NCC-2000

Brown is parking, black is ground(obviously) and the last one is brake. I think it's usually blue or yellow or something, not sure anymore.

Gestapo007

iTrader: (2)

yea I got it, didnt realised my father had a test light. i finished one light. What a pain in the ass omfg. This is by far the biggest pain in the ass project ever lol. The sealant around the housing sucks ass. Tried everything then finally got it b4 I busted the hell out of the lens. 2nd one was a little easier after i put it in the oven after i dremeled and drilled then i cooked and pryed till it seperated. lol



Finsihed mine tonight. OMG pain in the ass. hacking up reverse lights is not for the faint hearted but i finally did it, wired it up to parking lights. Dont have resistors or **** because I dont want them as turn signals. The uneven blinking bothers me a little and I just like the always on thing. It does kinda illuminate the center part but since my lights are heavily nightshaded it looks bad ass.

And I got 9.5" LED strips wich were too short so I had to cot and sodder and ugh. nightmare lol. PIC!

buellfooll

Well I put 32 LEDs in my 3rd brake light now the cruise don't work. IDEAS???

For anybody that's interested.
http://www.superbrightleds.com/led_prods.htm

elite1

Pretty good stuff gestapo. Did you do that with an LED strip? I was thinking about doing my third brake light with a LED strip. I just gotta dive into the backup/rear lights how-tos. Im a pro on the headlights, lol!

buellfooll

Look up one post. I just put a LED strip in my 09 and now the cruise don't work. It is a 12 volt strip so I don't know how to put the extra resistance in the line without dimming the strip. The third brake light enables the cruise.

If you haven't been to this site yet try it. It's got every kind od LED you'll ever need for automotive use.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/led_prods.htm

Gestapo007

iTrader: (2)

I got an LED 3rd brake light too, and I have the same problem. Resistors will be fine and your light will still be bright. Iv been buying resistors and cant find one big enough to enable the cruise. I gotta add one more and see how it works.

Yea it was with an LED strip. and look for a "Nighthawk LED 3rd brake light"

NCC-2000

A simple way to get an LED third brake light is to find an Impala in a junkyard (2000-2005 model) and take the third brake light from that, it uses an LED strip instead of bulbs. I have this installed and my cruise works fine.

As far as LED bulbs are concerned, I much prefer the selection from www.v-leds.com since their bulbs are quality products and haven't failed me yet.

metroplex

What about replacing the 3 bulbs in the 3rd brake light with 3 LED replacements?

I've done that in my Fords and it has never affected the cruise control.

buellfooll

I wish it was that easy. After much research and some wisdom from "origami78", THANK YOU origami78, I think I've got the problem figured out. The 3rd, center, brake light enables the Cruise. To get the cruise to work after you start the car you MUST tap the brakes to light that lamp. The electronic cruise senses that light and turns the cruise on. If those bulbs burn out you won't have cruise. The LEDs don't draw enough current to do the job of the 3 912's. Sounds crazy but it's true. If I had been smart I would have just used a LED assy from a Impala as someone mentioned. But being a smart ass I wanted MORE LEDs. So now I have 30 of them. What I needed is a 6 OHM resistor ACROSS (between) the wires going to the lamp assy. But it has to be a heavy duty one. Like 50 watts. The little 2 watters I was trying were about to set the car on fire. So then I got a 5 watt. Stepped on the brakes once and fried that one. Found the exact resistor made special for that purpose on a couple of sites with prices ranging from $15 plus $9.95 shipping to $4.95 with $5 ship. WHEW!!!! I'm glad this is almost over. The resistor is on order. No more ******* LEDs for me.

Thanks for everybodys help anyway.

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

lol thats crazy because i have the nighthawk 3rd brake replacement offered by mod preformance and i havent had any issues

Gestapo007

iTrader: (2)

i got the same one and my cruise wont work

buellfooll

Like I said, I did some research and learned the 3rd brake light must be working WITH THE PROPER RESISTANCE. The LEDs have like zero resistance (acrually it is infinite resistance) so a resistor must be put in the circuit to simulate the resistance of the 3 incandescant bulbs. This is the page with the resistor you will need and at a price everybody can afford.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...gi?product=CAR
The item you want is the "RL650 Tail Light Load Resistor Kit".

It's possible the Nighthawk, which I can't find anywhere on line, already has the resistor built in? The only Mod Performance I found appears to be primarily a mod INSTALLER in which case they, hopefully, would know the resistor has to be in there.

If you want to let me be the Guinea pig on this, my resistor is on the way and I should have it installed this weekend and will post the results. I ended up putting my stock, butchered, lamp back on for the time being and with it the cruise, as expected, works fine.

metroplex

Just pull your 3 bulbs and see if the cruise control works. If the CC works, the resistance of the bulbs has nothing to do with it.

buellfooll

Been there, done that. I know what the problem is. The three stock incandesant bulbs are wired in parallel and measure 6 OHMs across them. This resistance is required for the electronic Cruise to sense the current draw, in the neighborhood of 8 or 8 amps, required to enable the Cruise. The LEDs have no measurable resistance across them, thus almost zero current draw. The current draw across the LEDs is around 175 ma. Not enough to enable the Cruise. The 6 OHM resistor wired in parallel across th LEDs simulates the 6 OMS across the stock bulbs. BINGO!! You got your Cruise back. Along with a 30 LED light strip that looks SICK.

To answer your question directly. With the stock bulbs installed, with their associated 6 OHMs, the Cruise works. With NO bulbs, or with the LEDs only, both with ZERO (infinite resistance) OHM's, the Cruise DOESN'T work. Period!!

I've been looking for the "Nighthawk" lamp and/or "Performance Mod" and can't find either one. Got a link??

Ford and Chevy, obviously us different Cruise circuitry.

To"Gestapo007". Be careful with the resistors!! Small, 2 watt or less, like you find in Radio Shack will set anything touching them on fire. I tried a 5 watt wirewound and poped it the minute I touched the brake pedal. You need a HIGH POWER resistor like the one I referenced above. It is a 50 watt resistor and is made for this expressed purpose. Good luck.

warrenb213

ok so you have your third brake light leds wired....why wouldn't you just put a 6ohm resistor at the end of the chain? that way leds wouldn't dim, and six ohms of resistance would be recognized.....

buellfooll

It might work that way but LED sellers online tell you to put the resistor in parallel. I used to know all this stuff 40 years ago working on radar in the air Force and the Lunar model after. But I've been away from electronics since 1969. I stail remember a couple of formulas but not much of the theory. It's a bitch getting old!

LTBALTBMX

I did some calculations on the size of resistor I will need to dim the leds for when the brakes are not applied. The strips I'm using operate on 12 v @ 85 mA. I calculated the resistance of the strip from this information which I found to be 141 ohms. I then calculated the current draw at 9 volts by taking 9 volts divided by 141 ohms which yielded 63 mA. To calculate the resistor I needed, I took 12 - 9 divided by 63 mA and got 48 ohms. I don't think this is right however; seeing as how somebody earlier used a 20 K Ohm pot for their lights... help?

buellfooll

I think you're going about this the wrong way. LED's are meant to operate at a (ONE) design voltage. The light output is increased or decreased by adding or removing LED's the same way as having two filaments in a brake light bulb. One element for the running light and another for the brake light. Hence 2 wires going to it. The following links might help you. I know it helped me when I replaced the high level, third, brake light assembly with LED's. The cruise wouldn't work without 10W, 6 oHM resistors across the LED strip. The second link has the resistors you will need for EACH LED.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/led_p...FQi_sgodlQ5KnA

http://www.superbrightleds.com/tail-brake-turn.html

Good luck.

LTBALTBMX

Thank you but decreasing voltage by adding resistance will dim led's regardless, much like a dying battery.

RevolverXV

Link is down

kretty

i would like to do this mod, but yeah, no link.... its for sale though. haha

rectorc08

iTrader: (16)

Here are my LED Taillights.

I'd say they aren't too hard to do. It's just a ***** to get them apart.