A few weeks ago at work I replaced a 3'rd brake light in a VW Rabbit, so obviously the first thing that came into my mind was to build the led's into a Ranger 3'rd brake light.
Parts

Soldered stock plug onto LED strip and tested it out.

Cut out the lens backing to make room for the led's. And flattend out the section that separated the center and side bulb areas to have somewhere to glue the strip onto, level and securely.

Glued the led's into the len's with 2-part plastic cement.

Taped-up the back of the lamp to keep out dirt and keep too much red light from glowing into the interior light.



It's almost dark! So I will get some pictures of it lit up in an hour or so...

 

Few things I forgot to mention! The LED strip was too long so i had to cut 3 led's off either end.. sooo it may burn out a little prematurely due to the remaining led's being overloaded possibly????
And the 3'rd brake light shown was not used, the one used I already had nighshaded so i would not have to tint another one..

 

Think it's bright enough? haha


I really should have taken a picture of it before with a regular bulb for a before/after pic. Should have my LED tail light bulbs from superbright led's this week as well.

 

looks good, and bright!

 

thanks!
I think it came out good! and it is really bright especially since it's black when not lit up!

 

Is it dark at your place? Like very dark? Because if so, the exposure is off on the camera and the lights appear brighter than they really are.

Anyhow, it looks good.

 

Thanks. No it wasn't that dark out when i took those, sun dosent set till after 10. My photography skills are lacking as well! I will try to get some better ones when it's darker, and i have someone else to hit the brakes for me rather than setting up the timer and running for the truck,, haha

 

Use a stick or some device to hold the brake pedal down. It takes a light touch to activate the brake light switch. Then basically make sure the flash is off, use a tripod and depending on the camera tell it to do a "night exposure". Should be pretty close to what an eye would see.

 

My camera has a night landscape setting? Went out and tried again in the parking but it's not really dark enough. I will get some when i go camping on Saturday. I should have my led's for the tail lights then as well.
I took a pic with the flash, it kind of gives you a better idea of how much light it's putting out and how the led's look.

 

I find the other diffuser now that i have it built already,, damnnnnn... it looks okay without it all the same I will keep it in case i do another one.

 

Looks great!! Really bright.

 

That looks awesome man

 

wanna do one for me ill send u a brake light houseing!!!!:) lol but looks awesome

 

Here is a pic of what it looks like in the day. It looks really "crystal like" in the center section, the light refracts differently as you look at it on different angles.
I like how the 3 on either end come out like vertical stripes.

 

I have another housing, I just dont have another set of LED's that will fit it at the moment.

 

what did those leds come out of

 

08 or 09 ? VW RABBIT the brake light in the spoiler.

 

If you are looking for parts to do this mod please see my original thread. I have a brakelight that fits absolutely perfect without modifications shipping for 45$. PM me for details.

My build pics:

 

^^ did you put some type of cover over the back of the led's or just leave it all open on the back?? my interior light is right next to it and i could see the red light glowing in the dome light when i hit the brakes so I had to cover the back of the light.

 

I have extended cab, cant see anything. I have also have a modified dome light (50LED) and I took the headliner down when I dynamatted the downside of the roof (I doubt any of that matters with this though)

 

Homegrown, awesome.

 

Thanks, I have another 3rd brake light kicking around, and a few more led strips at work that will fit better. I have some ideas brewing for version 2.0.. lol

 

Nice!

 

How long did your shipping take for them? What tail light bulbs did you order? I really like the 3rd brake light leds too.

 

I ordered the tail light led's from superbrightleds.com I cant remember exactly what ones but there are better ones you can get that I would buy before I bought these again. These shine light out of the lens more than they do back into the reflector behind the bulb so you get a little red dot more than having the whole lens glow. Shipping was only a week or two, I was out of town when they came and they were at my house waiting for me when I got back so I cant remember exactly how long they took.