Technical BRAKE LIGHT'S OR THE LACK OF THEM

The photo was taken in broad day light, I'm sure they will show up very well at night. HRP

 

When adding LED'S is that just plug and play or some other modification to elctrical system.

 

You may have to change the flasher relay too.

 

My coupe has full turn (front and rear) and brake, and a 12" long 3rd brake light, all LEDS.
This is my 3rd vehicle with full LED lighting, I've not had a problem with the standard flasher, or any lighting concerns.

However, I just added an aftermarket cruise control, and the wire that picks up the brake light signal for the cruise didn't have a good enough signal for the cruise to pick up. I needed to add a 5 pin relay for the brake light grounds to make the cruise control happy.

Sometimes the LED lights don't create enough resistance in the ground side for stuff to function correctly. There are resisters you can add or the pretty simple 5 pin relay, or a grounded 3 wire flasher unit solves the problem.

 

The problem there is that not everyone moving faster than 10mph is a driver. Can't text while riding on a bus or train? Can't text as a passenger in a car?

Considering that anything which reduces the amount of vehicle traffic on the roads will work in our favour — provided of course that it isn't done in an authoritarian way — an increase in the proportion of people on the road who aren't drivers is something we want.

And how long will it be before there is an app to defeat the 10mph deactivation? Is that really something we want policed? Cops having probable cause to go through your phone?

 

I don't think reworking the brake lights will have much effect at all. Unfortunately, it is other drivers that need to be made 'brighter', and while they have a smart phone in their hand they are just another dumb operator........

 

While no lights will prevent all accidents, if brighter lights stop 10% of them it will be well worth it. My off topic
work pickups have about a square foot of taillight yet has been rear ended twice (two different trucks). Amazing what
a trailer hitch will do to the front of a land rover!

 

What you say is 100% correct, but then again it would be a small inconvenience in order to prevent losing lives. People could still actually "talk" on their phones while moving. Many new vehicles have the phone connected to the car and you don't even need to hold your phone. As for the bus/train mode, again they simply talk instead of text.

As far as the police checking someones phone, that would be mostly alleviated if no one could text while driving. Simply making it illegal to sell an app defeating the GPS and fining/suspending license for violators should help.
I don't know how much of a problem it is in South Africa, but I don't want to die because someone is texting about what they had for lunch. Its scary when you see people coming at you and weaving over the yellow line.

Bout a month ago I saw some moron crossing way over the yellow line and pulling back. I mean his car was half way over the line...several times. He was still a ways off from me, so I pulled over the yellow line into his lane.

When he looked up and saw me, he suddenly realized that driving was more important than texting and he crossed no more. Hated doing that, but the guy was so out of control I did not know if he was gonna hit me or not, so I let him see how it feels. There was still plenty of time for me to get back over, but it got his attention.

Sh*t like this has begun to happen a lot, not like its once in a lifetime.

 

nor will the person that rear ends me.

 

Safety is traditional of any generation.
I'm going to be using LED's on my coupe.

 

nope White (bright white at that) and polished Nickle (Chrome) work best.

 

As simple as plug and play, there is 2 sockets on each of the replacement LED lights and a plastic tag light piece that replaces the clear glass lens.

No sir, works fine. HRP

 

I thought mine would be plug and play as well but it wasn't. I originally had a mix of LEDs and regular bulbs and went to all LEDs. The collective LED load on the flasher was not enough to trigger it and I had to order 2 replacement flashers that were for LEDs. One for the turn signals and one for the 4 way flashers. As soon as I installed those everything worked fine. What I read said to make sure not to get heavy duty ones!

 

The 3 pin flasher units tend to work ok; there a small heater wire inside which is the causal factor for the thing to switch on and off, which in turn activates the relay contacts which switch the bulbs on and off.

So long as the heater can pass enough current it'll work properly. I find high power LED's tend to sink enough current to run them, but mine would quit blinking at idle when the generator dropped out.

Two pin ones rely on the larger current of the incandescent bulbs to heat the bimetallic strip directly. Those ones won't flash with all LED bulbs.

I caved and fitted an electronic flasher, which requires only several milliamps to blink (just the tell-tale bulb in the dash is enough to make it blink). It was off the shelf at my local car parts store.

 

After I had a guy pass me on the right while I was making a right turn I decided to add some extra lighting to my pickup. The existing tails lights are actually very good but I think that the issue is how low the stock lights mount. I believe that you can purchase the smaller bed roll lights now but at the time I had to make my own. They work as brake and turn signals. These things are really bright and I know they get noticed as I have had several people comment on them.

 

Those look bright! Good job on a home-made solution. Does anyone know of a BRIGHT set of these that are commercially available? Thanks...

 

This would be a great submission for tech week. HRP

 

Been running two 1157 bulbs in each housing in my stock 32 buckets for years. Really lights up the tag when braking.

 

That's what I used and yes the tag was well illuminated but the brake lights left a lot to be desired. HRP

 

Paintedmy t/light housings Chrysler white & it really brightened things up..........

 

RED for the 4th of July Holiday
1965 El Camino
Hello,

In thinking about our old 1965 Red El Camino, the most obvious place for the red third light lens would be a small strip on the back of the cab, near the top. (a) that would make a perfect triangle with the stock brake lenses. But, we all know “things” go in the back of any El Camino, so those things would possibly make the third red light strip null or at lease block the brightness.

We had two 250cc Greeves Motorcycles in the back with tool boxes, coolers, chairs, etc. There were lots of blocked rear views while driving. So, in reverse, the people following may not be able to see the third light on the top rear of the cab.

The placement, without hindering the following cars’ vision of the 65 El Camino, and making a triangle is choice A. Most enthusiasts do not want to put any attachment on the paint (B), so the thin chrome tailgate strip is the logical place. As the accessories market has developed lights for any make or model of car, and not wanting anything attached to the chrome bar of the tailgate, choice (C) comes next. (D shows the lit up led light strips with the standard brake light of the El Camino. Forming a reverse triangle if that is your taste.)

HAMB member @fiftyv8 has a neat installation.

Jnaki

Daily use, usually 2 out of 7 days would be for the active motorcycle in the pickup, bed user. (vision hindrance) So, the neatest installation would be at the top of the cab facing the rear bed. That would make a definite triangle for all to see, in the day and especially at night, during the daily drives. I would prefer the small strip along the rear tailgate, placed so any ramp or such activity does not harm the installation.

Most El Camino drivers do not drive around with a bunch of stuff in the rear bed to hinder the top light strip…so, “to each, his own…” My wife and I drove with just two suitcases tied down in the back for 1000s of miles on our long So Cal to Northern Cal many times. The camera equipment was behind the seat. So, the top of the cab light would have made the perfect triangle in braking awareness for others.

It is also too bad someone does not make a Red, LED, Chevrolet Tailgate Emblem that is the third brake light. (perfect for wiring and placement in the triangle.) Spare time in retirement for those creative custom hot rod guys and girls? Custom LED strips or ???

For you Blue “Bowtie” fanatics, the red led lights could be behind the thin, transparent blue lens to keep the "bows" happy.
As well as surrounding the lenses... YRMV