VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 3rd brake light install question

Anyone here installed a "3rd" or rear window brake light in their sedan?
I'm thinking of buying a 6v LED brake light window mount for my '32 Confederate sedan for added safety and was curious how and where the additional wires would run since the LED light bar can be set up to function as turn signals as well. I installed regular directionals last winter w/o too much difficulty, running new wires along the frame.
I imagine the entire rear seat has to come out and a hole or two drilled through the body somewhere and exit near the existing braking wires. Probably common sense here but I have a thing about drilling holes in a perfectly good body.

Thanks guys !

Do you have the LED conversions on your tail lamps? They are REALLY bright, have the ability for directionals, and still appear stock with no extra body holes.

Charlie,
Bill Knapp put a third stop light on his car on the bottom of the rear window on the inside. DO NOT DRILL any holes in your car. Those 3rd stop lights are often self stick and mount inside the window. Just take out the rear seat bottom and then the two screws at the bottom of the seat back the hold it in. YOu can then lift up on the seat back and it will pull out of the bracket in the top center. Once the seat it out, you will find it easy to run your wiring down through the bottom of the car. I'm sure if Bill reads this he'll chime in on how he did it.

I don't have the LEDs in the taillights. I was going to simply try higher wattage bulbs but I'm sure the conversions would be better. I'm all for originality but with to many crazed and distracted drivers out there, I figured a brake light high up and centered in their field of vision would help prevent being rear ended.

Thanks Ted. I'll keep my drill in the box for now. The light, from the FS, comes with instructions and mounts inside with suction cups or sticky stuff so I'll see what they say. I always like to know in advance what I'm in for. Maybe removal of the bottom interior window moulding might allow access to snake a wire down ?

If you install a third brake light you might have to set up the output of your generator slightly.



Drilling a hole is enough to stop me right there!!

The LED conversions are as good as any modern day car. And with the LED there is no need to crank up the amp output. Leave the std bulbs in the front park/turn lamps so the flasher will operate properly. Unless someone takes the lens off the tail light it appears completely stock unless the lights are lit. It sure looks better than putting a third light in the rear window.

If you don't mind seeing about 2" worth of wire, you can just come out of the light and down behind the back seat cushion. You can look of a drain hole in one of the seat pans and try and snake a wire through to avoid drilling in the metal I would rather drill though the edge of the wood somewhere where you could always drive a dowel in to seal off the hole if the light is ever removed. When I said don't drill I should have specified "through metal".

It all depends upon the condition of the electrical system, what the existing current draw is and what the generator output is set at. You are right though, normally the output would not have to be increased slightly, but if there is a lot of existing current draw (accessory heater or whatever) then the generator output might have to be set up just a little.

Actually if the generator is set up properly before changing to the LED's it can stay the same as the LED draw is in milli-amps so the overall draw is reduced.

Yes, Christech is right, I put in a 3rd brake light from FS when I rebuilt my car two years ago. I also used their led conversion kit and installed turn signals. Since I built a new wiring harness, it was easy to pull the 3rd brake light wire down behind the seat and sneak it thru a small crack in the floor. All the connections were made with soldered joints and it works perfect.

I did have to use a different flasher due to the low amps pulled by the leds but everything else works great with my original 6v generator,etc.

If you send me a PM with your email address, I'll be happy to send you some pictures of the whole thing.

BTW - some really wise guy on Chatter said to buy a ceramic paint pen at the craft store in orange and color my cowl lamp bulbs with it. It works great although the bulbs are not very bright due to 6v.

Happy Motoring! - Bill

Bill,
I'd be interested in a picture or two. I'll be getting my 3rd light (from FS) early next week.

I'll send you a pm with my email. Thanks Bill

I'm adding a independent 12 volt flasher system on my roadster. Using a gel pack battery out of and emergency light. small solar panel to charge and street glide Harley Davidson directional lights with led bulbs . Going to set up a relay to work in conjunction with my 6 volt system .

Wow, all you need is wig-wag headlights, a siren and you'll have an emergency vehicle.
Where's the solar panel going ? Not exactly period equipment :)

I put HD LEDS brake lights on my FatBob. Another adventurous way to travel…..

Charlie, is that like putting reflectors on a Phata$$?

I ride with a guy who has LED's on his HD. If I ride behind him I'm blinded and have redish white spots in my eyes for the whole ride. Man, them things are bright!

A year or so ago I was turning into my driveway. A ford f350 with a girl texting almost ran me over. I had to drive into oncoming traffic to avoid getting rear ended. So I don't care if the car has better lights on it than what it came with. Someone should make a cell phone blocking device so when you get in a moving vehicle all social media stuff shuts down. Anyhow its more for driving at night. Might even put in a set of driving lights. Ill let you know how it works out.

You are right and now they are adding more electronics in the cars for personal use.

Our state (New Hampshire) has hands free and distracted driving laws but all the laws don't replace common sense which sometimes seems to be lacking. My son had a rental car while his was being repaired and there were so many electronic controls within the drivers reach it resembled an aircraft cockpit. While many of us in the older generation find some of the controls confusing even my son was amazed and needed extra time to acquaint himself with all of them-and he used to sell cars and is a software engineer.

I've been saying for a few years that the minute a cars transmission is engaged, all hand held devices will not work on anything other than 911. Yup, that means for the passengers in the car too. Let the poor fools learn how it was done in the old days and make these kids interact with not only each other, but the adults in the car if that is the group in the car.

Better yet, remove all safety equipment including the air bag, and place a metal spike on the steering column directed at the driver a few inches away.
See how cautious we'd all drive then.

Okay.. if anyone rear ends me now, I'm suing !
Just finished up a fairly easy installation on my LED 3rd brake light from the FS. I removed the bottom center trim screw and snaked the wires down through the opening and then down through an existing "mouse" hole in the body. The instruction manual was written for 6v POSITIVE ground systems so I called the manufacturer (which happens to be here in Ct) and spoke to a friendly chap that walked me through a simple fix for our negative grounded Chevys. We just reversed the connections on the wire runs and she lights up like a Xmas tree. Thanks guys for your help.
The directionals (each half of the light bar) and flashers work in addition to the brake lights. I simply can't wait to break down next summer and show them off in style.

Perfect installation! Good work!

Happy Motoring!
- Bill

Looks good Charlie. Been super busy with work. With new year lots of customers spent year end monies on equipment. Been doing lots of installs with dog and pony shows! Got to get back to Jerry's car now hopefully next week.

Thanks. And no holes were drilled, well.. maybe one tiny one. You'd never find it.
Yeah ! Get back to the '31 and stop this "work " stuff. Jeeze.

Excellent....going to do this too. The college students around here have no clue about a pre-war car....

Mac