Safety Upgrade - Flashing High Mounted Stop Light

Stroboscopic high-mounted stoplight - The 993 has a third high-mounted stoplight. For certain years and models, it is an array of small bulbs behind a red lens that runs along the top edge of the rear window. By replacing the bulb insert with an LED insert purchased from Tore at Bergvill F/X one can buy a brake light flashing controller on eBay for a few dollars and wire them together. Bergvill F/X also offers a LED solution for the basket handle style high-mounted stop light.

The controller will cause the LED array to momentarily strobe and then flash three or four times before reverting to solid red illumination when one steps on the brake. This modification can also be applied to the wing-mounted or any other lamp that can be converted to LED illumination. In some newer non-993 cars where a computer module controls the stop lamps, this solution may not work. This was my experience trying to add the strobe controller to a 2010 Lexus.

This function really gets the attention of cars behind you making your action of pressing the brake much more obvious. It is particularly valuable when yielding when making a turn and the car behind you fails to recognize you are slowing or stopping to yield. Today with distracted drivers and the inherent low visibility at night of a low profile 993, I feel, makes this an inexpensive and worthy safety upgrade. This modification may not be street-legal in some states.

Here is a video of the results:

Here is where to buy the LED conversion kit;

Here is where to buy the flash controller: Strobing LED Controller

I was even, with slight modification, able to fit the controller inside the light bar frame so there was no need to go into the car to do the installation.

As with all LEDs, the polarity of the supply wires is important. If reversed the LEDs will not illuminate. On the upside, no additional ballast resistor is needed for the installation just two wires powering the controller and two wires from the controller powering the LEDs, 

12/16/2024 - This modification has now been on my car for several years with good effect.

As a side note, I always add a little  Permatex brand #81150 Dielectric Tune-Up Grease to wiring plugs and sockets that are exposed to the elements to forestall corrosion in the connection. This holds true for the two connections to the high-mounted stop lights.