The "Delay" model that I installed flashes six times then goes to solid red. You must take your foot off the brake for 8 seconds before it will flash again, otherwise it stays solid red. I don't think six flashes is excessive or that 8 seconds is unreasonable and quite frankly I don't care if the driver behind me is irritated, I'm getting his attention. I think the 8 seconds would take care of stop and go traffic too.

 

I installed the model that blinks 6 rapidly, then if I hold my foot on the brake pedal will blink 3 times every 6 seconds. Taking my foot off the brake pedal resets and next press will start the cycle again....

Like stated here already, I don't really care if I annoy someone with a few blinks... The lights are not emergency or other illegal lights on the car, and the brightness is no more than what everyone expects from a stopped or stopping car. I am actually more annoyed by drivers that keep pressing the brake pedal while they are driving at speed, riding the brakes, etc.!

 

I ordered this unit from Amazon. Reviews are good and the difference here is that this one is programmable. You can program the number of flashes and the amount of time in between flashes or to be constant on after the initial flashes. I have yet to receive it but will post when all is installed and working.

 

Not to be a wet blanket on this thread, but in Virginia, that won't pass annual inspection, you're not allowed to have flashing red lights on privately owned car/truck. If you know your Inspector, you may get by with it....or you can set the wiring up with quick disconnect and de-activate it that one day a year.

 

Hey, you could very well be right. I would say we should always be aware of the local / state laws regarding modifications made to our cars, and you are probably right in some areas where the governance is more strict than in others. Heck, I'm a rebel that has even tinted my headlight lenses!

I did a little research, and the feds have stated "The CHMSL is required to illuminate steadily; it is permitted to flash for a time (Not Constantly) for less than three (3) seconds and more in certain cases under severe braking." I believe this is why all of the Kahtec products blink very briefly. But what do I know, I'm no lawyer.... So I'm willing to risk it and run through my state inspection next month without disconnecting. But FWIW, I actually did install a quick-disconnect adapter - mainly so that if I wanted to remove it entirely at a later date I can simply reconnect the factory wire pairs and be back to "normal." End of the day, I'd much rather remediate the blinker vs. deal with an accident. The way some people operate though I am sure someone could figure out a way to claim that the blinking caused the accident!

Anyone on this board run into issues with blinking lights (not flashers or strobes or other lights that might be confused with emergency lights)?

 

So I finally got around to this modification. One of the things I wanted was to be able to dictate how many times the brake light flashed, so I wound up with this unit. It has a very small footprint and comes with a variety of programming features including number of flashes, intensity of flashing, seconds between flashes, etc. This pic gives you an idea as to how small it is:



The wiring is the same as jawells mentions - tap into the ground wire, connect wire from the unit to the brake switch wire and brake light wire. The white wires you see are the programming wires.



I connected a momentary switch to the white wires to aid in programming the unit



Another thing I wanted to do was to have an on/off switch to the unit. There has been talk about the legality of flashers, so I connected a switch. If a cop were to stop me or I have issues during state inspection, all I have to do is flip a switch and the 3rd brake light will go back to normal (no flashes)



I was going to put the switch on the door sill by the engine cover and frunk releases, but then changed my mind. Wasn't sure how it would look, and if I made a mistake drilling the hole, would cost me over $200 to replace the sill cover. There was really no place under the dash and it seemed that the backing of the dash was metal. Did not want to drill through metal. So I just wedged the switch behind the panels on passenger seat on the driver side. Doesn't look great, but it is functional and I don't see it with the seat up.



This is what is looks like under various braking. Blinks 7-8 times, then constant on. What is cool is that I can change the flashing pattern whenever I want.

 

Excellent placement for the switch! I'm going to do this on mine as well..

 

Yeah, definitely a risk I'm willing to take. And even if someone confuses it for that.. it effectively serves the same purpose.. not to rear end you.

That said, I went with the version that stops flashing after 3 seconds and won't start again when reapplying brakes for 8 seconds. (not for the emergency flasher reason) but just because I sit in traffic a lot and it seems like the constant flashing to someone behind me would get rather annoying.

But I suppose I'll see in the near future if I have issues with LE or other drivers.

 

PorscheCrazy- Just because I am curious.... What about the scenario where you have the aero wing up? Did you tap into that wire branch as well? With my setup, when I raise the wing the "upper" third brake light becomes inactive. I noticed in your vid that you never raised the wing.

Great job!

Thanks.

 

jawells -- I did not put a unit in the spoiler brake light. So like yours, once the spoiler is up, 3rd brake light is inactive and spoiler light is constant on.

May be a future project??!!

Thanks again for all your input on this.