Time to modify brake lights on my 2016 California T

I've now put in 1,100 miles on my 2016 Cali T since I got it a month ago. What an awesome driving machine.

Today was the 2nd time another driver mentioned about the brake lights.

1st guy was 2 weeks ago. He pulled along side me and said "You may want to check your brake lights as I dont think they are working.......... I just said Thanks, I will once I get home. Not enough time to explain the history of the car design.........

Went for a drive today, merging on to the freeway there was a car in front of me going a little slow. I see enough space for both of us to merge so we proceeded to merge to the freeway. A fire truck was on the lane we are merging to so I turned on my turn signals.

Fire truck did not slow down for us, got close to my rear bumper and honked his horn. I just waved and said Sorry!

He pulled along side and said - you should try and use your signal lights so that people wont run into you.
I said I did! He said "I sure as heck did not see any blinkers on". I said most likely because the brake lights and turn signals are located on the lower bumper. He said Well, that's a stupid design. I said I know, sorry.
No time to explain driving side by side on the freeway.

Time to fix this problem ASAP. For me its now a safety issue and I was trained in the military and aerospace industry that we fix safety issues ASAP.

I will start looking into what it would take to rewire the brake lights back to original design.
My idea is to cut the wire going to the rear fog lights, cap and stow that wiring. I never use rear fog lights.

Then, run a parallel wiring from lower bumper brake lights and hook it up to rear fog lights so that that light is now used again as brake lights and is in line of sight of drivers behind us.

If you have done this already kindly share DIY info.

Thoughts and opinions are welcomed.

And yes, I am aware that there is a law that limits maximum of 3 lights lit at the same time. And if I ever get pulled over & ticketed for this I will unplug the added wire, show it to the magistrate during hearing and off I go.

Dan

 

There is a thread on the forum explaining how to proceed with pictures etc.
Search for brake light mod.

 

Hi,

Yes, I saw and read that thread 4 times but its for a California model.
I have a California T and the wiring is different.

 

Personally I would leave it for the following reasons.
1) the third / middle break light is significant enough to be seen along with the lower break lights.
2) as you know, the main L&R break lights must not be on a movable part of the body in North America and you will get a ticket unless you have a kill switch to deactivate it.
3)the turning signals are the same as many other cars (below bumper) i.e. some Infinities. I suspect that the firefighter was too high and too close to see them but I think if you were in an Infinity he wouldn’t have bothered you about it (you can read between the lines on that)
4) on the rare occasion I feel that I need to reinforce the fact I’m breaking I have turned on the fog lights (useless solution for emergency breaking I realize)

If you do decide to run a parallel, check the fuse capacity otherwise you may want to look into a good fire extinguisher.


Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat

 

Thanks for chiming in & sharing your thoughts.

Here's more info:

1) All the modifications I do to my car are completely reversible should the need arise.

2) There is no car inspection here in Washington State so the risk of getting a fix it ticket is extremely low.
Even if a cop issues me a ticket I can just reverse it back to stock configuration, show it to the magistrate and off I go.

3) LED consumes about 75% less power compared to incandescent bulbs. LED generates almost no heat compared to incandescent bulbs so the risk of fire is super super low.

Brake lights and rear fog lights on Cali T are LED's and since they are on an On and Off duty cycle / non constant power draw the risk of starting a fire due to overheating the wire or fuse not blowing is highly unlikely.

I also checked the tail lights fuse and it is 7.5 amp.
The same fuse powers the brake lights and fog lights so there is no added power draw to the tail lights electrical system.

I am also an electrical engineer by trade so I know a little bit about fuse rating and wire rating, & I research my projects thoroughly before proceeding to determine if the risks is worth it.

In this case - in my opinion, this is a safety issue to me and my family so I will address it & resolve it on my car.

 

What if the tail light brake lights were functional while trunk lid is in place, and disabled and reverted to the lower current brake lights while lid is in motion. Would this not comply with US requirements.
Thanks

 

are you sure that was because of the lights or it is because when you gave the turn signal, the button didn't register?

happens to me 2 times out of 7 times i press it ( yes, counted it). Therefore my eyes are always on the blinker lights to ensure they work.

same on 458, same on Cali T, Portofino. Pretty much all Ferrari's I used turn signals were a mess even though the button is a great idea.

 

With the Cali T turn signal control located on the steering wheel and the volume of the turn signal relay too low that I cant hear it - I always make sure the turn signal lights are indeed on by looking at the dashboard turn signal indicator after I push the turn signal button.

 

It may, but that would require a major redesign of the brake light system. Not worth it.

 

I had it done on our Cali T and posted a video of the results here in another thread. ABSOLUTELY do it or get it done. My installer just followed the play by play on swapping the connections. Do it. It's a total game changer visibility-wise. I'm be STUNNED if any inspector anywhere would ever even notice. It's not a complicated fix but I hate working on electrical so I had it done.

 

Can you share which thread and HOW this was accomplished?
Thanks so much,

 

Hi Richard,

Thanks for chiming in.

Yes, I saw your post and hope to learn from you but as you said - a shop did it for you so you're unable to share lower level details.

I will try and figure it out.

Thanks.

Dan

 

Good luck Dan! Yes I just wasn't quite comfortable tackling it myself. It wasn't costly and the results were well worth it however.

 

I will be following this thread closely. Good luck Dan

 

Thanks,

With the nice weather here in Seattle area finally I've been spending most of time driving & enjoying my car.

Been spending time upgrading the crappy cardboard speakers & crappy aluminum tweeters (2016 Cali T with HiFi JBL Hi Power Option).
Trying to upgrade the amp too with Audison Bit 8.9 DSP Amp.
In the absence of a wiring diagram I had to check each and every stereo wire to determine which speaker is which. My HiFi option has total of 12 crappy speakers.
I had to check each wire of head unit output also.
Which wire is power, ground, etc, and this is very frustrating and time consuming.

Anyway, I put the stereo upgrade on hold so I can enjoy driving my car.

I hope to finish the brake light mod (I'm 50% done) soon and as always I will post DIY thread here once Im done for sharing with others that are interested.

Dan

 

Brake light modification done.

Please see my DIY thread here:

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/diy-enable-upper-brake-lights-california-t.626892/#post-147377774

Dan