TomoHawk

I think that would be really bad. I've had a couple close calls from people driving alongside me, with the driver looking at the car, and drifting into my lane! Similarly, if you had something like a bumper sticker that was hard to read unless you were very close- you know what would happen if you had to suddenly brake... But I see your point- to have a warning device that is unmistakable. You want them to be aware there is a vehicle in front of them, but not to be obsessed so they stop paying attention to safe driving........

Anyway, if I was to use an LED brake light flasher/strobe, I would use this one. It's only 15x15mm, so it could fit inside the lamp case, and handles up to 100W of bulbs or LEDs. It's also fully-programmable, so you can control the initial strobe rate, the strobe duration, the total time of a cycle, and if it repeats, etc. The only extra thing it needs is a momentary pushbutton for the programming stuff. It's only $20.

Do people really watch your license plate frame to see if there are amber lights? If I saw one light up amber, I wouldn't think anything of it, but if the 3rd brake lit up amber, I might think to ge off the gas. This idea seams to be looking less practical, IMO.

That's the beauty of the LEDs. Except for the way Cadillac used them for the high brake lamp ALL the way across the trunklid, a row of them, all red or a combination of colors, can be very useful. And as LEDs like to be flashed, the flash pattern can be just as useful, as long as the pattern has meaning and plays into the short attention-span of the "average driver." Would a driver really understand the amber lights as a deceleration warning? What are the kids learning in their Driver's Ed classes? This sounds like a motorcycle thing, so ask some of them for input regarding amber deceleration lights. A California Law Washing state Law http://www.bikealertsystem.com/ The California law says that the amber lamps can be not higher than the bottom of the rear window, so that means it has to be mounted to the rear of the trunklid of the car, or on the edge of the hatch for a Zed. So they want you to hack holes in the body to be safe...

A YouTube video got me to wonder if you could hook up an electronic flasherbox to the hazard lamps. The idea would be to have hazard lights that flash quickly, getting attention from drivers, who easily ignore the steady flash of turn signals or normal hazard lights. You would need to change them all to LEDs first. The hazard lights would then flash 2-3 times each cycle. If I had one of those strobe boxes, I'd try it over the winter, since I tossed the old thermo-mechanical flasher already, and need a new, electric flasher unit. Too bad flasher modules aren't adjustable. Since they are solid-state, they could have a tiny music chip and speaker inside (like the electronic birthday cards) andplay you a tune during your turn!

The motorcycle thing has a microprocessor and a G-sensor to detect speed changes, so I wonder how well it would really work, and could possibly give misleading flashes. Bicyclists have the bouncy red LED or a flashing red LED light for their "protection, but I think they could do better with a randomly strobing red/yellow LED. Motorists get used to ignoring the steady flash of red warning lights, not realizing it could be from a cyclist, but strobing lights, like those on a Police or emergency vehicle demand more attention.

There's already a motorcycle flasher that senses stuff like downshifting and raking, and flashes the lights differently: http://www.gizmag.com/vololights-motorcycle-braking-light/27492/

I like the idea of alternating a little strobing with the steady red light, but several seconds of strobing would really get annoying to people behind you (sitting in a car.) That would work well for a motorcycle, where the brake lamp is lower to the ground, or a Police or Emergency vehicle as a warning light, but for a car brake light what you would really want is just a few quick flashes to remind what's behind you that you're still stopped.

OK, so stay away from any of those brake light flasher boxes that flash the light more than a few times. I don't see any reason how flashing a brake light for 3 seconds will save you in a panic stop or rush-hour traffic, so those flasher boxes are really just a waste of your money.

I was looking at some circuits for the flasher, and a few of them mentioned it was declared illegal. Apparently, the strobing could induce seizures in drivers, so it was no longer used. I don't see how one or two strobes could hurt anyone, like a camera's flash. Update: Actually, it's a sustained strobing or flashing that was causing the seizures. There was an experiment to flash the red traffic light so drivers would notice it better, but it caused a few seizures, so it was abandoned.

Yes, the LEDs have that snap of an on-time, so as you probably noticed from the Earlier Cadillacs, so you really took notice of them as brake lamps. I think I will add only one pair of LEDs on the ends to my brake lamp, so they won't be mistaken for brake lights. The idea of a message board would worry me. Too many drivers have enough trouble watching the road and reading/obeying traffic signs, so asking them to read a message would gives me concern. If it flashed a solid red for braking, they would be fine. If it had an arrow as a turn indicator, that ought to be fine too. I haven't found one, but there has to be a circuit somewhere that would STROBE, not flash, the LEDs one before lighting them solidly. The only circuits or electronic boxes I've seen pulse the LEDs slowly, which doesn't add and kind of safety to having LEDs. Maybe one of our gadget gurus here could come up with such a thing.

I remember back then that cars would go around with one or both brake lamps out, so the 3rd brake lamp was welcome, so you didn't have to concentrate on the car ahead of you, to see if it was slowing down or braking. Plus, some trucks would tow trailers with no brake lights on them. And with several bulbs or LEDs in the newer lamps, you could be confident that at least some will light up when braking.

There are a lot of accessories that have red LED brake lamps on them. One is a license plate bracket with a license plate lamp and red LED 3rd brake lamp. One was a combination 3rd brake lamp and backup lamp, and one was a license plate frame with embedded red LEDs.

That's not a bad idea. A magnetic switch would control the power. You might wizz off some people following you for a long time if they see the red (brake) light come on every time you coast, and would otherwise learn to ignore it, which would not be good, The alternative color, or a smaller/partial red area would allow you both the warning, and brake function.

I witnessed a couple rear-end night-time collisions over the summer, so it got me a little worried for my own car. I bought an LED 3rd-brake lamp, and I can add that to the back window somehow (double-faced tape or screws into bosses.) I thought I would like to add a pair of small red LEDs as parking lamps so I can add some extra safety when the brake lights are not on. Is that usually something you would be permitted to do? It's just there to act as an extra parking light, not as a brake light, and when you press the brakes all 50 LEDs will turn on. thxZ

The goal is not to decarbonize the cylinder head, ports, or combustion camber. the goal is to remove the baked-on oil 'varnish' inside the intake manifold. I tried the oven cleaner, and it had little or no effect. I looks like the Mopar product is the best possibility of all the suggestions, but is available in only a few places in the U.S.

If that's the case, then either some wiped off the colors, or changed the wiring. Get out your good work lamp. and make a diagram with the wire colors noted.

Which course will be use for ZCON? They have several road courses.

I thought the ring was some kind of dual exhaust, because of how low it hangs.

First, you should get a good copy of the wiring diagram for your car. Then if you need to, follow the wires from the lamp sockets back to the connector that's under the rear deck. If the PO spliced in new sockets for the lamps, you should probably have the original wires going to that connector toward the front of the car. Then you could decript what was done between the connector and the sockets. There should also be some threads detailing which bulbs or sockets are for which function; turn signal, brake, etc., so do a little searching.

Maybe I can make it there next year. Blue- there is a problem with the video link in Post #6. The screen just says Video unavailable. You can see the same video from the ZCON website.

What about those Can-Bus LEDs? Can we use those for the Zed? I was considering using a dome lamp bulb that had some CREE LED chips on it, and it should light things up well. 9W LED Festoon Dome Light Car Bulb 3x Cree SMD 3021 3022 DE3175 White

You can ban the stuff, but people will still use it, thinking they are making driving "safer." You see it every night when you drive a busy two-lane suburban road. I have known some people who say you should use the "off-road use only" stuff because it will light the road better, because it was made for off-road use. I had considered the LED bulbs, but after reading the critique of HID conversion bulbs, I agree that you most likely can't directly swap in an LED bulb for something like a headlamp or fog lamp, because you really can't be sure that the light will be directed in the right place. For other uses, like the gauges, tail lamps, dome lamps, flashlights, etc., LED bulbs can provide satisfactory illumination. Since they claim the LED bulbs will last for 100,000 hours, I'd say the American manufacturers will get upset and redesign them to fail sooner, like today's filament bulbs, so you will need to buy them more often, so in that way, things will stay about the same. That is, unless the entire automotive parts and supply marketing system will accept selling only 1/10 the amount of bulbs they were selling. I think I will get one or two H3 LED bulbs, to use as lighting for a work light, emergencies, parties, or off-road fun.

So after reading some of those Sterne Documents, I would conclude that if you want more light or brighter bulbs, buy bulbs with more watts! Maybe one day there will be headlamps that "light up" the nighttime roadway as if it was midday in the summer, but you'll probably need special glasses too- something like the infrared lighting from a SciFi movie. In the meantime, keep your alternator or generator working well, clean our connections and switches, and use good wiring.

While looking for (an H3 bulb) at the AP store, I noticed all those Sylvania bulbs with the blue tint, that cost $50-plus dollars. I just said NO to those and got a cheap one. I just need to get the lamps mounted, wired, and tested. I can decide later if I need anything special, and I have all winter to get informed, but I'd thought Is start here- you get can some straight, plain-English poop here. I keep thinking, with the way companies keep tabs on their competition, if PIAA has a bulb that's bright or more efficient, then all the other suppliers will have it too, so there's no rush or reason to get one today. In stead of the white or tinted bulbs, I'd rather change them every Spring or Summer. They get dim over time, so a fresh bulb annually or bi-annually may be better for my needs than white or tinted light. Besides, I always complain about the over-bright lights other vehicles have.