How to Run Wires for 3rd Brake Light Mod?

[madspaniard]

interesting reading on those tap splices or vampire clips

http://tech.bareasschoppers.com/resources/the-problem-with-wire-tap-connectors/
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1991 Westy auto w/ Peloquin TBD

"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad” - Salvador Dali

[RBEmerson]

Plan A is to actually do soldered splices and follow up with heatshrink tubing. Plan B is using well-crimped butt splices. That doesn't always fly if you're combining, for example, two 16 gauge wires - too big for a red connector at one end and too small for a blue connector at the other end. Although you can always pack the single wire end with an extra bit of the same wire. The trick is to get a good crimp on everything.
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Lord, give me coffee to change the things I can change, and wine to accept the things I can't change.

[climberjohn]

[RBEmerson]

I can't say as I'm a fan of them, either. It helps to use the right size clip for the wire being used. Using blue clips with 18 gauge wire, for example, isn't a winner and the same is true of using a red clip and 14 gauge wire. But, yeah, "vampire clips" often cause more trouble than they avoid.
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Lord, give me coffee to change the things I can change, and wine to accept the things I can't change.

[Chris Vellat]

Scotchlok's (aka vampire clips) are about the worst connection that can be made, they're easy and just as sleazy...The cutter is biting through the insulation of the original wire and usually does damage to the stranded conductors. They're often the source of a wiring problem, not the resolution.
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(3) '69's
'67 Baja
'74 Super
'73 Bay
(2) '77's

[RBEmerson]

Three comments on brake light flashers: 1) they work best with LED's (incandescent lamps are too slow for fast blink rates to be effective), 2) some flashers aren't legal in some states (the idea being to avoid confusion with emergency vehicles), and 3) it's been shown the "impaired" drivers often fixate on blinking lights and forget what they should be doing. That being said, a brief burst of fast strobing seems to be legal, gets people's attention, but doesn't give a target to fixate on.

I looked into this for my motorcycle and the above is the distillation of what I found out. I have a quick burst of strobing in the LED brake lights and... eh, so far, nobody's tagged me from behind.
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Lord, give me coffee to change the things I can change, and wine to accept the things I can't change.

[hans j]

This is going to be one of my first mods for sure, but I'm going to add in a flasher module for the center high light.

Similar to this: http://www.3rdbrakeflasher.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65&products_id=181


Link

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1986 Canadian Syncro Westy TDI - 1989 Syncro Single Cab - 2001 Audi S4 - 1981 VW Caddy ABA - 1980 VW Caddy EV - 1973 VW T-181

[Ahwahnee]

[RBEmerson]

Ahwahnee, is that a Daniel Stern light, too?
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Lord, give me coffee to change the things I can change, and wine to accept the things I can't change.

[Ahwahnee]

Since this has come up again I'll mention yet another way to run the hot wire for a 3rd brake light that is mounted on the tailgate/glass.

I ran the single hot wire thru the same little boot used for the rear window defroster, then along the inside of the top section above the rear glass. Finally, out thru a small hole drilled behind where the lamp is mounted (hole is under the curtain rod in the pic).

Only one wire was run as the light is grounded right there where it mounts to the hatch.

[madspaniard]

[Mang]

Hi Mad, where did you get the irrigation black tubing? I was trying to find a roll of it when I wired up my over-the-bench light.

Nice job!
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'87 Westy 2.1 WBX

[madspaniard]

finally finished 3rd brake light install, my 3rd brake light is the very last item on this page below
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html

drilled a hole and ran wire from center of van to left side where you can see stock ground wires coming out of hole. I used a coat hanger wire to fish 3rd brake light wirs. I then used a grommet and some irrigation black tubing to protect wires as they run into the van. Pics below explain everything.

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1991 Westy auto w/ Peloquin TBD

"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad” - Salvador Dali

[randywebb]

if you mean RTV, no - that does not waterproof an electrical connection

(I found that out after skiing an electronic datalogger and some instruments up a mtn. on my back decades ago...)
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1986 2.1L Westy 2wd Auto Trans.

[PDXWesty]

You can most likely cut, splice, solder, wrap, crimp, modify, or wire it any way you want to your hearts content as long as you're tapping into the correct wire. The crimp on splice makes the job really easy. If you're really worried, fill it with silicone before closing it up. That would make it waterproof for sure.
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89 Westy 2.1 Auto

[randywebb]

I wonder if anyone knows of a more "waterproof" to attach a wire for the 3rd brake light than to just crimp one of those blue taps onto the existing wire?

also, is there a better (less exposed) place to tap into the existing wire than just behind the Left tail light?
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1986 2.1L Westy 2wd Auto Trans.

[K58]

I ran my wire down the left side of the cabinet through the engine lid to the light and tap spliced it ...easiest route and it works great

[airkooledchris]

too bad. if you have that same cabinet in the back, its at the very least a good place to route wires as you can hide them up the back of the cabinet.

[Home Team Van]

it appears that I don't have those rubber grommets on the my diesel westy but I see where the plug would go. Maybe I'll just drill a whole through in that spot. I appreciate you taking the time to post your pics.
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82 Diesel Westy

[airkooledchris]