Page 1 of 1

Ben Carey's LED lights install in my 64 with a 3rd brake light

Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 10:10 am
by RAV_AIR
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..)

Image

A bit of hot glue for strain relief as well.

Image

Some tiny strips of velrco hold it in place along with the gasket on the back side.

Image

Image

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

Re: Ben Carey's LED lights install in my 64 with a 3rd brake light

Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 1:39 pm
by Scott H
Nicely done! :tu:
Can you post a link to Ben's kits?

Re: Ben Carey's LED lights install in my 64 with a 3rd brake light

Posted: Sun May 21, 2017 4:00 pm
by Nickshu
I bought a set of these lights and could not get them to work with the Clarks repro EM sockets. I tried shimming them, and soldering more material onto the end contacts without success. I did not want to cut up my new sockets so I ended up just getting regular LED bulbs from SuperBrightLEDs.com instead which work fine. The frustrating thing is the Clark's sockets work fine with regular bulbs and LED bulbs, I could not figure out why they would not work w/ the sockets included on these LED panels.

Re: Ben Carey's LED lights install in my 64 with a 3rd brake light

Posted: Tue May 23, 2017 4:39 am
by RAV_AIR
https://m.facebook.com/Corvairleds-1538673906423488/

I think it is a combination of Clark's repro sockets being crappy and the weird football shape of the contacts on the sockets Ben's builder uses.

Late models have a much better socket design. Lucky ducks. Haha.

Re: Ben Carey's LED lights install in my 64 with a 3rd brake light

Posted: Tue May 23, 2017 7:13 pm
by skipvair
I bought some led panels in Helen and cant get a connection on them thru late model sockets.


Sent from my iPhone using Corvair Forum mobile app

Re: Ben Carey's LED lights install in my 64 with a 3rd brake light

Posted: Wed May 24, 2017 3:21 pm
by azdave
skipvair wrote: Tue May 23, 2017 7:13 pm I bought some led panels in Helen and cant get a connection on them thru late model sockets.


Sent from my iPhone using Corvair Forum mobile app
I know everyone likes plug-n-play solutions but why would so many LED bulb manufacturers have you depend on a proven weak point (1157 bulb sockets) for something as important as brake lights?

On the custom LED lamps I have built, I throw out those crappy sockets and either hard wire or use modern connectors that are far more reliable. Yes, it's more work but we are talking about your brake lights right?

Re: Ben Carey's LED lights install in my 64 with a 3rd brake light

Posted: Wed May 24, 2017 3:51 pm
by toytron
Dave those have been the light sockets for many many years. Much of the problems with the old ones are, spring tension and corrosion. While you may be able to fix the corrosion part the spring tension might be the biggest downfall. If your spring tension seems good I would take a scotchbrite pad and clean up the inside walls and contacts. Then I would apply a good amount of SUPER LUBE 91003 Silicone Dielectric Grease or something similar.

Ed Stevenson


Re: Ben Carey's LED lights install in my 64 with a 3rd brake light

Posted: Wed May 24, 2017 6:53 pm
by Nickshu
azdave wrote: Wed May 24, 2017 3:21 pm
skipvair wrote: Tue May 23, 2017 7:13 pm I bought some led panels in Helen and cant get a connection on them thru late model sockets.


Sent from my iPhone using Corvair Forum mobile app
I know everyone likes plug-n-play solutions but why would do so many LED bulb manufacturers have you depend on a proven weak point (1157 bulb sockets) for something as important as brake lights?

On the custom LED lamps I have built, I throw out those crappy sockets and either hard wire or use modern connectors that are far more reliable. Yes, it's more work but we are talking about your brake lights right?

On my 1157's that I got from SuperBrightLEDs.com I still had to build up the ends with extra solder to get a solid contact in the EM repro sockets. I had to do the same on the front turn signals (1157 amber) too.

Re: Ben Carey's LED lights install in my 64 with a 3rd brake light

Posted: Wed May 24, 2017 7:29 pm
by azdave
I understand the socket issues. I've owned probably 50+ Corvairs in the last 40 years and half were when I lived in the rust belt back east.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Why make a better, stronger chain that still connects to the weakest link?

Re: Ben Carey's LED lights install in my 64 with a 3rd brake light

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 5:59 am
by RAV_AIR
The man makes a good point. LEDs require good constant power. Sockets provide rather shaky connections. Hardwiring is a much better way to do it. It's not as if it is difficult. Three wires.