New style 3rd brake light {Pics}
02-04-2018, 06:45 AM
#1
New style 3rd brake light {Pics}
Sharing some pics of a new 3rd brake light I installed recently.
Disconnected/disabled the factory light connection and tapped into the harness for power. Had to trim the factory light cover a bit but it fit back on.
The new light gives a soft, even glow with no LED hotspots.
If anyone wants to know more about it let me know. Thanks for looking.
Disconnected/disabled the factory light connection and tapped into the harness for power. Had to trim the factory light cover a bit but it fit back on.
The new light gives a soft, even glow with no LED hotspots.
If anyone wants to know more about it let me know. Thanks for looking.
02-05-2018, 08:21 AM
#7
Senior Moderator
that's different!
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03-09-2018, 02:26 AM
#12
Hi all,
I had someone PM me yesterday so I thought I would share my reply with everyone.
I had someone PM me yesterday so I thought I would share my reply with everyone.
hey buddy let me see what I can remember.
with this unit, there was some light bleed from the housing itself which you can see in the rear view mirror. the housing is black but oddly has 6 slits in the back of it which allows light to escape through rear of the housing. I put some electrical tape over the 6 slits and solved that problem. (the electrical tape becomes invisible because it matches the housing)
the light is held to the rear window via 3M tape, no issues with it once it was mounted. I mounted it butted against the factory 3rd light. I unplugged the factory 3rd light then cut the new light's excess wire short enough so I could tuck it behind the factory 3rd light cover. Its just 2 wires, plug one side into the factory harness to see which side is power. once you have it lit up, you can either splice it in to the factory wiring or do what I did. I just jammed the exposed new wire to make contact with the factory connector and secured it by wrapping it with electrical tape...redneck but it works lol
the factory 3rd light cover had to be trimmed to get around the new rectangular light housing. there wasn't much that I had to trim, and I was able to get the factory cover pegs to pop back up in their holes. the cover does have carpet on it so cut carefully, I used a fine-toothed coping saw I had laying around the garage.
one thing to note with the finished light performance compared to stock. the stock 3rd brake light (on my car) always produced an intense red hotspot reflection on the inside of the rear deck by the factory subwoofer. this glare was quite annoying to me which is why I started looking at other 3rd brake options. I tried re-sealing the factory 3rd light but I couldn't get the rubber trim on the cover to block the glare any better than when I started.
the new 3rd light does not have the same intense red hotspot on the rear window but it does have a uniform red glow all across the rear glass. the new light housing does not seal completely against the contours of the rear glass but I find that the uniform red glow is less annoying than the factory glare was.
I don't have any inside pics on me at the moment because the TL is the wife's car but when I can I'll see if I can get you some inside-mounted shots during daytime hours.
HTH,
-JDM
with this unit, there was some light bleed from the housing itself which you can see in the rear view mirror. the housing is black but oddly has 6 slits in the back of it which allows light to escape through rear of the housing. I put some electrical tape over the 6 slits and solved that problem. (the electrical tape becomes invisible because it matches the housing)
the light is held to the rear window via 3M tape, no issues with it once it was mounted. I mounted it butted against the factory 3rd light. I unplugged the factory 3rd light then cut the new light's excess wire short enough so I could tuck it behind the factory 3rd light cover. Its just 2 wires, plug one side into the factory harness to see which side is power. once you have it lit up, you can either splice it in to the factory wiring or do what I did. I just jammed the exposed new wire to make contact with the factory connector and secured it by wrapping it with electrical tape...redneck but it works lol
the factory 3rd light cover had to be trimmed to get around the new rectangular light housing. there wasn't much that I had to trim, and I was able to get the factory cover pegs to pop back up in their holes. the cover does have carpet on it so cut carefully, I used a fine-toothed coping saw I had laying around the garage.
one thing to note with the finished light performance compared to stock. the stock 3rd brake light (on my car) always produced an intense red hotspot reflection on the inside of the rear deck by the factory subwoofer. this glare was quite annoying to me which is why I started looking at other 3rd brake options. I tried re-sealing the factory 3rd light but I couldn't get the rubber trim on the cover to block the glare any better than when I started.
the new 3rd light does not have the same intense red hotspot on the rear window but it does have a uniform red glow all across the rear glass. the new light housing does not seal completely against the contours of the rear glass but I find that the uniform red glow is less annoying than the factory glare was.
I don't have any inside pics on me at the moment because the TL is the wife's car but when I can I'll see if I can get you some inside-mounted shots during daytime hours.
HTH,
-JDM
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