Re-wiring tail lights

The lights work when the headlights are on and function only to ensure car is seen. You are correct that they don't flash or function as brake or hazard lights. I don't know why they did it that way; it's different from the 458's lights.

 

Don't recall the exact ins and outs but IIRC it relates to rules (probably EU) that the brake lights cannot be on a moving part of the car The Cali roof is designed (but not implemented on safety grounds) to be operated at speeds up to 25mph apparently

It would be great if somebody could find a way to make them work as brake lights as well

 

I believe it's the same with a trunk mounted lights on a none convertible. If the lights are place on the lid/lip of the trunk they cannot be used as brake or turn signal lights. Not sure why Ferrari didn't just make them redundant, but call me crazy, when I had my Cali I always thought the light configuration made the car just a little more exotic/funky in a good way.

 

When I ordered my second California I asked the factory to rewire them and was told no.

Rick

 

sure I read somewhere that pre-production models had the stop lights in the upper units together with tail lights......I suspect it may be difficult to adapt them as I think they're LEDS


I'll take a look and see what's there

 

I would like to make them functional

Very unlikely a dealer would do it due to potential liability issues

If I was a dealer in the USA I would never do it for a customer either

Lets start to try and do something practical in the forum for a change rather than talk about floor mats

 

Same problem here, had more than one person tell me at a stop light that the brake lights were not working.

 

I also would like to enable the upper brake lamps. The owner's manual lightbulb summary indicates "fixed part" of reverse lights (16Watt) and turn indicators (21Watt). There is no "fixed part" for stop lights that are located in the "fixed part" area of the car. The lightbulb summary also indicates "Running/stop lights on moving part of tail light" (21/5Watt), a typical 2 filament incandescent bulb wattage for a tail/stop light combination bulb. The "moving part" of the description would suggest that these bulbs are located in the lamp assemblies on the trunk lid (boot). If that is the case, the brake lamp filaments are in those trunk lamp assemblies along with the tail lamp filaments, all in the same bulb, and the wiring to the brake filament may also be there only not connected at some point in the circuit.

Since there is no listed "fixed part" stop light bulb, the turn indicator bulb may be used as the stop light bulb, wattage is at the typical 21Watts for the application. My car is at the dealer for sale since my 2013 California is being built. I have never noticed, does the turn light and brake light illuminate in the same spot. If so, it's the same bulb.

If that is the case and there is a 2-filament bulb in the trunk lid lamp assemblies, the wire from the brake filament of those bulbs could be connected to the wire from the "fixed part" brake/turn light assemblies. The upper lamp would illuminate as the lower lamp illuminates. The tail/running lamp would function as before.

Ohm's Law states volts X amps = watts in a DC circuit. Watts / volts = amps. 21Watts / 12Volts = 1.75Amps. Four stop lamps on at the same time would be 7Amps. It appears that the stop light circuit is on a 10Amp fuse (F-37 fuse). That would leave a 2.5Amp margin.

Conversely, the trunk brake filaments could be powered by the "Supplementary stop lights" LED circuit that is on a 7.5Amp fuse (F-09). The trunk LED stop lamp array wattage should allow capacity for an additional 3.5 Amp draw. On that circuit the trunk brake lamps would function as brake lamps only, not in combination with turn indicators as the previous circuit suggestion does.

It would be nice to have a wiring diagram and a visual of the wiring from the trunk lid lamp assemblies as well as the lower (fixed) lamp assemblies to confirm the circuitry.

Your thoughts?

 

Sorry for offtopic, but have you got more photos from these event?

 

Hi guys,

I had an odd opportunity to speak directly with someone from Ferrari back in 2008 about the inoperable rear lights. He said that Ferrari wanted them to be brake lights but because they were attached to a moving part (the hard top) DOT wouldn't let them. I suspect that there is a way to edit the wiring so that the rear lights would operate as Pinafarinia originally intended.

Now all we need is a bored Ferrari tech who wants to make a little side money by creating a plug in product to make the round lights into brake lights....

 

I swear that if I weren't gainfully employed by a dealer I would've been producing these kits years ago!

 

Thank you very much!

 

Good to see there is some interest.

If anyone has any dealer technical information perhaps it could be sent by private message to the original poster

We could get somebody in the aftermarket to make up a plug and play harness like this company

Burger Motorsports Official Website | BurgerTuning.com

They sell lots of euro wiring related mods and don't charge the world

I'm thinking of changing the size of the logo on my floor mats, is this the right thread?

 

Great research, thanks for contributing and making progress

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks the two uppers should act as brake/turn signal lights! The place they are in now is way too low. If a workaround that wouldn't affect the warranty could be had, I'd sign up for sure!

 

Wire it...and they will come.

Warranty issues and concerns are not something all of us have. Someone make a kit and be assured of many orders.

 

The lights on a non-moving part doesn't seem to be consistent. I had an Audi Q7 on which the brake lights were on the tailgate (which clearly was not fixed).

 

My daughter drives a new Kia Sportage and he tail lights are similar to California. Beautiful red jewels at the proper height that do very little while the turn signal are at he bumper level, way too low to be safe and noticed.

 

Is this idea to simplistic?

A two wire extension is made to run from the stop lights in the bumper to the round lights

The current bulbs in the round lights are removed

I think the resistance of the bulbs/wires needs to be kept in check because when I have tried to replace some of the bulbs on the Cali with LED versions an error comes up on the dashboard

I think we should get an expert in fitting LED bulb replacements help us because they will have experience already

I know stealth auto do great work in Socal

Stealth Auto -

Can someone with a car in Socal contact Todd and ask if be is interested in helping?

 

For EU cars the centre bulb on the upper units is a rear fog light, do you not have those in the US? It should be relatively simple to swap the feeds to the upper lights become brake and the lower the fog lights as they are both std 21w bulbs. one point to note when we looked today we were a bit worried the brake light may not stand out from the tail lights when they are on as they are LED and quite bright. It should be easy to change to LED brake bulbs but maybe the dash is lighting up because there is not enough resistance

To move forward I ideally need the wire colours for the brake(stop) and rear fog circuits for an EU (UK car)

 

Triggering in line with brakes might not be the problem, but daylight power from the running light logic is more a consideration not to mention the different brightness needed to tell running from brakes.

 

Did you know that a rear end collision usually causes at least 17k damage if only the bumper is affected. If the trunk lid is impacted then probably a 45K price tag. Many of the drivers out there don't have the coverage for much over 10k dollars.

I wouldn't alter anything that has to with operation of tail lights no matter how cool you think it looks.

Your insurance coverage might be think it would be a great way for them to escape liability in the event of a costly rear end accident.