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LED 3rd brake light

Durhamguy

Platinum Level Sponsor
Is this a no, no to try and add an after market LED 3rd brake light to a stock SIV? I have tried to hook it up as directed with no luck.

All my lights work just fine, brake, running lights, flashers but wanted something to add a bit more safety and thought it would be straight forward (hahaha). I know I can upgrade to LEDs which I am going to do next year.

I purchased a United Pacific pedestal LED light , model #33010. It is a split function for brakes and flashers. Instructions say White ground, Yellow left turn, Red right turn, Black brake. It is designed for 7.7 to 14 VDC.

Appreciate any input and I know it is either a no go or I am missing somethin like I can't mix LEDs with conventional bulbs. Electrics really is not my strong suit.
 

alpine_64

Donation Time
The LED dont draw enough power to trigger using the standard system... There are some threads on led indictaor and brake lights and what you need to do to activate them
 

husky drvr

Platinum Level Sponsor
add an after market LED 3rd brake light to a stock SIV?

durhamguy,

Has your series IV been changed to negative ground? Or is it still using a positive ground system.

If it's still Positive ground, then maybe Tom H ( one of our resident electrical gurus ) can best explain how to connect your circuit.
 

Tom H

Platinum Level Sponsor
Should work ok, unless your Series IV is still positive earth. LEDs are polarity dependent. If your Series IV is already converted to Neg earth then maybe you connected it wrong. If so tell us a bit more detail about how you connected it.

Michael, since this is an add-on light, the flashers should work, with the stock lamps drawing enough current for the flasher unit to work.

Tom
 

Silver Creek Sunbeam

Gold Level Sponsor
I did not add a third brake light but I did install an LED lighting kit for all of my external lights.
It came from one of the club members but I’m drawing a blank in his name. He sells through his company called Veloce Solutions.

Anyway, the kit came with a flasher to use in place of the stock flasher, I’m guessing due to the LEDs.

Tom H hit it on the head as far as polarity…I learned that lesson. Lol

Also, if you ever change your panel lights to LEDs…just leave your ignition warning light like it is…I learned that lesson the hard too. Lol

Necessity is the mother of invention and I guess failure is the father of learning…maybe the step-father…or weird uncle.
 

Durhamguy

Platinum Level Sponsor
The Alpine is still positive ground. I connected it via the the rear brake/light units. I used plastic clamp on connectors for left flasher and right flasher and brake (which I don't like at all). My next step is to test the LED unit to make sure that works which I didn't do before installing the re test with car connections.

Appreciate everyone's input.
 

Alpine 1789

SAOCA President
Diamond Level Sponsor
I did not add a third brake light but I did install an LED lighting kit for all of my external lights.
It came from one of the club members but I’m drawing a blank in his name. He sells through his company called Veloce Solutions.

Veloce Solutions is Joe Parlanti. Joe is a Tiger owner and I am not sure he is ever on this forum, but he is very active in TEAE. He is a very good source for LED lighting. http://velocesolutionsllc.com

I also wanted to increase my rear visibility but rather than a 3rd light went with Joe's flasher: http://velocesolutionsllc.com/Brake-Light-Flasher-Flasher-1.htm. I've had a couple of people stop me to tell me my brake lights are broken, so it seems to be getting the proper attention. It isn't legal in New York but I have never been stopped for it. I do disconnect it (takes less than a minute) when I have the car inspected. It seems like a good, simple alternative to the third light, one that may be even more noticeable.
 

Silver Creek Sunbeam

Gold Level Sponsor
Veloce Solutions is Joe Parlanti. Joe is a Tiger owner and I am not sure he is ever on this forum, but he is very active in TEAE. He is a very good source for LED lighting. http://velocesolutionsllc.com

I also wanted to increase my rear visibility but rather than a 3rd light went with Joe's flasher: http://velocesolutionsllc.com/Brake-Light-Flasher-Flasher-1.htm. I've had a couple of people stop me to tell me my brake lights are broken, so it seems to be getting the proper attention. It isn't legal in New York but I have never been stopped for it. I do disconnect it (takes less than a minute) when I have the car inspected. It seems like a good, simple alternative to the third light, one that may be even more noticeable.

Thanks...I couldn't think of his name. I've got his lighting inside and outside of my Alpine, including the headlights.

My mistake on him being on here...I thought I'd seen that somewhere before. Silly me trying to work from memory.... Lol
 

Tom H

Platinum Level Sponsor
The Alpine is still positive ground. .

Well there's your problem! Is there any info in the instructions about how to install in a car with Positive ground? Is there any info on their web page about a version available for Positive ground cars? LED's a re polarity sensitive, unlike incandescent lamps. I looked up the United Pacific item on line and see absolutely NO info about polarity. These are designed to work on the 99.99% of the cars in use - which are neg earth. I also see the individual lights are not replaceable which means you can't reverse the individual lamps, either. I can't think of any solution other than converting your car to Neg earth. I do not see any offering of a Pos earth version of this fixture on line. Maybe some one does make such a fixture.
 

Durhamguy

Platinum Level Sponsor
I checked the site from which I purchased it and same thing no mention of polarity. Thanks for pointing that out, I will file that under experience. I will look for another brake light and think about selling locally to recover some $. But Veloce Solutions may be a better option at this point though I still like the idea of a 3rd brake light given the traffic in my area.. Thanks again to everyone for all the input. I guess people aren't kidding when they say many electrical issues on these car trace back to the ground.
 

Silver Creek Sunbeam

Gold Level Sponsor
I checked the site from which I purchased it and same thing no mention of polarity. Thanks for pointing that out, I will file that under experience. I will look for another brake light and think about selling locally to recover some $. But Veloce Solutions may be a better option at this point though I still like the idea of a 3rd brake light given the traffic in my area.. Thanks again to everyone for all the input. I guess people aren't kidding when they say many electrical issues on these car trace back to the ground.

I’ll offer one more bit of input. After I installed the Veloce kit, I mentioned possibly doing a third brake light to a friend who had just been following me. He said that my brake lights were extremely bright (this was during daylight) and that he didn’t think anyone would have any problem noticing them.

I’m not saying not to do a third brake light but in the end, on our cars it’s only going to be a couple of inches higher than the brake lights themselves.
 

loose_electron

Donation Time
The Alpine is still positive ground. I connected it via the the rear brake/light units. I used plastic clamp on connectors for left flasher and right flasher and brake (which I don't like at all). My next step is to test the LED unit to make sure that works which I didn't do before installing the re test with car connections.

Appreciate everyone's input.
if you reverse the wires going into the LED light things should work.
 

Durhamguy

Platinum Level Sponsor
It has a sealed unit, see pictures. Can anything be done? How would wires be reversed?
 

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Tom H

Platinum Level Sponsor
If you bought a fixture that had only the brake light, it would have just 2 wires and you could simply wire it reversed. But this unit has a sealed PC board that would require a skilled PC board tech to redo.
 

husky drvr

Platinum Level Sponsor
4 wires coming out? Do you have any documentation on this thing?

Jerry,

I think the model Durhamguy tried to install also has a turn signal/flasher function.

I purchased a United Pacific pedestal LED light , model #33010. It is a split function for brakes and flashers. Instructions say White ground, Yellow left turn, Red right turn, Black brake. It is designed for 7.7 to 14 VDC.
 

Durhamguy

Platinum Level Sponsor
Yes, it is brake and flasher. There is no documentation on it. So if I connect white to brake and black to earth and ignore the other two wires it might work? I will try that this morning. Otherwise, it goes in the parts bin. Thank you all for your input.
 

loose_electron

Donation Time
Yes, it is brake and flasher. There is no documentation on it. So if I connect white to brake and black to earth and ignore the other two wires it might work? I will try that this morning. Otherwise, it goes in the parts bin. Thank you all for your input.

That's a probably yes. LEDs only conduct current in one direction. I just looked at the S4 wiring diagrams and the white wire to the Brake light wire and the black wire to ground should light it up. Positive ground car!
 
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