Tradesman

Greetings, as you know I'm in the process of upgrading all of my factory lighting to LEDs. If you take a look at the history of my posts you'll see I use only high power Cree LEDs or Osram SMDs. I actually did this upgrade several months ago but have only found the time to post this now.

My high mount brake light is an aftermarket piece that uses 10 LEDs for the brakes and a regular 194 halogen bulb for the cargo lights. I have since replaced the 194 halogen bulbs with 7W Cree LEDs and wired them to work as brake lights as well. This will insure an ultra-bright high mount brake light that will match my main brake lights, which also use ultra-bright Cree LEDs.

Here is what the bulbs look like. They are manufactured using an aluminum housing to dissipate heat. Unlike regular LEDs, these need cooling since they actually run fairly hot. Almost as hot as a halogen, but not quite.
http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSC00303.jpg

Here is a comparison between a 7W Cree LED and a regular Chinese made LED using 12 LEDs. The Cree will not produce a high angle light, but a very narrow and concentrated beam, which is what I need for a high mount brake light.
http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSC00304.jpg

Here is the aftermarket high mount brake light. I actually wetsanded the entire thing and painted it red with VHT. The sides were originally clear as they were cargo lights. As always, prep is the key.
http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSC00305.jpg

VHT does not produce a very glossy finish, so I wetsanded again and clearcoated the entire lens. It looks much better now.
http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSC00306.jpg

Here is the Cree LED at work. It is actually much brighter than this but I had to take the picture at an angle since dead on the camera would only show red. It's like looking directly into a red Maglight.
http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSC00307.jpg

Here is picture of the entire high mount brake light at work. Regardless of the time of day, this thing lights up really bright. You can't really tell from these pictures but it is bloody bright!
http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSC00309.jpg

The Cree LEDs are actually brighter than the LEDs that were built into the aftermarket high mount brake light. If you notice two wires exiting from under the brake light those wires lead to external cargo lights, which are also LED and ultra-bright.
http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSC00310.jpg

Another angled view to show how bright they are.
http://i1208.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSC00311.jpg