GEN 1 Disabling Third Brake Light Marker Lights

[stealth]

If he still wants the light to work as a brake light, wouldnt he still need a housing that has good leds? If they are burned out he wouldnt have the third brake light at all. Im not really sure, more asking if that is the way it would be.

Yeah, I was thinking the exact same thing! Maybe I'm one of the few Raptor owners that isn't fond of the 3 marker lights being lit on the third light while the headlights are on. I love them just for brake lights only so daytime driving is perfect, haha. Mainly just wondering about it being a potential safety issue. I'm in Northern VA and there's a lot of crazy drivers here that don't pay much attention. I'm imagining some inattentive driver slamming on the brakes causing a wreck. Or someone who thinks I'm brake checking them.

 

[Chris@FreedomMotorsports]

I might be wrong, but you may be able to order the third brake light for a regular F150 and install it there so that you have a more normal light there.

 

[Redrap22]

Ive never pulled my third light out to see how it is wired but im sure you could make it only come on with the brake pedal pushed. So the short answer would be yes its possible. How to make that happen i coudnt tell ya. But if you had a mulit meter im sure you could get in there a find out what needs to be done to make it happen. Pressing the brake pedal would have to change supplied voltage to the leds, change a resistance someplace in the circuit or maybe even provide a different ground path??

I know your concern about people not paying attention or getting confused, but if you think about non passenger vehicles. There are a ton of other vehicles with no third brake light and clearance lights. But there are also a ton of people who shouldn't have a license, hence your concern hahaha.

Another thing if it would make you feel better about people knowing when your stopping would be a receiver hitch mounted brake light. They have small ones that install just like a hitch and plug into the trailer light plug.

 

[t_j]

Just looked at the wiring diagram, yes its possible there are 3 pins on the connector for the LEDs, ground, park, break. Unfortunately the colors are all labeled the same in the version of the manual I have so your going to have to break out a multi meter or trace it back to the connector in the headliner for which the pins are as follows:

1 - GND - Black
2 - Cargo Lamps - White
3 - Brake - VT-WH
4 - NC
5 - Park - VT-WH
6 - NC

These colors are for the truck side of the connector leading back to the SJB not for the small harness that goes back to the 3rd brake light.

Pin Layout

3 | 6
2 | 5
1 | 4

The connector release tab is next to pin 2.

My suggestion would be to pull the 3rd brake light, turn on your parking/DRLs and put a meter up to the pins on it, if there is a black cable it will probably be ground use hook the negative side of your meter to that then use the positive side to find which of the other 2 pins is as 12v on it. Once you find it, cut it and but some heat shrink over the ends of the cut cable to stop it from shorting out.

 

[Deleted member 12951]

Get a spare bumper and let them hit it.

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[stealth]

Ive never pulled my third light out to see how it is wired but im sure you could make it only come on with the brake pedal pushed. So the short answer would be yes its possible. How to make that happen i coudnt tell ya. But if you had a mulit meter im sure you could get in there a find out what needs to be done to make it happen. Pressing the brake pedal would have to change supplied voltage to the leds, change a resistance someplace in the circuit or maybe even provide a different ground path??

I know your concern about people not paying attention or getting confused, but if you think about non passenger vehicles. There are a ton of other vehicles with no third brake light and clearance lights. But there are also a ton of people who shouldn't have a license, hence your concern hahaha.

Another thing if it would make you feel better about people knowing when your stopping would be a receiver hitch mounted brake light. They have small ones that install just like a hitch and plug into the trailer light plug.

Thanks, I agree on all points. I usually stay ahead of traffic and mainly think about the situations when I'm in stop and go traffic or stuck behind a left lane slowpoke. I've had it almost 2 years and really didn't think about it or notice until recently when I took it to a friend's shop for another reason.

By the way I opened it up the other day in order to do the third light tint. It's held there by two Phillips screws which oddly were almost stripped for some reason? (maybe Ford went back and added the black weatherproofing right before it left the factory?) But it also has hex heads if needed. Anyways, it’s a straightforward design with 3 wires coming out. Photos attached. The bulbs on each end screw clockwise into the white lens holes on the back of the reflector housing - they’re for the lights that come on when you unlock and open the truck. The middle male connector with the wires is for those 3 red LEDS that control the marker lights and the brake lights. It snaps into the white female connector in the middle of the rear of the reflector. So the red LEDs themselves are actually inside the reflector housing. As mentioned above I noticed mine had a lot of black weatherproofing - I guess Ford finally worked out the previous leaking issues in this area because I’ve never had an issue with my 2014 model. The photos are more for people that haven’t seen the inside of the third brake light and want to prepare for future mods such as the tint.

 

[2014RubyRed]

As mentioned above I noticed mine had a lot of black weatherproofing - I guess Ford finally worked out the previous leaking issues in this area because I’ve never had an issue with my 2014 model.

I had my light replaced shortly after I got the truck (2014) because 2 of the LED's burned out. My factory assembly has none of the same weatherproofing that your light has. Just a flimsy gasket going around the outside. I'm gonna have to look into that......

Another observation - how many wires are actually going into the plug that plugs into the assemble? In the picture it looks like just two?

 

[stealth]

Just looked at the wiring diagram, yes its possible there are 3 pins on the connector for the LEDs, ground, park, break. Unfortunately the colors are all labeled the same in the version of the manual I have so your going to have to break out a multi meter or trace it back to the connector in the headliner for which the pins are as follows:

1 - GND - Black
2 - Cargo Lamps - White
3 - Brake - VT-WH
4 - NC
5 - Park - VT-WH
6 - NC

These colors are for the truck side of the connector leading back to the SJB not for the small harness that goes back to the 3rd brake light.

Pin Layout

3 | 6
2 | 5
1 | 4

The connector release tab is next to pin 2.

My suggestion would be to pull the 3rd brake light, turn on your parking/DRLs and put a meter up to the pins on it, if there is a black cable it will probably be ground use hook the negative side of your meter to that then use the positive side to find which of the other 2 pins is as 12v on it. Once you find it, cut it and but some heat shrink over the ends of the cut cable to stop it from shorting out.

Thanks for checking and awesome write up! I guess I'll save this for a time I can bring the Raptor to my friend's shop. It's not a big deal for the time being just a personal gripe. I just fixed the other gripe, haha. That being the Ford grille which I love (didn't like it at first but it slowly grew on me). After painting my fender flares and bumpers matte black to match (black out) the rest of the truck I didn't like how the FORD letters on the stock gray grille stuck out too big like a sore thumb. I had it painted matte black and now it looks more blended in and awesome in a subtle way. Plus it matches the hood vents. Will probably post another thread soon about that. Now if only the 2017 Raptors offered a 6.2 V8, didn't change the hood vents, and got rid of the big FORD logo in the back...well I'm going to stick with my 2014 for a while.

 

[stealth]

I had my light replaced shortly after I got the truck (2014) because 2 of the LED's burned out. My factory assembly has none of the same weatherproofing that your light has. Just a flimsy gasket going around the outside. I'm gonna have to look into that......

Another observation - how many wires are actually going into the plug that plugs into the assemble? In the picture it looks like just two?

Sorry to hear of the lack of weatherproofing on yours. I guess the leaking issue might be ongoing because now I'm hearing some 2014 model owners are having issues. Check out this thread if you haven't already: http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f183...ight-high-mounted-stop-lamp-tsb-ssm-fix-9989/. I think using weather stripping or some type of retrofit gasket to mimic the seal on the newer models might work better especially if you have to remove the light. I closely inspected mine and it appears the additional weatherproofing also makes it so it doesn't sit fully flush to the back of the truck - there is maybe a 1/32 of an inch gap. I've heard Recon's third light has so much weatherproofing that it's nowhere near flush.

I apologize for not taking more close up photos of the LED plug. After looking at some more photos it looks like 3 or 4 wires. I'd been putting off tinting the light thinking I might screw something up. I finally just did it and snapped some photos along the way. I now believe it when people say it's hard to go wrong with VHT Nite Shades. I'm happy with how mine turned out.

---------- Post added at 03:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:36 PM ----------

I might be wrong, but you may be able to order the third brake light for a regular F150 and install it there so that you have a more normal light there.

Yep, that's another idea. It's funny how most of the regular F150 owners want the Raptor third brake light. I don't like the style of the F150 light at all and wouldn't get it only for that one function. I love ours just hate that one required feature, haha. I might try TJ's suggestion when I get a chance. In the meantime, I guess I can try following another Raptor at night in a real world situation to see what it really looks like while blended in with traffic. 95-100% of the other attentive drivers should know the difference between the marker lights and braking lights especially if they just saw it in action. I guess my concern is for those oddball situations when I just turned my park lights on and it's harder to tell. Or distracted drivers out there who equate third brake light on with brakes on since almost all other vehicles are that way.

 

[TheJoker]

I just don't understand, if for some reason, someone behind you thinks that the marker lights are your brake lights. They would simply step on their brakes. That's a good thing, right?