Dim / Dull LED high level brake light

[V50M]

Hi all,
I’ve been on here a little while and not really posted much, so thought it was about time I contributed.

My third / high level brake light was dull, about the same brightness as the rear lights without the brakes on.

I read on another forum that the light has a feature that automatically dims the light of you keep you foot on the brake, when in traffic for example. So I thought I’d investigate.

I didn’t find any evidence of the automatic dimming function, but I did find a diode had gone bad (D13 on the circuit board).

So if your light is dim then the chances are you just need to replace D13, no need to replace the whole light.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by V50M

Hi all,
I’ve been on here a little while and not really posted much, so thought it was about time I contributed.

My third / high level brake light was dull, about the same brightness as the rear lights without the brakes on.

I read on another forum that the light has a feature that automatically dims the light of you keep you foot on the brake, when in traffic for example. So I thought I’d investigate.

I didn’t find any evidence of the automatic dimming function, but I did find a diode had gone bad (D13 on the circuit board).

So if your light is dim then the chances are you just need to replace D13, no need to replace the whole light.

that goes for the LED lights at the side too ! ( stop/tail lights )

[T5R92011]

Bit of a faff in the S40 though (regarding the low level brake lights)...You have to seperate the lens from the cluster to get at the brake light LED circuitboard.

V50 doesn't require this, so is easier to fix.