'97 third brake light conversion to LED

[bobflood]

Koda - couple more things:
- You will want to reuse the connector on the ballast that connected the ballast to the car (the 12V side). Splice that onto the leads from your LEDs; then you can just plug the new assembly in to the existing connector on the car.
- As you well know, LEDs are polarity sensitive - so figure out which wires are which before you splice on the connector off the ballast. On my '97, positive was dark green and ground was black.
Looking forward to hearing final resolution. Good luck.

 

[koda2000]

Koda - couple more things:
- You will want to reuse the connector on the ballast that connected the ballast to the car (the 12V side). Splice that onto the leads from your LEDs; then you can just plug the new assembly in to the existing connector on the car.
- As you well know, LEDs are polarity sensitive - so figure out which wires are which before you splice on the connector off the ballast. On my '97, positive was dark green and ground was black.
Looking forward to hearing final resolution. Good luck.

yep, I already cut the plug off the ballast and added some insulated spade terminals to it, which will be connected to the LED strip. I also tested for voltage with the brakes applied and got 12.4 v at the HMSL plug and ID'd the positive wire for the strip.

I determined that I do need the metal strip with the fingers on it that I broke off the back of the light's housing. it's there to hold the top of the light to the trim piece. I reattached it with 3 tiny screws and then relieved the back of the red lens with a round file where the screws protruded into the glue channel.

lastly, I sealed up the 2 large holes on the back of the housing, where the wires from the ballast went, with hot glue and installed a small grommet where the LED strip's wires will exit the left side of the housing. instead of the four 5/32 rivets which held the trim to the roof, I plan to use 8X1/2" drill screws. so, other than receiving my LED strip in the mail, I'm ready to go. I hope to finish up Friday evening and will post a pic the results.

thanks again for the help! this has been a fun project.

 

[koda2000]

Update:
I finally got my led strip in this afternoon’s mail. This was the right choice for this application. It’s totally sealed, cut-able to the prefect length and has a 3M adhesive strip on the back. I cut off 3 bulbs, stuck the strip inside the light housing and ran the wires out of an existing hole. I then tested it with a small 12v battery and it works perfectly. I glued the lens back onto the housing with clear silicon adhesive, sealed the wires and clamped it together. As soon as the glue dries I’ll install it back into the rear trim, plug in the wires, get someone to step on the brake pedal and take/post a picture. This is a great repair for under $15 and a huge improvement over the stock fluorescent bulb.

 

[J_C]

Make sure you aren't driving them at too high a current, some of the cheap LED strips are set up to be brighter at the expense of longevity. That setup seems to use 3528 SMD LEDs so the forward current for each series of LEDs on a strip segment should stay under ~40mA for longer lifespan.

 

[koda2000]

Update:
I finally got my led strip in this afternoon’s mail. This was the right choice for this application. It’s totally sealed, cut-able to the prefect length and has a 3M adhesive strip on the back. I cut off 3 bulbs, stuck the strip inside the light housing and ran the wires out if an existing hole. I then tested it with a small 12v battery and it works perfectly. I glued the lens back onto the housing with clear silicon adhesive, sealed the wires and clamped it together. As soon as the glue dries I’ll install it back into the rear trim, plug in the wires, get someone to step on the brake pedal and take/post a picture. This is a great repair for under $15 and a huge improvement over the stock fluorescent bulb.

All done! They should look even better at night.

[/ATTACH]

 

[delexploder]

Looks good

 

[2TimingTom]

Looks good. Nice work.

 

[koda2000]

All done! They should look even better at night.

yep, looks good at night too.

 

[weh87]

I know this is a old post but I'm looking forward to doing this on my 97 mountaineer in a week or so. Tho I'd rather just swap the hatch to the newer models. Looks better in my opinion.

 

[koda2000]

I know this is a old post but I'm looking forward to doing this on my 97 mountaineer in a week or so. Tho I'd rather just swap the hatch to the newer models. Looks better in my opinion.

you'll need to change your tail lights too and the tag location/bumper. not sure if anything else if different. wiring. I agree that the newer lift-gate looks better, but it's not worth the cost or effort for a '97 in my opinion. it was just a safety consideration thing for me.

 

[weh87]

Yea wish I would a kept my AWD 5.0 99. Bad mistake trading it off. Now I gotta 97 2wd 5.0 that I traded a $1100 grand am for.

 

[lobo411]

I'm doing this right now...sorta. I have the light out, and the LEDs are on the way. However, I need to drive the car tonight.

Is there any danger (besides with the cops) of driving the vehicle with the ballast/third brake light disconnected? I'm wondering if I might overload the other tail lamps or something.

I do have a spare light/ballast (pick a part...got them cheap ($10) but didn't fix the problem. I do have 12 VDC at the ballast, so it seems I have two bad ballasts and/or two bad lamps). I could install the spares as a dummy load until the LEDs come, but I don't want to do any unnecessary work.

 

[koda2000]

I've never heard of someone being stopped because their 3rd brake light was out. I don't even think it's a requirement. If it was a lot of old Explorer's would have gotten ticketed.

As long as the wires for the 3rd brake light can't short out on anything there's no danger in having the ballast disconnected/removed. The power feed to the ballast is 12V.

 

[poker4me007]

Mine didn't work about 2 years ago, when I went for a inspection sticker he failed me, had to go to a junk yard and get another... They should have made them like regular light bulbs Ma. is strict on some stuff...

 

[lobo411]

I've never heard of someone being stopped because their 3rd brake light was out. I don't even think it's a requirement. If it was a lot of old Explorer's would have gotten ticketed.

As long as the wires for the 3rd brake light can't short out on anything there's no danger in having the ballast disconnected/removed. The power feed to the ballast is 12V.

Awesome...thanks! I'm going on a camping/hiking trip (rental car...just don't trust the old Explorer for that kind of hard driving anymore), and I'll be back after the LEDs arrive. I wanted to have it all set up so I could just do a bit of assembly and be good to go. Luckily, my glue didn't give me much trouble once I got the lens forced away from the housing (using the oven trick). Most of the glue came off in strips, and when the going got tough I just put it back in the oven. Took me 3 hrs to get to this point, and probably 1.5 hrs of that was me trying to get the replacement ballast or light or the original parts to work in some combination.

Here in CA, you can get a fix-it ticket for a non-functioning third brake light. As I was driving to the junkyard I noticed that probably 10% of the cars out there have non-functioning third brake lights, so I think I should be fine. I thought about not even bothering to fix the light since I can never be sure that the Explorer is going to pass smog the next time around. But then you know Murphy's Law.

 

[96eb96]

I've never heard of someone being stopped because their 3rd brake light was out. I don't even think it's a requirement. If it was a lot of old Explorer's would have gotten ticketed.

As long as the wires for the 3rd brake light can't short out on anything there's no danger in having the ballast disconnected/removed. The power feed to the ballast is 12V.

Won't pass inspection in NY. That being said it is in the vehicle code and a bored cop may pull you over. I think there is an aftermarket LED 3rd brake light now for the pre 98.

 

[koda2000]

Won't pass inspection in NY. That being said it is in the vehicle code and a bored cop may pull you over. I think there is an aftermarket LED 3rd brake light now for the pre 98.

I believe Dorman offers an aftermarket LED 3rd brake light replacement, but it's like $90, plus Dorman stuff is usually crap. You can convert yours to LED for around $12 with a new LED strip, or if you're really cheap go to the junk yard and remove an LED strip from an old GM minivan. It's your time and money.

 

[J_C]

If you have a month to wait for shipping, there is an endless supply of 12V strips on ebay for around $2 and up:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_od...t=0&_from=R40&_nkw=12V+red+led+strip&_sacat=0

 

[koda2000]

If you have a month to wait for shipping, there is an endless supply of 12V strips on ebay for around $2 and up:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_od...t=0&_from=R40&_nkw=12V+red+led+strip&_sacat=0

I decided on the SuperBrightLED.com strip because it was cut-able, fully waterproof and came with the 3M adhesive on the back. They were also very helpful in making sure I bought the right product for my intended application.

 

[lobo411]

Just finished...thanks for this!

I used superbrightled.com, but the strip Koda specified is no longer sold (not surprising, given the age of the thread). They have a similar product, though, so I just ordered the red waterproof self-adhesive strip they had in stock. I also ordered wire and dolphin wire splice connectors. Didn't end up needing the wire.

The strip came with about a foot of lead wire which was encased in rubber--no need to worry about chafing. Also, the ends were pre-tinned. There was more than enough lead wire to do the job. I was lazy, so I didn't bother to solder the wires together. Instead, I cut the connector off of a spare ballast I had, twisted the wires together, secured each with dolphin connectors, coated them in RTV just to be safe, and wrapped the whole thing in gaffer's tape. I think it should be fine.

I also used #8 x 3/8" sheet metal screws to replace the rivets.