Third Brake light

[jeenysrider07]

So I wanna make my own third brake light but I am not sure what would be easier 1) soldering resistors to all or 2) one larger resistor for all, and how big of a resistor for about 60 red leds

Let me know I want to do this soon, And also and suggestions or how to's, and tips would be great. Thanks

[cherrington17]

well... each led will draw 0.020 amps of power, at full draw. and they will run on 2.6V (if red) which is 0.052W for each.

0.052Wx60= 3.12

so you'd need a 560ohm 3.5 (or 4) Watt resistor. plausible, yes. Chances of finding such a beast, highly unlikely.

You don't have to put the resistor on either power or ground side, specifically. just be consistant with what side its on, so you know for yourself, which is which. And they don't have to be connected RIGHT on the led, lead. they can be back further.

You also have the option of connecting about 5 of the red leds together, (+) on one to (-) on the other, in series, so you don't need a resistor at all. the downside there, is if ONE led in the string dies, the entire run of 5 will go out.

[jeenysrider07]

I saw something on line that said I could run 6 led to one resistor So then I would only need 10 resistors compared to 60 how good do you think that would work.

[jeenysrider07]

And i thought red leds were 1.7V but im not sure.

[cherrington17]

depends on where you get them from. i'd just follow the specs, from where you order them.

if the elements on the resistor are really thin, (like fishing line thin) they are 1/8W. if they are thicker, slightly stiff to bend, they are 1/4W.

and the same math applies. all leds are 0.020A. just multiply that by how many volts it takes, and you should get your Wattage. So you can technically run more then one per, but keep in mind it'll cause the resistor to heat up more....

[ares89]

bah, just get an impala break light and use that... simple enough, took 5 minutes to install

[Midgear]

bah, just get an impala break light and use that... simple enough, took 5 minutes to install


HAH! i knew it! (i think-)

I was driving behind an impala on the way to work today, and noticed its LED 3rd brake light.. and thought "that looks exactly the size of mine"

does it just plug right up?

[cavaliers60]

I just bought an LED strip from Oznium and made my own mounting bracket and installed it inside the original housing.... Took all of 15 minutes to do.

[jeenysrider07]

cherrington do you recommend the 1/4w ressistor cause i think i will just run one to every led

[ares89]

HAH! i knew it! (i think-)

I was driving behind an impala on the way to work today, and noticed its LED 3rd brake light.. and thought "that looks exactly the size of mine"

does it just plug right up?

no, you gotta take out basically everythign from our housing, leave just the red lens and the grey housing. you slightly bend the LED strip from the impala in, and wire red to red and black to black

[cherrington17]

cherrington do you recommend the 1/4w ressistor cause i think i will just run one to every led


thats what i've always used, and have had no trouble w/ them at all.

[lonnie]

I just bought an LED strip from Oznium and made my own mounting bracket and installed it inside the original housing.... Took all of 15 minutes to do.
Show off...lol:p

[Vtolds]

I just bought an LED strip from Oznium and made my own mounting bracket and installed it inside the original housing.... Took all of 15 minutes to do.

You beat me to it as I was reading this I thought a LED strip would be way easy to install, just hook it up and go.

[jeenysrider07]

Wht do you guys think a good pattern wopuld be for a third brake light.

[jeenysrider07]

i was going to have about 30 leds in the third brake light , but i decided to only do one row of leds, it was alot easier. I left the stock housing and just dremeled it a bit. I soldered the leds to the stock plugin so it looks clean instead of having wires all over.

[bizarre179]

FINALLY GOT YOUR LEDS!

The third looks pretty good.

[jeenysrider07]

Ya finally, at first I had three rows but when I put it in, it didnt look right so i just went with one row.I am happy with it and its not to bright. I was going to make a clear lens out of lexan but I like how it looks now. I also used blue LEDS in the car but i have not uploaded the pics yet. I will have to show you(bizarre) it sometime cause the pictures didnt come out to great.