LED Third Brake light conversion...
- Thread starter Colt45ws
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So I am guessing this car did not have a third brake light and you installed one? Looks good, like it came that way. Sweet car, like people rarely pass you in a black CV.
I was fully expecting it to be a vid of someone who converted the third brake light to say some message like , F.O. to tailgaters or somethign, and have a separate switch to light it up.
I was fully expecting it to be a vid of someone who converted the third brake light to say some message like , F.O. to tailgaters or somethign, and have a separate switch to light it up.
Wow, I must be living in the dark ages. Don't know what CHSML is. I don't recall if any of my vehicles has a third light: '92 Aerostar, '95 F150 (think so as there is a lamb on top back of cab, but to light bed, maybe also a brake light), and 2000 motorhome, yeah, I think that does way up the back.
So the real demo was improved third light. Okay.
So the real demo was improved third light. Okay.
Center High Mount Stop Lamp, i.e. third brake light. 
Maybe you should check and make sure they work on your vehicles. The only one Im not sure about is the motorhome, I dont think they are required to have them.
Maybe you should check and make sure they work on your vehicles. The only one Im not sure about is the motorhome, I dont think they are required to have them.
Looks good.
When I had my bright red Ranger, I was nearly rear ended several times. I figured that people who were not paying attention didn't notice the brake lights against the bright red paint. I put an aftermarket LED CHMSL on it, and didn't have any more close calls after that. I was thinking about putting one on my black Ranger, but I don't really like the look of the aftermarket ones available for my truck. Other people have converted the stock lights to LED though, so I might give that a try.
When I had my bright red Ranger, I was nearly rear ended several times. I figured that people who were not paying attention didn't notice the brake lights against the bright red paint. I put an aftermarket LED CHMSL on it, and didn't have any more close calls after that. I was thinking about putting one on my black Ranger, but I don't really like the look of the aftermarket ones available for my truck. Other people have converted the stock lights to LED though, so I might give that a try.
What bulb/how did you accomplish that? The yahoos around me need all the help they can get.
Custom. Someone at Crownvic.net is making them with breadboard.
Kool!
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I did an LED third brake conversion on my 96 Crown Vic and got some video of it. The LED's lit something like 7 frames earlier on a 30fps video. That's a fair amount of added warning for vehicles following me if I have to do a panic stop.
7 frames comes out to about 233ms. A quarter second is worth 22feet at 60mph..
Okay, I retook the video at 60fps and counted 7 frames before they were pretty close to full brightness. They started lighting up at number 5, but thought them too dim too do anything on, for example, a bright sunny day. I had the car running to eliminate voltage being a variable on the incandescent bulbs.. Interestingly it actually caught the LEDs lighting up and there was a delay, it was 3 frames for them to get to full brightness, and the first frame was too dim also, so Im going to drop that one to give me 6 frames. 6 frames at 60fps is 100ms or 8.8 feet at 60mph. 10.2ft at 70. I dont have scientific level equipment, of course, but I think from what I can see here the quicker lighting of the lights maybe a bit overstated sometimes. Not to say it is not a plus. I think the main plus is increased brightness. They make so much light Im going to have to figure out a way to seal off the CHMSL housing from light leakage as it is very annoying at night. It was noticeable with the standard bulbs, but not worth tampering with..
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Nice job.....Anything that makes it quicker could make or brake the rear endings.
The LED delay is probably because of the heavy cold filament load of the incandescent bulbs that are on the same circuit. If you convert all the brake lights to LED, the centre stop lamp and all the others will probably light even sooner.
I really like this LED conversion idea.
I really like this LED conversion idea.
This is true. Unfortunatly, in 2003 Ford changed all of the vics to using 2 bulb taillights with combined stop/turn duty. Previously the civilian had 4 bulb taillights with 2 for stop 2 for turn. Police cars changed in late '99. So I would have to figure out a way to get around 'fast flash' and find a set that would be at least as bright in the housings which are designed for incandescent light bulbs..
Wire directly to the brake light switch?
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