LED Upgrade to Rear Rectangular Lights

[dcdoug]

Originally Posted by patrickt

But I think I can make them invisible to the eye when you are not touching your brakes -- maybe by even dropping down to the 3mm. Would you still they were unattractive if you could not see them when they were not lit?


EDIT -- now mind you that each of those little clear domes would be only 3mm in diameter and peek out less that 1mm!!

If you can't see it, then it would look fine when not lit, and probably odd, but safer when you hit the brakes. Possibly it could look cool when you hit the brakes, but I'm skeptical. Happy for you to show us though!

It would give RodKnock another reason to use his raceramps.

[patrickt]

I've been kind of paying attention to the middle light of the cars in front of me. It seems a lot of them now have LEDs in a short row. The other day, and I think it was something like an Audi, SAAB, or the like, seemed to have six or seven LEDs in a line and it looked pretty good. So I thought to myself, "Self, that might look really good if properly embedded in your plate light on the Cobra." I'm sure if done properly it could be absolutely undetectable and look good when it came on to boot. It's just a question of whether I can do it or not. If I screw up this one extra light fixture that I have I'm not buying a second.

[RodKnock]

I think research has shown that the 3rd brake light located that low won't be effective, or at least as much as if it were mounted in a higher location.

Personally, I think your time would be better spent driving around, stopping every 10 minutes, and opening your radiator's petcock to drain the old radiator anti-freeze, while pouring in new stuff each stop.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

I think research has shown that the 3rd brake light located that low won't be effective.

You know that's BS -- the original CMBL studies found that *any* third brake light significantly improved driver awareness.

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by patrickt

You know that's BS -- the original CMBL studies found that *any* third brake light significantly improved driver awareness.

Significantly? Oh come on. Then why are they all mounted high on new or newer cars? If it's too low, then who can see as well as one near the top of the trunk line. Drivers can be morons, did the research include morons? Seriously, who will notice those 6 little tiny holes? If you do it, then cut out a nice rectangular swath and install something really big.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

Significantly? Oh come on. The why are they all mounted high on new or newer cars? If it's too low, then who can see as well as one near the top of the trunk line. Drivers can be morons, did the research include morons? Seriously, who will notice those 6 little tiny holes? If you do it, then cut out a nice rectangular swath and install something really big.

Significantly? Absolutely. The original tests were performed on fleet taxi cabs in New York and used both high mounted center lights and other, lower, third lights. The result was a reduction of rear enders by over a third. BUT, the statistical reductions consistently declined after the adoption of the regulations requiring the third lights! It has now dropped to under five percent reduction. How could this be? The answer is that the original reduction was not caused by the location of the light itself, but rather by the novelty. The fact that there was an unusual third light is what caused the significant decline. After people became used to seeing a third light in the back window it lost a large amount of its effectiveness. Having an unusual third light is now more effective than a CHMSL.

Trust me, I'm absolutely right on this.

[RodKnock]

Then why do car manufacturers ALWAYS install them at the top of the trunk line and not near the bottom of the rear valance?

Trust you? Trust no one, just like Mulder on the X-Files.

Don't believe everything you read, Buddha also once wrote.

[dcdoug]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

Significantly? Oh come on. Then why are they all mounted high on new or newer cars? If it's too low, then who can see as well as one near the top of the trunk line. Drivers can be morons, did the research include morons? Seriously, who will notice those 6 little tiny holes? If you do it, then cut out a nice rectangular swath and install something really big.

An aircraft landing light with a red lens would get you "noticed".