I bought it at JC Whitney for about $15. (archive)

It's a compact unit about 7" long by 1" high. Because of the low current requirements I simply spliced into the rear brake wires. I mounted it up high by attaching a flat bracket to the rear headliner cover. The cover just slides off so it was easy to attach the mounting bracket to the back of it and to route the wires into the trunk.

In order to eliminate glare, I also glued some thin plastic sheets onto the sides and bottom of the unit so that, when mounted it followed the angle of the rear window. I then repainted the whole thing flat black. If you can find a unit that has an adjustable glare cover then you can avoid the work of creating one like I did. But since this car is my hobby and, therefore, fun to work on, I didn't see it as actual work.

LED's are very directional, so you need to pay attention to the mounting angle in order to achieve the brightest output from the rear.

I wonder if Polaroid's scan well. If so I'll post some pics. Yeah, I know I'm a little behind on that technology front, especially considering that I'm in the technology business. Didn't someone once say that a plumber's house always leaks?

demet

I,too am following this LED 3BL idea. We've
all come close to a rearender, and this might help our odds! Jc whitney has a nice selection of led based light that might work for this application.... check it out @ jcwhitney.com

I saw your post earlier regarding adding an LED as a third brake light. Do you have a picture please? How did you wire it and where did you purchase it.

Thanks!

Follow Ups:

Demet, Polaroids Scan Very Well. ....more Joe IV '85 735i 21:39 3/25/2002 (0)
Thanks all! EOM Randy '83 733i Des Moines, Iowa 21:29 3/25/2002 (0)

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