Ben Carey's LED lights install in my 64 with a 3rd brake light
Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 10:10 am
Bought a pair of the Red LED brake light panels from Ben a few weeks back. Had all sorts of headaches trying to figure out how to make them work with the 3rd brake light the previous owner had. The person who had wired it in had wired it all the way to the front of the car and I thought that was wrong. I tried wiring the 3rd brake light to the power source for he brake lights in the back (closer to the 3rd brake light) but realized that it was attempting to pull power through the brake light circuit at all times. That means that even when the running light was on the brake light was glowing. I couldn't install a diode in the supply wire for the 3rd brake light because it only stops flow out which isn't helpful and obviously I can't stop flow in...
What I ended up doing was wiring a couple of diodes into the circuit - one in each wire that connects to the power source into the LED panels "brake" circuit (the red wire). it allows signal IN to turn the brake circuit on, but does not allow power OUT of the circuit and into the back side of the brake circuit which is what was making the 3rd brake light glow even when the running light circuit was on (His LED panels use the same array of lights for both the running light and brake light circuit, just that the running light circuit runs through a resistor first to lower the output of the LED's while maintaining voltage. That means these circuits are electrically connected.) When I tried to wire the 3rd brake light to the brake light itself after I installed the diodes I found that now the 3rd brake light was blinking with the brake light! No good. I ended up using a pigtail connector to wire the brake light up to the brake switch again. That light doesn't carry much amperage and eventually I'll get an LED bulb there as well. The ground is simply connected to the bracket that hols the 3rd brake light in place.
I ended up hardwiring the lights in place. Corvair (early model) light sockets are a crappy design and Clarks' repro sockets suck even worse. I didn't want to take any chances with connections failing on me through use (jiggling, dirt, etc..)
A bit of hot glue for strain relief as well.
Some tiny strips of velrco hold it in place along with the gasket on the back side.
I used the blade connectors that have plastic that keeps the "weather" out a bit. I also used dielectric grease inside them for further protection. These connectors are hardwired and shrink-wrapped to keep the weather out. The Diodes are as well, on the input side of the power source (in the cars wiring, not the LED panel)
Holding that all in place is hot glue. Can be reversed in time and again, keeps the water/dirt out.
You can see that I drilled a hole for a ground...that goes to the LED panel, and on the outside of the housing is a ground wire that goes to the body itself. The original ground on these housings is the car which was a HORRIBLE design.
Works great. They look awesome and I get to continue to have a 3rd brake light which I feel is very important for a car that will be driven in traffic every day with modern cars that are used to seeing those lights in most cars.
Any other questions just feel free to ask!
-Ryan
What I ended up doing was wiring a couple of diodes into the circuit - one in each wire that connects to the power source into the LED panels "brake" circuit (the red wire). it allows signal IN to turn the brake circuit on, but does not allow power OUT of the circuit and into the back side of the brake circuit which is what was making the 3rd brake light glow even when the running light circuit was on (His LED panels use the same array of lights for both the running light and brake light circuit, just that the running light circuit runs through a resistor first to lower the output of the LED's while maintaining voltage. That means these circuits are electrically connected.) When I tried to wire the 3rd brake light to the brake light itself after I installed the diodes I found that now the 3rd brake light was blinking with the brake light! No good. I ended up using a pigtail connector to wire the brake light up to the brake switch again. That light doesn't carry much amperage and eventually I'll get an LED bulb there as well. The ground is simply connected to the bracket that hols the 3rd brake light in place.
I ended up hardwiring the lights in place. Corvair (early model) light sockets are a crappy design and Clarks' repro sockets suck even worse. I didn't want to take any chances with connections failing on me through use (jiggling, dirt, etc..)
A bit of hot glue for strain relief as well.
Some tiny strips of velrco hold it in place along with the gasket on the back side.
I used the blade connectors that have plastic that keeps the "weather" out a bit. I also used dielectric grease inside them for further protection. These connectors are hardwired and shrink-wrapped to keep the weather out. The Diodes are as well, on the input side of the power source (in the cars wiring, not the LED panel)
Holding that all in place is hot glue. Can be reversed in time and again, keeps the water/dirt out.
You can see that I drilled a hole for a ground...that goes to the LED panel, and on the outside of the housing is a ground wire that goes to the body itself. The original ground on these housings is the car which was a HORRIBLE design.
Works great. They look awesome and I get to continue to have a 3rd brake light which I feel is very important for a car that will be driven in traffic every day with modern cars that are used to seeing those lights in most cars.
Any other questions just feel free to ask!
-Ryan