andrewewing

Some may remember a thread I wrote about a year ago about the installation of a module on the hi-mount brake light that causes it to flash off and on when the brake pedal is depressed for more than 2 seconds. It's advertised on a Miata site and I thought it would be a worthwhile safety addition.

Well it worked great, at least for a while. Recently noticed my hi-mount light wasn't working. Only a bulb I thought. Checked shop manual and discovered there is no bulb replacement. It's an LED and you have the "REPLACE THE WHOLE ASSEMBLY"! Big bucks no doubt. Then I thought that maybe the module had failed and so I bypassed it and now everthing is well, except of course it doesn't flash anymore.

My theory is that the LED takes more current than a std. brake light bulb and overloaded the module. Did anyone else install this module and if so is it still working? Anybody have any idea of the wattage of our LED light?

MacGyver

An LED will rarely take more current than a bulb, and the ones that do are of extremely high brightness (like 5+ Candelas). A large number of LEDs may take more current than a single bulb, but at that point you should be using common sense on if one should be a direct replacement of the other.

Hmmmm, makes me wonder if I should add in the flashy option to my Windscreen Lights for the brake...

andrewewing

I'm not sure but I think there a several LEDs in the hi-mount brake light module.

MacGyver

Oh, you meant the entire module...that MIGHT take more current than a single bulb, but it'llprobably be close. I'm sure they put several LEDs in series, which means the current draw for all of those LEDs is the same. Place a few of those pieces in parallel and the draw goes up. My guess would be around 0.2-0.3A. I'd have to count the number of LEDs to be more positive.

StarvinMarvin

Flashing red lights on the rear is a NO-NO, even for a few seconds, in Arizona and probably most if not all states. Police WILL pull you over - I know from experience !!!!

MacGyver

It will depend on the flash pattern...if it's a constant on/off, then yes, it's illegal and most will pull you over. However, if the light flashes a couple of times in quick succession then stays on, it can be considered a safety item. This type of item may start to appear in cars stock as more and more move to LED systems. The initial flash gets people's attention better than a simple on/off state.