Sorry to hijack.....if the OEM 3rd brake has a bulb burnt out, will that make your cruise control stop working?

 

Redridge - Thanks.

I also wonder about the aesthetics. I like the look of LEDs, but in a few years, when every light is LED, will our incandescents look out of date, or cool?

 

Dennis, did you just replace your 3rd brake lights with LEDs, or did you also do your regular tails (i.e. with turn signals)?

 

I just did the center brake lights for two reasons. First of all, I have a wide body car and there isn't an LED tail light option available. Secondly, I'm not sure I would do it, even if an option existed. I think the more modern looking LED lights might look funny with the C4S reflector strip on the back of my car. The third brake light is only noticeable if you're looking for it. I like the smoked lens for my darker colored car - I think it blends in better than the OEM red light.

 

Also - I did replace the amber front side marker bulbs and the parking lights (the ones inside the headlight assembly) with LED bulbs, although that was as much for bulb longevity as it was for appearance.

 

thats a good ???, when bulbs burn out (not sure about 3rd light).... your ABS or brake light stays on.

Dude.... I respect the guys that do it, I've seen all kinds of mod... Im the kind that likes cars that are modded..... But also like the look of it being ht factory. It just didnt look right on my car.... personal taste for sure.




Yep I agree with you there.... those pumpkins, only a mother can love the look..... and Im a stay home dad.

 

I used a minature 12 volt relay's NC contacts to switch in a halogen bulb when the 3rd brake light is off.

 

I bought two of the smoked LED brake lights 4-5 years ago from Carnewal. Installed them and they worked fine. You do have to be careful on the polarity. Apparently the LEDs are sensitive to polarity.

After a year or so neither was working. Checked and reversed the polarity but nothing worked. Reinstalled the OEMs and everything worked. Emailed Carnewal several times to see if they knew of problems or had a fix, but never got any response form them whatsoever, which surprised me as they have a pretty good reputation.

Finally last fall I took the LED's out of the box they had been sitting in for 2-3 years and rested them with a 12V battery and they seemed to work, although one is intermittent. I reinstalled the one below the window and after fooling with the contacts (they are thinner than the OEMs) I got it to work. The one on the wing I could not get to work so I still have the OEM there. Plan on trying that one again when the weather warms up.

 

I used one of these. It is 21W. They also sell them with the wires already soldered on but I did that myself. There is a lot of room in the hole where the third brake light goes so plenty of room to use a sticky pad to fix the resistor near to the brake light on the inside of the bodywork.



http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...EOIBSA:GB:1123

 

Thanks X-UFO, I'll give it try

For those of us in the USA, I've just found a similar product from a reputable US shop (no affiliation)
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...dresistor.html

 

hey guys does anybody know the location of the head light relay ,my head lights wont come on ,the park lights do and the brights ,checked fuse they are good 03 cab4, help!

 

I don't understand how oyu hook up these resistors to the 3rd brake light. Please help....

 

I don't understand why you need resistors. My LED third brake lights were plug and play, with no issues at all.

 

You'll only need resistors if you change all of the tail lights, as the resistance drop causes the car to think it has a short circuit. The 3rd led by themselves don't need a resistor to work.

 

The cruise control senses the brake light voltage for automatic shutoff. With LEDs in place of halogens there is a ~1.5V "float" voltage due to the CC "keep-alive" circuitry even with the brake lights not on. That low voltage is enough to disable CC entirely or even make it intermittent.

Look carefully at your high mount LED in a dark garage and you will see that they remain illuminated ever so slightly.