark room

during the day 10 feet away

at night same distance


as a reward a random picture of kevin and her kittens


anyone want a DIY on rear deck removal? i know there isnt one. but it took me a while to figure it out.

[Quashish]

led resistor calculation chart

Input Voltage/////CFC(mA)/////Resistor1(KΩ)////Watt 1////Resistor2(KΩ)///Watt 2
12----------------60--------------0.200-------0.72--------200Ω--------- ¾ W <--Sample
12----------------29--------------0.414-------0.348-------430Ω--------- ½ W <--Sample
12----------------20--------------0.600-------0.24--------620Ω--------- ¼ W <--Sample
12----------------15--------------0.800-------0.18--------820Ω--------- ¼ W <--Sample
12----------------10--------------1.200-------0.12--------1.2KΩ-------- 1/8 W <--Sample
12---------------4080-------------0.003------48.96----------3Ω---------- 50W <--Sample


You input CFC value in boxes and the R1 & W1 will auto calculate—You will have to figure out the best R 2 & W2 value to use.
When choosing a resistor value, always go a little larger than you need, i.e., 600Ω, use 620.

NOTES: Ohms Law: Used to calculate the above.
CFC= Continuous Forward Current E=IxR E=Voltage
mA= milli Amps I=E/R I=Current(in Amps)
Ω= Ohms R=E/I R=Resistance(in Ohms)
K= Kilo(1000) P=ExI P=Power(in Watts)
Resistor 1 Calculated value .500 Watt ½ Watt
Watt 1 Calculated value .250 Watt ¼ Watt
Resistor 2 Typical value .125 Watt 1/8 Watt
Watt 2 Typical value

sorry for the clutter it would get scrunched up if i just used spaces hope the colors help

[Quashish]

just another tip

if you like the look of an LED bar and would like to use it as a second 3rd brake light or delete the OEM one and go SE rear deck, the LED bar from a 96 (i think) Nissan 200sx SE's spoiler has a perfect curve for the top inside of the CB7 rear window. the only thing you would see is the 3 small square bits of black abs that screwed into the spoiler. but i think if you cut a section of headliner from the back of a junked cb you could find a way to cover it up. or something.

anyway i didnt want 2 LED third brake lilghts but i did take the strip from the before mentioned spoiler. im thinking interior trunk light? or stick it under with the license plate lights and have it go on with brakes?

of course i would cut it for the second use.