How To: Adding a third taillight, the easy 'n cheap way!

[Chris4099]

Here's how I did mine (quick version):

Using black caulking, I glued my light to the louver. Still holding strong for 7+ years. Best of all, no holes drilled and is removable if needed!
The wire was painted black, so it's not very visible. If you look closely on the left, you can see it roll down and back around the louver.
DSC_7917.jpg
I then used some split loom to protect the wire as it ran to the rear screen and then over to the quarter panel. I could have run the wire behind the screen, but that would have been more work and made future torsion bar adjustments more difficult. If you remove the plastic trim piece at the end, you can find a channel that runs down the quarter panel and into the rear fascia.
DSC_7918.jpg
With the wires now in the rear fascia, it was a simple matter to tap into the tail light harness. I did however use an inline fuse and put a 1.5 amp fuse there. As mentioned, I wanted my main brake lights to still work should something rub through and short out this new wiring.

I fully agree that adding additional wiring including relays is unnecessary when dealing with these LED lights. Current is so low, the factory wiring can easily handle the extra load.

One final tip, if you want maximum safety, replace the brake light bulbs with LEDs. According to this study, it's actually a bigger safety improvement then a 3rd light! Another benefit is it reduced electrical load even more (no more brief voltage dip when I apply my brakes).
http://chemistry.beloit.edu/BlueLigh...p/an1155-3.pdf

[Shep]

If you remove the plastic trim piece at the end, you can find a channel that runs down the quarter panel and into the rear fascia.
DSC_7918.jpg

So there is one on the driver's side. Sweet, won't need to divert the wiring too much.

[Shep]

Not sure if I ever formally mentioned this, but I revamped the tutorial a few months ago to be far simpler. As in, "two pictures and a small bit of verbage" simpler. (those that saw the original know what a monstrosity it was before -- good riddance to that garbage I wrote!) Link has changed, although the old link automatically redirects to the new one, so don't worry about updating old links:

http://vin559.com/thirdtaillight

I'll post the two images here for clarity:





Color-coded to match. If you are color-blind and can't distinguish between the colors, please shoot me a PM or an email and get in touch with me -- the colors, shades, etc. are readily adjustable, but I do not yet know how to make it easier for the color-blind (and is something I can learn on to improve in future tutorials). Hopefully the second picture addresses that concern by using numbers in addition to the colors (which, conveniently, are printed on the part of the plug that the wires exit from, as seen in the picture)

EDIT: Just to clarify for new owners: the plug pictured above is the taillight plug that clips into the taillight circuitboard as shown in the first picture.