BilgeRat
Elio Addict
Years ago (early to mid seventies, maybe?), there was an aftermarket product aimed at motorcycles called Cyberlight. It was designed by a Russian engineer who did instrumentation design for nuclear power plants. Cyberlight was a progressive flasher; it evidently had an accelerometer in the circuitry, and the harder you braked, the faster it would flash the brake light. The designer claimed that the rapid flashing bypassed the "thinking process" of the driver behind you and made them go for the brakes instantly, without taking the time to think about whether braking was necessary or not. They had even done a statistical study, mounting them on NYC cabs, and claimed to reduce rear end collisions by something like 60%.
Cyberlight disappeared off the market years ago without a ripple, and I have been periodically looking for something like it ever since. Especially now, in this age of idiots texting and driving, something that improves your visibility while on the brakes can't be a bad thing. Cruising a "brake light flasher" search on Amazon a while back turned up this operation, 3rdbrakelight.com. (For the record, I have NO association with this company whatsoever, strictly reporting here; I'm quite happy with the product.)
They make three models. The S1, which is very basic, the M1, which is much more customizable, and the G1, which shows different flashing patterns for initial brake application, medium braking and hard braking. I ordered a G1 for my Honda Fit for a trial, thinking that if it worked out OK, I would outfit the Miata and the Matrix with them as well.
It's tiny. about the size and thickness of a penny, it easily mounted inside the high brake light housing. Installation involves cutting one wire and adding bullet connectors; it took all of about ten minutes start to finish. I secured it with a small piece of double stick tape. Although you can customize the way this thing works sixty ways from Sunday, I left it in "as delivered" configuration.
On initial brake application, it flashes slowly six times and then goes steady on. On medium braking, it flashes eight times at a faster rate, and on hard braking, it flashes sixteen times at an even faster rate. In any of these modes, after flashing is done, the light stays steady on until you let off of the brakes. I do think that I will go to an LED lamp, however, as they will show better at the higher flash rates than the 7440 incandescent currently in there will.
I've had it on the Honda for a while now, and although I've done no really hard braking, I'm noticing a definite falloff in tailgating. In fact, most tailgaters will back off quite a ways with just a tap on the brakes to start the initial flash sequence. (I like that!)
Anyway, here's a couple of links (manual and videos), look them over and see if it's something you think you might use yourself.
http://www.3rdbrakeflasher.com/my-link-ezp-17.html
Cyberlight disappeared off the market years ago without a ripple, and I have been periodically looking for something like it ever since. Especially now, in this age of idiots texting and driving, something that improves your visibility while on the brakes can't be a bad thing. Cruising a "brake light flasher" search on Amazon a while back turned up this operation, 3rdbrakelight.com. (For the record, I have NO association with this company whatsoever, strictly reporting here; I'm quite happy with the product.)
They make three models. The S1, which is very basic, the M1, which is much more customizable, and the G1, which shows different flashing patterns for initial brake application, medium braking and hard braking. I ordered a G1 for my Honda Fit for a trial, thinking that if it worked out OK, I would outfit the Miata and the Matrix with them as well.
It's tiny. about the size and thickness of a penny, it easily mounted inside the high brake light housing. Installation involves cutting one wire and adding bullet connectors; it took all of about ten minutes start to finish. I secured it with a small piece of double stick tape. Although you can customize the way this thing works sixty ways from Sunday, I left it in "as delivered" configuration.
On initial brake application, it flashes slowly six times and then goes steady on. On medium braking, it flashes eight times at a faster rate, and on hard braking, it flashes sixteen times at an even faster rate. In any of these modes, after flashing is done, the light stays steady on until you let off of the brakes. I do think that I will go to an LED lamp, however, as they will show better at the higher flash rates than the 7440 incandescent currently in there will.
I've had it on the Honda for a while now, and although I've done no really hard braking, I'm noticing a definite falloff in tailgating. In fact, most tailgaters will back off quite a ways with just a tap on the brakes to start the initial flash sequence. (I like that!)
Anyway, here's a couple of links (manual and videos), look them over and see if it's something you think you might use yourself.
http://www.3rdbrakeflasher.com/my-link-ezp-17.html
