///MDex

Another CL memeber, williard west, has mentioned this as a solution, so I'm looking for some coroboration. I have PM'd him for additional info as well.

Where can they be had? I've done some looking inline, but I'm not an electrical kind of guy, so not sure if I'm really finding what I'm looking for.

Radio Shack doesn't seem to list one, and that's the extent of my electrial shopping knowledge rope.

Who's done it, and do you have any pics?

Thanks

BananaGS

27ohm, 10W eh, i may give that a try

just take apart the 3rh brake assembly, put a big piece of black duct tape on the red lense (red platic window), re-install this lense back to the brake assembly. no more light showing in the back, look awsome too===> free if you have the duct tape at home.


Anh

///MDex

Here's teh copy and pasted reply I got from WW:


SO, now, how do you encase it? In elctrical tape?

///MDex

Yep - I've done that. I just want to get rid of the housing altogether.

BananaGS

Dexter, ask the guy how did he wire his resistors, here is the nice picture that PearlGS400 draw showing the 3rd brake light circuit

2 set of wires, how do you series 3 resistors on 5 missing light bulbs, more like 5 resisters, one for each light , don't you think?

///MDex

This is what WW sent me most recently:

I mounted the resisters on a pre-perforated circuit board which I mounted on the back of the light fixture itself. The resisters will generate a lot of heat so don't try to cover them.

Is this safe? A fire hazard in the trunk you think?

Maybe we can lure wwest in to the thread to explain it to us...

Pictures would help immensely.

BananaGS

quick calculation showed that 5W bulb has a roughly 27-28ohm impedance.==> my guess is this is how he did it

BananaGS

Dexter, also, 3 - 5W Resister in series does not make a 10W resister, just make a 27ohm ~5. W max resister. If the picture I draw is the correct schematic that West used, then you can just get a 30ohm 10W resistor, put it in a box or something, a higher resister value would reduce the current ==> less HEAT

factory 3rd brake light has 5 bulbs, total power usage is 25W
the good thing is your resistor will not be on all the time, only when you brake. so it won't get too too hot hee hee, but the risk is there

///MDex

Thanks for the info - I may try and tackle this myself - I'm the most anti-electrical person - I don't like cutting wires and stuff.

So would I take out the housing, take it apart, cut the wire (which one?) place teh resistor in-line, then solder it back together, and mount it all on a plate onto the underside of the rear deck?

willard west

First of all something I don't under stand...

My 2000 GS300 only had one bulb in the rear deck "third" brake light, and I simply dropped that bulb into the trunk through a hole I drilled for that purpose.

But, on my 92 LS, trunk mounted tail, parking, lamps, 27 Ohms was the highest resistance (lowest power, heat)I could go and still have the ECU "sense" a filament load.

And that same arrangement has worked for my 2001 Rx300 and my 2000 GS300 "trunk" lid tail lamps.

I don't have any idea where that 5 bulb circuit diagram is from but I will look over the shop manuals tonight when I get home.

Oh, is the five bulb circuit the spoiler light?

Three 2 watt resisters will fail over a period of time due to over-heating, but without danger of a fire. Three 5 watt 9 ohm resisters will work best.

///MDex

WAIT

Couldn't I just cut the wire leading to the housing in the fisrt place and attach (solder / tape) the 30o 10w resistor to the end?

I'm going to take apart the housing itself tonight and take some pics, then post em here.

///MDex

OK - here's what I have found out so far...........

1. There are 5 bulbs in there, and they sit on a stalk that comes out really easily with two small detent clips on the ends of the stalk. see pic below

2. Just for kicks, I started my car to see if I would get a warning light about the rear light being 'out' - nope.....though I didn't put it in Drive; I'll try that next.

So maybe all I need to do is recover / rebuild the deck???

wwest

ECU won't turn on the diagnostic indicator until you apply the brakes and no current flows to the missing filament(s).

///MDex

Ahhhh - wait - I thought the ECU did everything as startup?

I will test your theory in the morning....

///MDex

Yep!

Back to the resistor drawing board!

I might drop by my audio shop this weekend and see what they can fab up....they do really clean work. I like clean.