Third Brake Light

[mwesten]

I am adding a high-mounted brake light not on the louvers, but rather just inside the rear glass (so on the inside of the car). Not interested in taping/drilling on the louvers, and a 3rd brake light just behind the glass is still better than current state (which is neither).

Is there a way to tap into the brake light in the electrical area behind the passenger seat? I know about tapping in AT the brake light at the rear of the car but for obvious reasons thats a bit out of the way.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Your looking for a green/purple wire in the harness. It has to be in that relay compartment since all the wires feeding the bulkhead connectors are there.

[Helirich]

I would try the light inside at night before you spend a lot of time on it. You may find it makes a lot of red glare coming from the glass every time you step on brakes.

[mwesten]

Your looking for a green/purple wire in the harness. It has to be in that relay compartment since all the wires feeding the bulkhead connectors are there.

Great thanks Dave.

[mwesten]

I would try the light inside at night before you spend a lot of time on it. You may find it makes a lot of red glare coming from the glass every time you step on brakes.

Yeah I figured that, but tbh this is a weekend cruiser and Ive owned the car for a year and a half and never taken it out at night (or the rain, snow for that matter). Don?t see that changing soon.

[82DMC12]

I don't recommend this. The point of the 3rd brake light is to increase visibility for those behind you. If you have to look THROUGH the louvers to see the brake light, anyone looking down on you (everyone) will not be at the correct angle to see the brake light. I've seen numerous boneheaded, pointless 3rd brake light installations done in the name of trying to be "stealth". They don't work.

That being said, I saw an owner this weekend with the Drayron tail light boards. One thing I liked about them is they use the brake lights as tail lights (FAR better tail lights in bad weather, like we had - pouring rain on the interstate) and then when you hit the brakes, all six red lights come on, even brighter than the tail light was. It was very good, through I don't need all the sequential fancy stuff they can also do.

[painterdave72]

You could do what i did so its not very obvious is i put 2 led strips under the upper edge of the louver right at the edge and it goes almost all the way across and looks good i think .. they are just held on with double sided tape and are still very visible when they are lit up....

[JBaker4981]

I saw an owner this weekend with the Drayron tail light boards. One thing I liked about them is they use the brake lights as tail lights (FAR better tail lights in bad weather, like we had - pouring rain on the interstate) and then when you hit the brakes, all six red lights come on, even brighter than the tail light was. It was very good, through I don't need all the sequential fancy stuff they can also do.

My Car go b-b-b-blink!

[ssdelorean]

You could do what i did so its not very obvious is i put 2 led strips under the upper edge of the louver right at the edge and it goes almost all the way across and looks good i think .. they are just held on with double sided tape and are still very visible when they are lit up....

I concur.
Did nearly the same thing using some taillights from etrailer.com (https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Lights/Optronics/STL59RB.html). They come in various lengths. These dudes are BRIGHT. At night time you can tell the color of the eyes of the driver behind me.

It has a 3rd wire for hooking them up as blinkers as well if you like. I just did a simple install using them as a 3rd brake light only.

70611

[JBaker4981]

I concur.
Did nearly the same thing using some taillights from etrailer.com (https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Lights/Optronics/STL59RB.html). They come in various lengths. These dudes are BRIGHT. At night time you can tell the color of the eyes of the driver behind me.

It has a 3rd wire for hooking them up as blinkers as well if you like. I just did a simple install using them as a 3rd brake light only.

70611

Also have a very similar setup on 628. LOVE it and you cannot see the third brake light from the rear view mirror at all.

[dmcman73]

I don't recommend this. The point of the 3rd brake light is to increase visibility for those behind you. If you have to look THROUGH the louvers to see the brake light, anyone looking down on you (everyone) will not be at the correct angle to see the brake light. I've seen numerous boneheaded, pointless 3rd brake light installations done in the name of trying to be "stealth". They don't work.

That being said, I saw an owner this weekend with the Drayron tail light boards. One thing I liked about them is they use the brake lights as tail lights (FAR better tail lights in bad weather, like we had - pouring rain on the interstate) and then when you hit the brakes, all six red lights come on, even brighter than the tail light was. It was very good, through I don't need all the sequential fancy stuff they can also do.

I have the Drayron boards and they are bright. If you don't want all the blink patterns, Drayron does sell a standard board that is the same thing but without all the blinking patterns.

[Helirich]

I don't recommend this. The point of the 3rd brake light is to increase visibility for those behind you. If you have to look THROUGH the louvers to see the brake light, anyone looking down on you (everyone) will not be at the correct angle to see the brake light. I've seen numerous boneheaded, pointless 3rd brake light installations done in the name of trying to be "stealth". They don't work. do.

This is true. I did as others with a thin strip from ?SuperbriteLEDs?. When they are off you can barely see them from the outside and not at all from the mirror.

70614

When lite, they reflect off the louver below and a big truck can easily see it.

70615