Third Brake light

[drcpub]

I'd like to put 2 more bulbs in the empty spots on the third brake light to make it brighter. I've wired the lens (spare lens) with 2 additional bulbs and am ready to try it. Before I do, would anyone have any experience with this? Any potential issues with burning fuses? Bad idea or good idea?

 

[Dirtman]

I would use LED bulbs. That circuit has pretty pathetic wiring. If you look at the dome light chances are you will already see heat marks on the wires.

 

[ericbphoto]

Dirtman makes a good point.

I’m curious. Is the whole lens red? Or are you trying to use the white cargo light parts as third brake lights?

 

[RonD]

There is just 1 brake light bulb in the cab mounted unit

The other 2 bulbs are for cargo lights that are controlled by the "dimmer" wheel, they would come on when Dome light in cab comes on when "wheel" is turned all the way up


If you only have the 2 wires then it wasn't wired for cargo lights, looks like this: https://www.ranger-forums.com/attachments/general-ford-ranger-discussion-15/214694d1505446469-cargo-light-upgrade-img_20170914_172833.jpg

And lens would be red all the way across

Cargo light option had clear/white lens's on each side of center red lens

Yes, if you have just the one red lens you could splice in to the two wires and add 2 more bulbs, no it would be fine to add 2 bulbs to the circuit, but would heat up inside the lens and in the wires

Better to use 3 LED bulbs for this, less amps, but also longer lasting and brighter

 

[drcpub]

The whole lens is red. Can you look at how I wired it? Look ok to you? I just ordered LED bulbs. Think that's a better idea the the regular bulbs. Less voltage. See there is that roll cage thing blocking the light. So I'm trying to make it brighter so it stands out more behind the bar.

 

[RonD]

Yes, wiring looks OK, but no one can SEE that light, because of obstructions, lol
Not sure "brighter" will help that

Why not add a 3rd brake light to the "roll bar"?
Run a wire from the tail light harness, you would need a 2 to 3 wire converter to pull just the brake light signal in a 2004

You can get self contained LED units that are easy to install
Converter might be nice to have for trailer wiring plug in

OR

You could mount one of those on each side rear of "roll bar" and wire them direct to each side rear turn/brake wire
double turn and brake lights

 

[ericbphoto]

The wiring does NOT look right to me. All 3 black wires should be connected to one terminal of the plug and all 3 white wires should be connected together to the other terminal on the plug. That is called connecting them in parallel.

 

[Dirtman]

The wiring does NOT look right to me. All 3 black wires should be connected to one terminal of the plug and all 3 white wires should be connected together to the other terminal on the plug. That is called connecting them in parallel.

Having them in series like that would work fine for incandescent bulbs but not LED.

 

[RonD]

Yes, that would be better

All 3 brown wires to trucks Green wire
All 3 black wires to trucks Black wire

That would also make them brighter

 

[drcpub]

Wow thank you for your input, that would have been a mistake on my part. It was my intention to use incandescent bulbs in the beginning. I will revisit it and hook them as you suggest. Again TY

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

One LED will probably be brighter than several incandecent bulbs anyway...

I installed LED's for the cargo lights on my F-150, they are awesome.

 

[Dirtman]

It's almost not worth the time and effort since you can buy a brand new LED third brake light/cargo light for like 20-30 bucks...

I put this one on my truck and its crazy bright. Yea its china crap but its been working for several years.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B089Y55JMR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1