third brake light LED conversion

[estomax]

Hey Guys,

this has come up quite a few times, but not in great detail that I can find. There are 10 bulbs in the back at ~1.4 watts each, how many of these can be dead before the check brake light comes on? I am thinking about getting about the minimum amount of red 5050 LED strips and modding the little enclosure to take those and have an led brake upgrade that doesn't trip the check bulb warning. I really don't want to add resistors because those generate extra heat that I am not interested in. Rather stuff extra light in there!

does an LED guy know of high density LED strips? best so far I found is 5630s at 9.5W/meter, so i'd have to stuff about a meter in there I imagine the low bulb warning is at ~10W (guess here..)
http://www.amazon.com/SMD5630-300led...SMNT6886Z2WGQ2

edit; these ones claim 17W/meter
http://www.amazon.com/60LEDS-Outdoor...D+LED+5630+red

LED strips are pretty cheap now so I figured this would be a good way to do this retrofit while costing in the 10$ range (less than bulbs)
Marko

[estomax]

just did some testing, the brake light warning doesn't come on until you're down to 2 bulbs, so about 3 watts. going to drive around on 4 bulbs for a day to make sure 6 watts is good.

the interior of the rear brake light is ~265mm long and 12mm wide, so this strip will fit in there perfectly, and I only need about a quarter of it ($1.50 worth lol). assuming 17W per meter is correct then quarter of that won't trigger the brake light warning. I will be the test dummy and let you guys know.

[Chris_s1]

Interesting, lets see what you find out. Post up some pics of the finished product! Good luck!

[V1nny]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Car-12V-Red-...-/271966043535

[estomax]

that's neat vinny I wonder if it retrofits into our housing.. if my strip idea fails I could try that. 5 bucks only! those don't look like very powerful LEDs though so they might trigger a warning light for low current draw.

[V1nny]

that's neat vinny I wonder if it retrofits into our housing.. if my strip idea fails I could try that. 5 bucks only! those don't look like very powerful LEDs though so they might trigger a warning light for low current draw.

if brightness and price your concerns, look at this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brightest-Sm...-/330757791803
some mods will be required, nobody makes anything direct fit
strip you trying to fit is not for automotive applications

[British-Audifan]

Estromax,

What type of bulbs are installed in the high level brake light? This is something that I want to change on my car, as my rear lights are LED and come on much quicker than the third light. I was going to just replace the 10 bulbs with LED one's
But i haven't even got around to seeing how to pull it apart yet To much going on at the moment....

[estomax]

they are 74 bulbs. if you simply install LEDs you will get an error on the dash, unless you also install load resistors, so i am trying to install some higher power LEDs and more of them in the form of a strip stuffed in there for more powerful light (i got tinted windows so thatll help too) and for the lights to come on faster too for safety. you will need 10 bulbs and their like 2.5-3.5$ each from what i saw for 3 LED bulbs, cheaper ones are less but will take even less power and put out less light.

if you dont care about having a load resistor get the light that vinny posted above.

[engineer73]

Check out solid apollo they have millions of combinations of led strips.

[estomax]

well this worked out a lot better and easier than I thought. I was able to stuff two layers of the strip into the housing and cut about a third of the strip off. ended up looking solid. I just pinched it together for now but ill take some pics of making it looks nice later. can recommend for anyone that wants to convert their third brake light to LED!

the light is totally even.






cheers
Marko

[JediJoker7169]

Think I'll be doing this soon.

[OGBULLYLOCDAWG]

Which LED strip(s) did you use for the final product?

[estomax]

well crap the brake light warning came on after a few miles this morning.. looks like it is teetering on the edge for power draw for the warning, i would reccommend stuffing the whole meter of strip into the housing and hacking up the chrome reflector to fit it, two layers fits no problem, that is my next step (gotta solder the cut off piece back on gah).

http://www.amazon.com/60LEDS-Outdoor...iglink20461-20

i went with those ^. i am a bit dubious of the 17W claim now, as i used 2/3 of it right nwo and previously with 4 regular bulbs i had in there for a few days i had no brake light warning.

PS: Does someone know where the input for disabling the third brake light bulb out warning is? or the bulb out warning for any brake lights for that matter?

[Chris_s1]

Think I'll be doing this soon.

x2.

[estomax]

okay an update did some more science. each small bulb takes 0.15 amps at 14.0 volts, at 14.0 volts 2/3 of the LED strip takes .57 amps. You need a minimum of about 0.3 amps to keep the brake warning light from coming alive (from previous testing, 2 bulbs, maybe 3 to be safe), so one strip length is ALMOST enough to keep everything happy. The problem i had was that i pinched half of the strip too hard i guess and it turned off.. i reseated it and it works so far. Basically my back facing strip was off and reflector facing strip was on when i had the error pop up. will keep an eye on it. some more pics :




here is where my break occurred.. bending the wire 180 in a sharp angle caused power to not pass to the rear facing strip.

Marko

[estomax]

i'm reviving this old thread, i am trying something new and maybe even brighter and easier to install.

this 20x1 cm strip should fit really nicely inside the third brake light housing (unless someone can find a 1cm x 25 cm strip!)
http://www.banggood.com/10W-COB-LED-...rmmds=category

i'll keep ya'll updated, the current strip sometimes throws a warning when i am cranking the car with my foot on the brake pedal (but then stops as soon as the engine starts)

Marko