I have a 2001 Ford 150 SuperCrew. I just bought a new 3rd brake light through Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

My old light had a variety of issues and I wanted to replace the whole unit with one with LEDs. The new unit came with a connector at the end and two wires. The old unit actually had 3 wires and they are connected through a weather-proof rubber plug into the cab. In theory, I can remove the plug and (hopefully) connect the new connector to the inside connector (assuming there is one).

I'd like to avoid removing the waterproof plug and just cut the new light's connector off - and just connect the wires outside the cab. But with 3 wires coming out (green, black, and black with stripe) and two wires from the new brake light, I don't know if that's going to be that easy.

The previous brake light had two white sections on each end. They would light if any of the truck doors were open or ajar. I'm thinking the new light only works for the brakes - though I'd love to fix it so the door connection also turns the LEDs on as well.

I did test the 3 wires and found that the green appears to be my common (ground?) and the black w/ stripe is for the door. The solid black wire is for the brake.

Any suggestions on how I should connect the wires? And if I reverse the polarity on the wires to the LED light, will I blow out the LEDs?

 

Return the light you bought and buy the right one - the one that's a combo brake and cargo lamp and your problem and confusion regarding this issue will go away

 

Thanks. That is probably my best choice. Hopefully the seller has a similarly-priced unit that I can just exchange. I still might have an issue if the wire colors are different. (I don't want to cut through the plug to get to whatever connector is inside the cab. I would rather just splice the wires and seal with shrink wrap.

 

The plug is in the cab up under the headliner, it was plug and play with the one I got on Amazon. It even came with the big rubber plug for the hole you are worried about.
https://www.amazon.com/SPPC-Smoke-Br...1999+ford+f150

 

Thanks to all. I ended up ordering the new SPPC unit. Can't wait to get it now. Thanks for the help!

 

That SPPC unit is the one I have installed in my truck. The smoke finish looks great, but I'd prefer the stop-light portion to be brighter. Don't get me wrong... it's adequate, just not super attention-grabbing (since it's only 3 LED's). Had I seen the one you bought originally I'd have considered it, since I have a bed cover on my truck and the white lights are basically useless. In fact, after looking at it a bit closer, I might consider changing it out for this one anyway at some point.

I'm sure everyone will be interested to hear your opinion on the SPPC piece.

Andy

 

I received the SPPC light quickly and installed it this weekend. It has a few flaws, but I've installed it, it works great, and I am tired of dealing with it. I ended up cutting the connector off and soldering the wires to the existing wires coming out of the cab. (To get to the plug in the cab, I would have had to remove the headliner. I tried to do that, but it was a lot more work than I wanted to do and I feared I would damage something in the process.)

I did find that the back of the light, where a plastic cover should have been sealed to close off the inside electronics, was not glued completely and left some gaping holes for water to enter. I included one photo where I could easily stick a card in the gap. I ended up applying a sealant around the entire opening (and some odd little holes in the back as well) to weatherproof it.

The other problem was that the light "base" is just a bit too deep and pushes out a bit from the trim frame. So I have almost a half-inch gap between the light and the trim. My original light gave a tight fit. For now, I have some black tape covering it from the rain. But I'll pick up some black sealant and apply that.

All said and done, I am finished with this project and will live with any imperfections. As others have said, the light is not as bright during the day as the original. But it does work well enough and at night it lights up great. And the final look of the light is very nice as well. That smoked plastic blends into the trim of the truck.

All in all, I'm glad I did the change.

 

Mine was not perfect either, I had to dremel some plastic off mine to get it to sit flush. It came with a foam gasket but I just used Black Silicone sealant. I did not have to remove my head liner, I just reached up under it for the connector.

 

Blink187. Without the gasket, did the installation leave much of a gap between the top back part of the light and the trim? I installed with the gasket but I don't know that it's pushing the light out that much. I might have need to reroute the wires a bit. They might be a problem as well.

 

The foam was just really cheap with tape-adhesive on both sides it was not going to fill the gap between the light and the window trim, or keep any water out...I did not use it.


Also, I popped the rubber plug out of the body and reused the hole to route so my wires where not bulky behind the light, and dremeled the light housing to fit flush, then I sealed the gap with silicone, before snugging down the screws.

 

I had to trim/Dremel the unit to fit flush, as well. As for the foam gasket, it's basically useless. There's no reason for it with regard to sealing against moisture getting into the cabin, as the only potential ingress point is the wiring pass-through point.

Andy