Looking for suggestions on a third brake light

mudcrewsr

mudcrewsr

Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2012
Location
Wilmington NC
So I went to get my jeep inspected today and the inspector would not inspect it because I did not have a third brake light. Nice of him to deny me before he actually inspected it but still a PIA as I need to install a light now.

I don't have the OEM tire carrier (or any carrier for that matter) so I am looking to install something right on the rear door but I don't want to install some big bulky light.

Any suggestions for any low profile lights? I still have the stock lights on the rear and the wiring to the third light. I was thinking of going LED but would I need to use a different fuse or converter for the tail light? I remember when I installed my LED turn signals in the front since the rear was still using stock lighting I had to install a different relay to slow down the flashers. Not sure if the same would be needed for the taillight.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
state law as of just recently says only one brake light has to work, let the flaming begin, but call DMV they will back me up. Politicians voted to change the law due to those really expensive LEDs on their Jags and Caddis. If you do put one on the wiring on the led will not need anything special on the brake circuit, if you want to cut a hole in your hatch, those flush mount oval lights from auto zone or any of those places would work fine!!
 
Infamous1 said:
state law as of just recently says only one brake light has to work, let the flaming begin, but call DMV they will back me up. Politicians voted to change the law due to those really expensive LEDs on their Jags and Caddis. If you do put one on the wiring on the led will not need anything special on the brake circuit, if you want to cut a hole in your hatch, those flush mount oval lights from auto zone or any of those places would work fine!!
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X2 on the law. Northern tool has little round trailer clearance lights that install in a 3/4" hole. They're LED and fairly bright. That may satisfy the inspector. But we were told in inspection class last time through that you only needed one working brake light.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk
 
I run one of these. It mounts behind your plate...offers third brake light and light for the plate. Keeps you legal.

liteplate.jpg



http://www.offroadonly.com/Products/LED_Lighting/plate_light.shtml
 
x3 ONE and only ONE brake light is required. that's from a passed inspector and the DMV and the instructor :)

Oh and the guy inspecting it is not allowed to tell you it will fail. he must do the inspection and then tell you you failed. And not only but also that would mean he'd probably be fined if you just take it somewhere else and he failed you on criteria that isn't fail-worthy. FWIW
 
If we're talking a TJ here you should be able to wire up to the factory 3rd brake light circuit inside the back door. If you still have the contact mechanism that makes the connection just wire an LED of your choice into that and mount as you like and you're done. No relays are anything like the blinkers, as the back door circuit is just a brake light circuit. Just get the polarity right on the LED so it lights up. I did this on my rear tire carrier recently using a cheap 2 inch round LED I picked up at Northern tool. Just wired it in and mounted it into a piece of tail pipe using the LED rubber grommet it came with. I mounted in the center of my spare using a short piece of 2 1/4 pipe tailpipe, the thin pipe worked perfectly to slip the grommet lip over. I tack welded the pipe sleeve onto my tire carrier and worked perfect. I thought I had to have it for inspection, if I had known I didn't I probably wouldn't have screwed with it. Was kinda fun to do though.



21R.JPG
 
If we're talking a TJ here you should be able to wire up to the factory 3rd brake light circuit inside the back door. If you still have the contact mechanism that makes the connection just wire an LED of your choice into that and mount as you like and you're done. No relays are anything like the blinkers, as the back door circuit is just a brake light circuit. Just get the polarity right on the LED so it lights up. I did this on my rear tire carrier recently using a cheap 2 inch round LED I picked up at Northern tool. Just wired it in and mounted it into a piece of tail pipe using the LED rubber grommet it came with. I mounted in the center of my spare using a short piece of 2 1/4 pipe tailpipe, the thin pipe worked perfectly to slip the grommet lip over. I tack welded the pipe sleeve onto my tire carrier and worked perfect. I thought I had to have it for inspection, if I had known I didn't I probably wouldn't have screwed with it. Was kinda fun to do though.



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Hopefully you've already gotten this passed, but in case you haven't Advance or AutoZone (can't remember which) sells a LED license plate light that surrounds your plate & has a 3rd wire for brakes so it lights up red when you brake. May be a cheaper option & you wouldn't have to fool around with making any kind of mount.
 
Lurch830 said:
Hopefully you've already gotten this passed, but in case you haven't Advance or AutoZone (can't remember which) sells a LED license plate light that surrounds your plate & has a 3rd wire for brakes so it lights up red when you brake. May be a cheaper option & you wouldn't have to fool around with making any kind of mount.
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thanks all. I managed to take the jeep to another tech and he looked at me like I was crazy when I mentioned the third brake light. Passed with no issues. Thanks for all the tips though, a lot of good info and suggestions, if I have to get one in the future I know what to do.
 
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