Upper Brake Light Replacement

By Bob Swor
March 31, 2010

My fellow travelers have been complaining about my partially burned out LED upper brake light for two years. An OEM replacement for just one side was $40. I located two lamps on Amazon, and went with the two for $20 route. Thanks for the tips from Bob Kelly and Kent Gardam. The bonus with the new light is that has bright & less bright capability. This means I could add the turn signal function to the lamp. The extra red wire (turn) on the new light gets fished down the aluminum corner channel and connected to the amber turn signal light in the bumper.

The brake wire connects to the dim (black) wire. and the turn signal to the bright (red) wire. The white wire is ground. The new light is longer and required one new screw hole be drilled for the top of the light. I especially like the enhanced safety aspect, as both brake and turn are easily visible when I am carrying bicycles. The new lights are even seen over the top the toad.

Questions from the Facebook Post

Question – It appears you only had to drill a new hole for the upper screw, but did not have to lengthen the cutout? So it is surface mount, not recessed, correct? Also, does this light also work with your running lights or just brake/turn?

Answer: Yes it’s a surface mount. I chose brake and turn . You could choose brake & running lights instead of brake and turn.

There is a protrusion on the back of the new one. But the existing cutout is large enough to accommodate it. You can either drill a new top hole or bottom hole. The less bright mode is used for running lights.