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Backup lights removed. Secondary brake lights installed!

4K views 17 replies 10 participants last post by  camopaint0707 
#1 ·
Hello all,

The purpose of this post is two fold. 1. The obvious, want to brag a little and show off my creation. 2. Version 2 now in the works.

So with all the rear end collisions with our Solstice, and too many people talking about the person that hit them never saw them (because we are so low to the ground), I wanted to do more than just upgrade and mod the third brake light. So, I decided upon relocating the back-up lights to a hidden location, and re-using those openings as a place for the secondary brake lights. I was absolutely certain of what I was looking for to some degree, meaning, I am 100% going for the modern ambulance/fire truck look of the very quick double flash followed by a solid light. I absolutely do not want to alter the rear bumper. I love the stock look, i just want to enhance it. As for the design and look of the lights when not in use is wide open. For this version, I went simple and cost effective using red halos, but I am wide open to design ideas and welcome them for version two. Here's what I built.

1. GMC Terrain fog lights from amazon was the starting point. I removed everything and only used the housing. Since my baby is named "No Gray Area" I wanted the lights to be black and white, so I settled on "white when off" red halos in 100mm 80mm and 60mm sizes. I decided on a conical shape inside the housing, and thats exactly what I did. I flattened out the inside back of the housing. Then I mounted the 100mm halo against the lense, the 60mm at the back of the housing, then installed three hidden studs and made the 80mm "float" in between the two. After a lot of research I found the United Pacific Industries 90665 fully adjustable for speed and duration of flashing. I put it all together and Version 1 is complete.

2. Version 1 complete, and i like them a lot. But they are exactly that, Version 1, and not bring enough, nor am I completely sold on the design. Any and all input is welcome......and go!

Here is a link to a video showing the lights in action. Additionally, I will post some pictures.

https://youtu.be/eT3bb9utGgs
 

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#5 ·
FYI. If you want to keep a passive reflector just to be legal, you can do as I did in the attached photo. bought two reflex reflectors which fit a GMC Acadia, (about $15.00 ea.) ground off the black plastic backing, rounded off and polished one corner, and it snapped right inside the taillamp assy. No glueing or fastening necessary. As on cars which have the passive reflector built in the taillight assembly, the stoplight shines right through the reflector when you remove the backing and it still acts as a passive reflector when the stop light is off.

Bill.
 

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#9 ·
........So, I decided upon relocating the back-up lights to a hidden location, .......
My backup camera has built in LED's.
Hidden backup lights, or LEDs in a backup camera, will help you see but won't do anything to alert those around you that you are backing up. Aren't you worried about problems that could cause? I know that I have seen someone's backup lights come on and been able to avoid a collision.
 
#10 ·
........So, I decided upon relocating the back-up lights to a hidden location, .......
My backup camera has built in LED's.
Hidden backup lights, or LEDs in a backup camera, will help you see but won't do anything to alert those around you that you are backing up. Aren't you worried about problems that could cause? I know that I have seen someone's backup lights come on and been able to avoid a collision.
I still have my normal reverse lights....they're just spray tinted black - s LOT of light still come through. I completely understand where you're coming from though. In the 14 months I've owned my GXP I've driven twice after dark. Backup lights can certainly alert others of your intentions, however I think careful driving is more important. I don't simply put the car in reverse and blindly hit the gas. I'm already a defensive driver but knowing that our cars are so easily totalled by insurance companies makes me borderline paranoid while driving!!
 
#11 ·
Sorry ya’ll for the lack of answers...work....busy....blah blah blah.

For hiding the back up lights, I actually got a pair of Zmoon LED Light Bars. They each have 6 LEDs in them and are fairly bright (I don’t own a Lux meter). I also have a back-up camera installed with I/R cut, so I cheat a little too. I hid them down underneath the back bumper so that they aren’t visible unless someone is looking at is from a low angle, but also pointed outward a few degrees because if I am backing up, my camera gets the middle, I only need help in the side view mirrors. Of course wired them up to the back up light wires. The light housings are each 7” long x 2” deep x 2” tall (all approximate). I think I have a pic of one of the lights before install. I will try to take a pic of them installed this weekend.
*I did consider and look for a white light to put in the center of the cones to use as backup lights, I just never found anything with the constraint of circular and no larger than 40mm diameter (i didn’t want to throw off the spacing of 100, 80, 60). Version 2 may have this incorporated as I think I have found some square lights that might fit the bill.

Is version 1 available for purchase when version 2 is done? Before the answer, let me say if version 2 goes well, I’ll likely be more inclined to make someone a set of those rather than sell these. Had I bought these from anyone, I would be unhappy about the light out and no way to fix it. Now, if someone insists after hearing about the issues these posses, we can cross that bridge then.
1. These require a lot of cutting the backing area out of the bumper where the back up lights were mounted, however, they use the mounting locations of the factory back-up lights and everything cut out is hidden by factory lights as well as these lights.
2. These are sealed, and opening them would be a nightmare. As long as the LEDs hold up for 30,000 hours, it likely won’t be a problem, however, they are cheap LEDs and I wouldn’t trust them without a way to open them (major oversight on my part). Also, see #3.
3. The light on the passenger side has the 60mm light not working. I was doing a final lense polish before install and the buffer grabbed an edge and slung the whole unit out of my hand. So with no real way to open them, one light is already out.
4. Because they are plastic and I put one of them in a clamp early on while using fiberglass and fiberglass resin, I distorted the shape a little bit. Without weatherstripping, there would be daylight showing through. Needless to say they have black weather stripping around the outside to help fill up the hole.
 
#13 ·
Wellllll, since this thread is still alive and kicking.....and because I threatened you all with a version 2.0 something like a year ago. This looks like a great place to unveil the new Operation Christmas Tree 2.0 (trying to make the tail end light up like a xmas tree so when I hit the brakes it gets the attention of the driver behind me; i'd rather be obnoxious than rear-ended). I have to admit, I didn't have to do nearly as much with this version as the previous one, primarily because my job kept me so busy that I didn't have time to work on it and the industry caught up (for lack of a better term, I'm not that arrogant). These lights are actually made for Semi Tractors. They are made by a non sponsor so I'll leave them out of it for now. The most important part is that supposedly this is new two-color from a single diode technology. Red is the primary color, and when white (auxiliary color) is activated, it "cancels" red by default. So effectively I have added a set of stop and tail lamps to the rear end, without giving up the reverse lights, because they do that too. I have to say, they are oodles brighter than version 1.0 and noticeably brighter than the factory tail lamps, as well as the upgraded set that I am running. If someone wants, I can give the full run down of all the lights on the rear end. Suffice to say the only factory lights left on the car are in the dash....and there's a plan in the works for those too bwaaaahahahahaha. Keep in mind, these lights will also perform the turn function, I just chose not to use it because of the flasher module I am using and I want brake lights in the rear more than I want turn lights. Enough of my chatter, here's pics and a video. I'll try to do a step by step write up if anyone is interested, please let me know.

Here is a link to the video on youtube:
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Pontiac solstice Bumper
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Bumper Pontiac solstice
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Motor vehicle Pontiac solstice
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Motor vehicle Supercar
Automotive lighting Vehicle Automotive exterior Car Auto part
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Automotive lighting Light
Automotive lighting Automotive tail & brake light Light Red Vehicle
Automotive lighting Automotive tail & brake light Car Vehicle Automotive design
 
#15 ·
Absolutely correct! Trux actually made these for Semi Tractors. Supposedly the are the first dual color single diode light on the market. At $40/ea, its a bargain. They are easily the brightest lights on the rear of my car and the backup white light is impressive. I did some slight modifications to the bumper for mounting, and then added 1/2" of fiber glass on the back, just the top half where mounting hardware needed to be molded in. With mounting hardware molded and now spaced out of the hole far enough, just as easy as bolting in the originals. I did use black automotive weather seal all the way around the exterior of the lights to fill out the voids and it worked great. Fairly simple compared to version 1.0 that I built, and with V1.0 I didn't have any reverse lights nor were they near as bright as these.
 
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