3rd Brake Light Location Question

[fiatslug87]

I want to add a 3rd brake light to the WilderNest but can't decide on location.

Tailgate or topper, what say you?

[89 MJ]

On the topper looks much cleaner, IMHO. Plus, the third brake light is up high on trucks anyways. 

[GonzoTheGreat]

I vote up top. I think it looks nicer. 

[eaglescout526]

Do you really want to put in some effort to drill and locate and fish wires through a tailgate thats tough to service? Of course my vote is top, if thats easier.

[Eagle_SX4]

I agree with @eaglescout526 routing the wire to the topper would be a lot easier and I think it would look better. Although the new Gladiators have the third brake light on the tailgate.

[eaglescout526]

20 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

fish wires through a tailgate

Actually I somewhat rescind this. Didnt @Gjeep fish some wires through to do a locking tailgate?

[fiatslug87]

Yes he did, plus my wife is a fishing savant, she fished wiring for our house and my sport bar.

I’ve also been leaning towards the topper for several reasons, I guess I just wanted validation.

[AeroNautical]

13 hours ago, Eagle_SX4 said:

 Although the new Gladiators have the third brake light on the tailgate.

And the only reason they did that is to stay legal with the top removed. I vote on the topper as well, looks good. 

[gogmorgo]

I like it better up top for sure.

 

How do you plan to wire it? If you just tie in to the tail light it’ll blink with the turn signal. I’ve seen a handful of canopies where that was done and it’s not ideal.

[fiatslug87]

Need to figure that out.

[GonzoTheGreat]

I tied the positive wire for my third brake light to the ground side of the brake switch then chassis grounded the light. That seemed to do the trick for me. 

[Eagle]

Topper

[fiatslug87]

Thanks @GonzoTheGreat but this is on a trailer and pulled by a non-MJ, no access to brake switch wiring.

 

Anyone have another work around taking the above into account?

 

If worse comes to worse, it flashing with the turn signals isn’t the end of the world. Besides how often do people signal anyway?

[Drahcir495]

I have to go with the majority and say topper. 

[Eagle_SX4]

If you installed a light that had 2 sides and wired each side up to the right/left side brake lights, then they could blink separately. You would then have high and low brake and turn signals.

[gogmorgo]

If the trailer had typical 7-pole RV wiring, you do have a generally unused auxiliary wire that would work for purpose. But if you were to ever plug into a vehicle set up with the potential for reverse lights in the aux spot (not uncommon) then it would come on in reverse… likely not the end of the world, but I’m not always thrilled about non-standard lighting patterns. Especially late at night, people tend to tunnel vision at a thing that’s blinking in a strange way in the dark, and often it won’t occur to them not to drive into it before they’ve figured out what’s going on. But response to a standard lighting pattern is usually more automatic when people don’t need to think about it. 

[fiatslug87]

Got it done.

 

[Salvagedcircuit]

Excellent work!