Vee-Chai's new Brake Lights Part I

I got this sometime ago and due to a lot of things happening, it was only now that I can have a look at it. Basically, this is an LED drop-in replacement for the bulbs in Vee-chai's third brake light. I like to use as much LEDs in cars as legally as possible. Not only do they save petrol but more importantly, it saves me money. Furthermore, unlike bulbs, LEDs have a fast response time.

Don't believe me?

When you're out driving, the brake pedal is the most often stepped pedal in the car. When you step on the brake pedal, the brake lights comes on. And when you're in a traffic jam, they would be on most of the time since no one wants to use the handbrake. And no, this is not the part where money goes down the drain.

If you have the opportunity to open up a rear light cluster, get someone to press the brake pedal and note how hot the brake light bulb is, in a matter of seconds. Imagine this being on for hours. Still with me?

OK. Now note the material used for the bulb holder. Its partially melted now, right? Because when it melts, the contacts are going and not only that, it creates the symptoms of a faulty bulb too. This is the part which you lose money because you need to change that holder, either from the Service Center or from a junkyard.

But luckily for me, Vee-chai used LEDs for brake lights. And I am buying this for fun because it does not make sense where the third brake light uses bulbs while the other lights are using LEDs.

When I opened up the thing, its actually in two parts; the controller and the LED assembly.
For the price I am getting, I am not complaining. Its just that this third brake light flashes and the salesgirl has already told me a few times. I was confident I could modify it to stay constantly on. Luckily, I was right. All it needed was just one wire....

But just in case, I upgraded the resistors to 1watt versions. This is because in a 12volt car, the current generated from the batteries can melt thick wires. I have experienced this many times.

Anyway, the modification is complete. Note the square LEDs which are actually called Piranhas and they're very, very bright. almost to those of 1watt Luxeons.

As this is a direct replacement, the silver reflectors are a perfect fit for Vee-Chai's original casing.

What you need to do is to remove the original bulb, push the supplied connector in and you're done.

I want to show you this because the design of the connectors allows you to fit in the 1watt resistors.

Its blindingly bright. I had to take a few shots before this one came out perfect.

And one good thing is, yes, LEDs are polarity sensitive which means, if you plugged it in wrongly, they would not light up. But the manufacturer of this third brake light has thought of that. See the four black diodes in the middle of the photo? Their job is to make sure the circuit works regardles of which side you plug the thing in. Despite the loss of 1.4volts, the LEDs are still bright.

So, for you guys out there who wish to convert your stock third brake light into LED version and without having to change the whole casing, this kit is a great solution for you.

How to install the whole thingamajic yourself...