Cu Layer brake light

[tim noble]

Hopefully someone can assist this electrically-challenged Convertible D owner. Suddenly the left side brake light does not work. All other rear lights work fine including the right brake light. I have Joe's book and checked the fuse and connections at the ignition and turn signals. I may be incorrectly assuming that the pressure switch on the master cylinder is working because the right light works and the switch controls both sides. Could the issue possibly be (a) ground at the tail light or somewhere else, (b) failure of leds in the light (I again assume that there are separate leds for the brakes), (c) something else. It's a pain trouble shooting this solo because I haven't been able to effectively hold down the petal to get a multi meter reading and by the time my girlfriend gets over, neither of us feels like hanging in the garage. Before I call in a friend with some knowledge I'm hoping for some suggestions so I can figure this out myself. Thanks.
Tim

[Jeffrey Leeds]

Tim, do you have brake lights, and/or parking lights on both sides but the left side does not flash or is the left side completely dark? 6 volt or 12 volt ? I have been using Jim's CuLayer lights for three years and no led's have failed.

Jeff

[Larry Brooks]

Have you tried adjusting the contact screw down a little bit. I've used them in the past on cars and had to adjust one side after a year or so.

[tim noble]

59 Convertible D with 6 volt. It's worked great for 5 years. Both left and right Turn signals, running lights, parking lights, high and low beam and back up light and right brake light are fine and only the left brake light is out. Larry - is the contact screw located on the board or in the the original plug the board fits into?
Tim

[Sebastian Gaeta]

Tim,

It sounds like it's something you'd like to solve yourself, but if you cannot Jim Franzen will be more than happy to help, just give him a call. His level of customer support and service is world class.

[Martin Benade]

That sounds like an internal turn signal switch problem as the brake lights are routed through it. I would try exercising the turn signal lever back and forth numerous times while also slightly pushing or pulling it. You might get its contacts cleaned up a bit that way. Also some contact cleaner sprayed into it with more exercise could help, but if your car is beautifully restored you might be hesitant to go spraying harsh chemicals in without taking the switch out.

[Martin Benade]

I am pretty sure that is good info regardless of what kind of lights are at the rear, but not positive.

[Larry Brooks]

59 Convertible D with 6 volt. It's worked great for 5 years. Both left and right Turn signals, running lights, parking lights, high and low beam and back up light and right brake light are fine and only the left brake light is out. Larry - is the contact screw located on the board or in the the original plug the board fits into?
Tim

It is located on the board. There is an adjustment screw for each of the contacts. When you pop the board out of the tail light you will see them.

[Martin Benade]

Isnt the brake light and turn signal the same contact at the rear light with a different feed from the switch depending on which function at a given time? I am not familiar with the CU layer light so maybe i am wrong here.

[Bill Tate]

Martin you are correct. Larry will be able to confirm he has left brake/turn lamp power to his socket when he lifts out the Cu Layer board to check the screw contact length. I would hope his volt meter will show he has 6 volts to the socket and only needs to lengthen the contact screw to ensure voltage to the Cu Layer board. My Cu Layer installation has worked great for several years with no problems. I think all users would agree this product provides brightest rear lighting currently available. KTF..

[tim noble]

Thank you for the information. I'm a little confused as to way the board and LEDs work. Bill noted
"Larry will be able to confirm he has left brake/turn lamp power to his socket when he lifts out the Cu Layer board to check the screw contact length"
One final question before I dig in. In referring to left brake/turn lamp power you seem to suggest that if the contact is properly adjusted you will have both turn signal and brake light. The left turn signal works but the brake light does not. This suggests I am getting 6 v to the board. Maybe the electronics work in such a way that the board reacts to the input (turn signal or brake) using the same LEDs for turn and brake. Hopefully once I inspect the board and make the adjustment everything will be clear. If not I'll contact Cu Layer and suggested. Thanks for the help.
Tim

[Bill Tate]

Tim, after a more critical review of comments by you and others it is clear that you have lost the left brake light contact in the turn switch assembly. Sorry I missed your comment that both the left turn signal and rear tail lights work just fine. This confirms all four contacts to the Cu Layer assemblies are being made via the screws as required. Using contact cleaner as Martin proposed is the best first step. Worst case you may need to get the turn signal switch rebuilt. KTF
.

[tim noble]

Here is a reply from Jim Franzen - the best customer service I've ever encountered. He thinks it's likely the flasher and actually ordered one from Zimm's on his own account and said that if it didn't correct things he gave me a fed ex # to return the unit for repair or replacement. I would never accept him covering the flasher and am amazed he stands by his product even after 5 years of usage.

Hello Tim,

First let me say thank ‎you for your kind words about the product.

Secondly let me say I'm sorry you are experiencing a problem, and if the fault is found to be with the taillight I will repair or replace it at no cost to you.

The symptoms you are reporting are a little odd. I'll share with you ‎my reasoning and maybe the two of us can figure out what's wrong.

For each side of the car the taillight‎s have three electrical connections. One connection is the running light, one connection is the brake light (which serves double duty as the‎ turn signal) and a common ground connection to the car.

If either ‎the running light or the brake ‎light works that validates the ground connection so one of the three connections is known good.

Because the running light works we know that connection is good, so that's two out of three.

That the turn signal on the left side works would seem to validate that the brake light connection is good which would indicate the problem is likely not the taillight.

I would ask you just to check the left turn signal again just to be sure we are on the right path.

If the left side turn signal is functioning, all three connections are proven good so the question is why is not brake light not working when its power comes in on the same connection?

My train of thought brings me to the turn signal flasher. It's job is to rhythmically flash the brake light on ‎the side of the impending turn in advance of the car braking which it is doing.

Alternatively, if the turn signal switch is NOT activated, the brake light power should pass through the flasher uninterrupted and this does not appear to be happening.

Do you by chance have a spare electronic flasher? Even a spare mechanical flasher might help our troubleshooting as the mechanical flasher's problem with LED taillights is with the flashing of the brake light, not the "feed through" of the brake light power when the turn signal is not activated.

‎If you don't have access to a spare flasher let me know, otherwise let's test the taillights with a different flasher installed.

Unbelievable service and I would never have figured this out myself. I'll post an update when I try the new flasher then on to the turn signal mechanism.
Tim

[Jeffrey Leeds]

Thanks for posting this Tim. I can affirm receiving the same level of support from Jim when I went through a similar debugging three years ago. He is absolutely the Gold Standard in customer support, and the reason I always recommend his product.

Jeff

[tim noble]

Problem fixed thanks to all the help especially from Martin and Bill who correctly diagnosed the problem. I also found an old post on the same problem and Joe Leoni and Brad Ripley noted the same fix - exercise the turn signal left to right with break pushed and ignition on to clean corrosion on contacts. Use a contact cleaner such as DeoxIT and exercise again. Tool all of 3 minutes and I'm back to spring driving in the hills of SE PA.
Tim