kishy's 1985 Country Squire

[DerekTheGreat]

I dunno that I'd consider traditional sequencing as "dangerously" unclear.. I've been around them since I was a kid and was never confused as to the driver's intentions. Haven't asked around about it though. What's worse are drivers who say put their left signal on and go right.. I do not approve of brake lights that go sequentially though, that puzzles me. I've noticed factory installed sequentials do it right by me, where hitting the brake pedal illuminates all intended bulbs instantly & at once while the turn signal is the only thing which triggers sequential tail lighting.

I've seen cars where the third brake light flashes a few times, mostly on Kias. I think it's sad that educating drivers about safe driving habits has failed and that we have to instead be defensive with distracted drivers as they are growing in numbers. I don't like looking at the flash, but I wouldn't be surprised if that method is more effective at getting people to notice and then slow down.

[kishy]

Counterpoint: "traditional sequencing" could be considered dangerously unclear as to the driver's intentions. Consider the use of traffic advisor devices on emergency and utility vehicles, which functionally resemble a sequencing turn signal. The lights flash towards the direction that they want you to move your vehicle so as to pass the vehicle with the blinking lights on it. Consider the even more troubling scenario where a vehicle with a traffic advisor is wired so that it acts as a sequencing turn signal when it is not turned on to direct traffic (and there are builders who wire vehicles in this way). We could dissect this topic for a while. Has this ever been tried in court? Could be very interesting if some idiot out there passes a car with factory-equipped sequencing turn signals on the side which the signaling vehicle is turning towards, causing a collision. It would not take a top dollar lawyer to rip apart the function of sequencing turn signals because of the use of similar light patterns for very different purposes.

I had considered an option where I lined the housing with LED-laden PCBs, wired into 3 circuit segments, so that the lights could sequence inboard-to-outboard. Ultimately I decided to do this instead because I felt it would be more obvious, and a mod to critical safety equipment should increase its visibility, not risk making it more obscure. A couple reviews from friends who've driven behind me now confirm that I have dramatically more obvious brake lights than I had before, and I've noticed that I have less nose-diving late brakers behind me, which is always a problem I notice when driving things without third brake lights.

I would recommend the red/white switchback brake light mod for the reverse lights (minus the sequencing) to anyone with a vehicle that lends itself to it well, e.g. the reverse lights are grouped with the tail lights, and located outboard, which would cover Ford and Mercury wagons, and Ford sedans among our cars (and maybe kinda sorta the 88-89 Lincolns, but they might look funny). 85 Town Cars (specifically 85 because no third brake light) would essentially gain a third brake light doing this mod to them, given the centre mounted reverse light. Mercury wagons are sorely lacking in brake light surface area and would likely benefit dramatically. I've now bought a handful more of the specific confirmed-good LED bulb product so I'll have spares on hand, re: the fact that I tried others which do not behave as desired so these could potentially get hard to find at some point in the future, or they could make a production change that makes new ones of the same no longer behave as desired.

[87gtVIC]

I am noticing more and more vehicles that have brake lights that flash for the first few seconds. I like what you did.

[mitymerc]

I'll be the dissenter here, seems strange when done vertically as opposed to the traditional horizontal style where the lights sequence in the desired direction.

May be strange, but way more visible than the old factory stuff.
Plus unique is good

[DerekTheGreat]

I'll be the dissenter here, seems strange when done vertically as opposed to the traditional horizontal style where the lights sequence in the desired direction.

[87gtVIC]

Thanks to 87gtvic for the pointer on that module, it's cleaner (or at least more convenient) than trying to put a block of individual relays. Not serviceable if a relay inside fails, but that's a risk worth taking in this case in my opinion.

Looking really good.

[gadget73]

yep, coil completes the path to ground and the cruise servo is happy. I really think thats an incredibly stupid way of doing it, looking for loss of ground vs looking for positive voltage, but whatever.

[kishy]

Blegh, I really dislike making wiring mods this permanent, but there just wasn't a friendly way to make it somehow be unpluggable and not still a big mess. The result is good though!

Now installed and functioning:
- WebElectric STS-1 turn signal sequencer modules (not wired with the optional control wires - may add them later)
- Gtinthebox (via AliExpress from China) red/white switchback LED bulb replacements
- Tekonsha Tow Ready 119147 trailer light power module (a combined module that relays all the trailer lights, not related to the turn signal mod but done at same time)





Stock on left, modified on right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhsUQ4oe_qE

Mod complete: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WYCSQgVVFU

Not really going to do a step-by-step here, it's straightforward if wiring comes naturally to you...the red/white switchbacks are a critical component for the following reasons:
- Sequencing lights with only two segments are Less Cool™. It is a scientific fact.
- Making the reverse light act as a brake/turn lamp adds additional lighting surface area which should increase safety and visibility.
- Between aging housing and the inherent properties of LED retrofit bulbs, the intensity of the low/high brightness change is not always as obvious as it should be, so more light is better.
- Having the reverse lights remain functional as reverse lights means no need to stick additional lights on the car to keep their function.

Bonus, it seems the Tekonsha module fixes the problem where 1) LED-only tail light bulbs will glow gently on the brake light circuit due to the workings of the cruise module and 2) cruise does not work when using LED-only bulbs on the brake light circuit. I can only imagine this is because the Tekonsha module contains a relay coil on each side brake/turn circuit, and the relay coil is serving the function of letting the tiny sensing voltage flow where it needs to go. I had been prepared to add in a load resistor but it did not end up being needed, seemingly due to the Tekonsha module.

I ran a 14ga (I'd have preferred 12 but didn't have any) from battery positive, through a fuse, all the way through the car to the back to get power to the module. My trailer has all LED lighting, but in the event I tow something with incandescent lighting, I will now feel less concerned about that current coming through my crusty factory harness and instead coming through the new 14ga wire with 15 amp fuse. Not to mention a trailer wiring fault is no longer capable of doing something stupid like burning a fuse link in the car. Thanks to 87gtvic for the pointer on that module, it's cleaner (or at least more convenient) than trying to put a block of individual relays. Not serviceable if a relay inside fails, but that's a risk worth taking in this case in my opinion.

[kishy]

+1 down for a meet once travel is unrestricted again. The major hangup is the requirement to isolate upon return and as I have continued working (in the office/at the workplace) steadily through all of this, that is obviously not an option.

Very excited about the sequential signals. Hoping to get that wired up in the car ASAP.

The tailgate window motor gear finally let go. What an inconvenient thing to repair...I pulled a motor out of the parts stock, verified it was in good shape, tossed that in and all is happy. The motor I used is the "newer style" motor, however it came out of a Fox something-or-other, maybe a Mark VII. As sort of expected, the third screw hole was not aligned, but 2 screws is probably fine for these anyway. Of course I mis-drilled the first access hole too, but on this tailgate (significant rust damage) I'm not too bothered by it.

I relocated the mount point of the tailgate lock actuator to be about a quarter inch lower than original, and this seems to have significantly helped both the power lock functionality as well as the lock cylinder actuating the window switch. I think the actuator was reaching minimum travel before the mechanism was fully engaged, which I have now corrected.

[87gtVIC]

Amazing job. Those will look great on the wagon.

[DerekTheGreat]

I'm down for another meet. Maybe I'll bring the Lincoln and Ash will bring the van.

[VicCrownVic]

LED's are nifty. I suppose one could do an amber/white switchback for those countries which require the amber turn signal.

I was thinking the exact same thing, LOL.

Very nice mod by the way.

Still waiting on the border to open. Would be cool to do another Detroit/Windsor meet. Will asked me if we were doing another meet and I told ComputerFreek to keep an eye on the forum.

[kishy]

A handful of us have done sequential turn signals on Mercury sedans, because it's just such an obvious thing to do with those tail lights. That one guy did sequential front turn signals on his Ford wagon...I decided to do the rears instead. Of course, it all hinged on being able to get my hands on a red/white switchback LED bulb.

This is my second attempt with this. The first set of red/white switchbacks I bought did not behave as desired; the white illuminated immediately but the red was delayed by just long enough that the sequencing did not look right. This second set of switchbacks behaves as desired (instant-on for both colours). Both the troublesome ones and these ones are advertised as being for 2015 and up Mustangs and the Chevy Volt (and similar sorts of vehicles) to enable you to mod them to have a rear fog light combined with the reverse light.

These are the ones that do not behave as-desired: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32814612998.html and https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000041535899.html

These are the ones that do behave as-desired: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000106102890.html
I also have two other variants still in the mail because I got a little click-happy with the buy button. I will test them for suitability as well.

Amber/white switchbacks are significantly more common so absolutely, if someone wanted an amber turn signal in the reverse light housing while retaining functioning reverse lights, that's a good way to do it.

I think I'm going to hide a small incandescent bulb somewhere still wired into the brake light circuit, so my cruise control will work. Preferably I'd get some sort of centre brake light that I like, but I find the proper Ford one for 86-91 wagons kind of bad looking, so I'm not sure if I want to go that route with it.

[Tiggie]

I despise working on the tailgate stuff. I had to do a hinge rebuild and latch adjustment on my 88 back when I was twenty and had more patience for such things. It's like throwing five dice on the ground and trying to get them all to read the same.

LED's are nifty. I suppose one could do an amber/white switchback for those countries which require the amber turn signal.

[Mainemantom]

That is pretty cool. I never seen a wagon modified with those type of turn signals. I also like the back up light switching from clear to red.
Hope the Made in China stuff is durable.