Hi...I owned a couple of motorcycles before I got my S2000, and I always had a brakelight modulator on them for safety. When I got my S2000, I wondered if I could add one to it, since it is small and low to the ground, making it less visible to people behind me. Plus there's not a whole lot of trunk behind us to protect us from getting squished. I emailed Kisan sales and it turned out the particular modulator I already had from my Ducati, the 100HD, would work, so I decided to install it. Here's a video showing the end result:


Other people make similar modulators, but I like Kisan's because it slows from a fast pulse to a slow pulse over the course of four seconds to catch people's eye better, then stops pulsing until the next time you hit the brake to prevent getting on people's nerves. Plus it's easy to install (and easy to undo if you don't like it). You basically just cut the brake light wire then run it into and back out of their little module, plus run a wire from the module to ground. Here is the manufacturer's product page.

FWIW, I checked the S2000 shop manual electrical supplement to be sure that the place I'm cutting into the brakelight wire here is past the ABS computer, so this won't cause a problem with the functioning of the ABS.


First, pry up the door sill plastic and remove it.



Pry out this pushpin under the dash near the dead pedal.



Pull back the weatherstripping a little and pry out this pushpin by the outer dash, then remove the kickpanel cover from the car.



Pull/pry this connector apart. This was really hard to do...there's a tab at the bottom you have to push to release the connector, but it's a very tight fit and it's hard to get a good grip on it. I ended up prying each side a little at a time while pushing the tab with one finger until it was loose enough to pull apart...be patient, because you don't want to somehow mess up that connector.



The connector, finally loose.



Cut this wire...it's white with a black stripe.



Crimp a butt connector to each end of the wire you cut. Tug on it to make sure it can't come loose.



Crimp a length of new wire to the other end of each butt connector. I used a piece of speaker wire I had, split into two. I also screwed up and cut one of the pieces too short, so I had to add another extension to it with another butt connector, visible in a later photo...so don't do that. In this pic, one wire of the wires I added is hanging down on the carpet, while the other is already routed to the right of and above the white connector there.



Remove this bolt from the hood release latch and install the green ground wire that came with the 100HD onto it.



Stick half of the velcro square that came with the 100HD onto the car as shown, and the other half onto the back of the 100HD. Run the ground wire plus the two wires you added through the little red rubber protector that came with the 100HD (I had to cut a bigger hole in mine).



Connect the wire that comes out of the connector to the "Brake Input" terminal, connect the green wire to the "Ground" terminal, and connect the wire that runs into the black wire loom to the "Output to Bulbs" terminal. Pull on your wires good to make sure they won't come out, because if one slips out later, your brakelights will stop working. Slide the red rubber thing up against the module, stick it to the velcro, and you're done. Test it out then put the car back together.


Pretty much the only problem I've ever had installing one of these is getting the brake input and output wires backward....but that won't fry anything, your brakelights just won't work...so doublecheck that if they're not working.

If you decide you don't like it, all you have to do is take the module out and attach the two pieces of wire you added together (butt connector, wire nut, whatever).

 

Looks good and very clean install. A question though. I know in Alabama, motorcycles and vehicles have different rules that they follow. Is the modulator legal for a vehicle?

 

Thanks...I am not positive on the legality. Kisan's webpage has a section about a federal law that makes their headlight modulators 50-state legal, but I don't see where they mention anything about legality of taillight modulators on bikes one way or the other...and of course no mention of cars at all.

I can't see a logical reason they would be illegal...after all, it's not illegal to quickly tap your brakes manually, so why should this be?

I've heard that flashing lights on a vehicle are illegal, but AFAIK, that's to prevent someone from impersonating an ambulance or a police car. Obviously flashing lights on the back of the car aren't going to fool anyone into thinking that you're one of those, though.

I asked my brother-in-law, who is a Virginia state inspector, what he thought today...the laws on state inspect are pretty arcane so he said he'd have to check the book to be sure, but he thought that it would pass inspection as long as the brake lights do go solid eventually.

I haven't been pulled for it...but then again, I haven't been pulled for not having a front plate either (law in VA), so that's not proof positive.

Tapping into the brake light wire back in the trunk where it splits off to the third brakelight might be a safer way to go, as far as legality, since that would leave the two taillights still working like OEM and just pulse the high-mount light.

 

I have had this one since 2003/2004: www.gominigo.com/PULSAR.html

no issues with the police but I only have it modulating the third eye. $29

did a write up on it here back then.

 

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI1GClrxrwA[/media]

Thanks for this write-up JOSBY...

Thanks to you it was very easy to do this mode. My is littler a different and it blinks ones before staying fully on. This is how the new emergency vehicle have it.

 

Cool. I think it would be neat if it only flashed during a hard braking scenario as opposed to regular braking all the time.

 

Anyone do this ONLY to their third brake light?

 

I did, but after while it looks old. The new model vehicles have it to all the lights.

 

So it is possible then? Great. Something about all three brake lights flashing is just a little too much for me. I think the third brake light (Center) flashing would be perfect. Thanks!

 

I used a small modulator from this company and just installed it today. Product is called Gen 2 Third Brake light Pulsar. It cost about $25.

http://www.coupeconcepts.com/

I took my time, and was guessing on which wire was the ground... so I had to wire it twice... not a big deal. All in, took about 30 minutes. I have it installed so only the center (3rd) brake light flashes. It flashes for about 4 seconds or so and then stays solid.

My S is a 2006 AP2.

I installed it to the left of the trunk deck release mechanism on the underside of the trunk deck. That spot is easily accessible. There's two black cable wrap tubes, one for the trunk release, another for the brake LED.Make sure you pick the one going to the brake light.. It just pulls out from the wrap tube (the tube has a split in it already).

White wire is the positive, Black wire is the negative/ground on my S. The Pulsar has a self stick tape on the bottom, so pick your mount spot and cut the white and black wire in the middle of your targeted mount spot. Strip the ends of the wires about 1/8"

The Pulsar has 2 connection screws on each side, one for each wire on each side. One side of the Pulsar is labeled Harness the other side is labeledLight... so the "Light" side is the wires coming from the LED brake light.

White wires (positive) go in the terminal that has a "Dark" label on the screw connectors. Black wires (ground) go on the connectors without the Dark Label. Screw down the connectors firmly, but don't force them too tight.

Get a helper to step on the brake so you can see if it works (I did not disconnect the car battery while doing this install, if you did, reconnect it). It should work, if not follow the troubleshooting on their website. Most likely,one of the wires is not seated properly in the screw down connector.

ThePulsar has some jumpers that adjust the length of the flash (short or long) and whether it happens on every brake pedal push (Smart mode). If smart mode is enabled, the LED will not flash on every brake pedal push in a stop and go traffic situation. I set mine to long flash duration and smart mode off.It flashes on every brake pedal push. After the initial flashes, the brakeLED stays on as long as you still have your brake pedal depressed.

I mounted it on the underside of the deck, it would have fit into the hollow area between the deck lid and the internal bracing (hidden), but I wanted to be able to get to it if it stopped working (loose wire, etc), If you ever have to remove the board for troubleshooting, be careful if you used the double stick tape to mount it so you don't crack the board by bending it during removal.

This is where it is easiest to get to the wires and to mount it. A cut-out in the deck lid bracing just left of the trunk release mechanism.

[attachment=59924:Light mount location.JPEG]


Closer shot...

[attachment=59925:Brake Flash mount location.jpeg]

Excerpt from install guide...

[attachment=59926:Pulsar brake light.tiff]