ZILLA: (How-To) *REAR FOG LIGHT WITH BRAKE LIGHT* MOD!

[themadpants]

Just for clarification:

In North America since 1986, a central brake lamp, mounted higher than the vehicle's left and right brake lamps and called a "Centre High Mount Stop Lamp (CHMSL)", is also required. The CHMSL is also sometimes referred to as the "centre brake lamp", the "third brake light", the "eye-level brake lamp", the "safety brake lamp", or the "high-level brake lamp". The CHMSL may produce light by a single central filament bulb, a row or cluster of filament bulbs or LEDs, or a strip of Neon tube.
The CHMSL is intended to provide a deceleration warning to following drivers whose view of the vehicle's left and right stop lamps is blocked by interceding vehicles. It also helps to disambiguate brake vs. turn signal messages in North America, where red rear turn signals identical in appearance to stop lamps are permitted, and also can provide a redundant stop light signal in the event of a stop lamp malfunction.
The CHMSL is generally required to illuminate steadily and not permitted to flash, though U.S. regulators granted Mercedes-Benz a temporary, limited exemption to the steady-light requirement so as to evaluate whether a flashing CHMSL provides an emergency stop signal that effectively reduces the likelihood of a crash.
On passenger cars, the CHMSL may be placed above the back glass, affixed to the vehicle's interior just inside the back glass, or it may be integrated into the vehicle's deck lid or into a spoiler.

The height of the CHMSL is also regulated, in absolute terms and with respect to the mounting height of the vehicle's conventional left and right stop lamps. Depending on the left and right lamps' height, the lower edge of the CHMSL may be just above the left and right lamps' upper edge.

So that means the flashing brake lights mod people are doing is the most likely source of a fix it ticket. And that you cannot remove the factory third brake light, unless the replacement is above the standard brake lamps.

No mention of any legalities regarding a 4th brake light below the factory brake lamps from my research, so you should be good with this mod, as long as your bulb fits this specification:

In North America, the acceptable range for a single-compartment stop lamp is 80 to 300 candela

[VADER]

Any videos at night driving on road? I want to see if all 4 brake lights looks like too much..

[Gorgz]

Does anyone know if this would work in the Australian model? (FT-86)
I wouldn't mind trying it but I'm just concerned I may kill the front fog lights or "daytime" lights as they call it

[Kentonic]

@ZILLA Love this write up. I was shocked when I picked my FR-S up that this rear reflector wasn't even used!! Very upset... couldn't wait to do this DIY. I like yours better than the other ones even went out and got the dual 194s too. Hoping I get time tomorrow to do this.

[Kentonic]

Originally Posted by cto424

Zilla, any condensation issues with the sockets that you used?

Day 1 after my install it's actually really cloudly today here and my light assembly has condensation issues... Anyone know what I can do to fix this?

[kask2_6.0]

Just take the bulb back out and let the condensation evaporate out. When you put the bulb back in use a small amount of silicone on the seat of the socket and it should seal up just fine.

Chances are the socket isn't pulled tight enough to the housing to make the o-ring seal.

[DIGERATI]

Great DIY!
Love the way it turned out, especially with the blinker module.
Will be doing this too, and post more pictures/videos

Originally Posted by cobrabyte

I used the LEDs that you can purchase at AutoZone/O'reilly's. Thought they were referenced in ZILLA's original parts list.

cobrabyte, ZILLA's originally list was referencing to 194 bulbs, did you use the same? Or did you use LED? If so, which type did you use? (I like the brightness level of yours)
I prefer LED if possible, due to the concern for overheating.

Since the blinker module is for LED only, I'm guessing you used LED and not the 194 bulbs....
Thanks in advance for the info!

[cobrabyte]

Originally Posted by DIGERATI

Great DIY!
Love the way it turned out, especially with the blinker module.
Will be doing this too, and post more pictures/videos



cobrabyte, ZILLA's originally list was referencing to 194 bulbs, did you use the same? Or did you use LED? If so, which type did you use? (I like the brightness level of yours)
I prefer LED if possible, due to the concern for overheating.

Since the blinker module is for LED only, I'm guessing you used LED and not the 194 bulbs....
Thanks in advance for the info!

I did use LEDs because I didn't want to have to swap them out for a very long time.

The ones I used are here: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...er=436567_0_0_

Hope that helps!

[DIGERATI]

Originally Posted by cobrabyte

I did use LEDs because I didn't want to have to swap them out for a very long time.

The ones I used are here: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...er=436567_0_0_

Hope that helps!

thanks for the confirmation and bulb info!
I'll probably start working on this after xmas!

[tbwoodlee]

Hey @ZILLA
I am doing this set up and I have the exact same socket as you pictured. Am I correct in assuming that the black is live and the brown is ground?

[Mo707]

Did you use white or red LED's ?

[kask2_6.0]

Red

[Mo707]

does it matter which one is the + and witch one is the -?
And where did you put the ground wire?

[Mo707]

Anyone?