I have had the Shad top case for a couple of years now and I really like it. It is solidly built, watertight, and allows me to commute to work and not worry about my laptop getting rained on. The Shad SH46 has a spot for a brake light kit that I didn’t purchase with the case.  Looking back, maybe I should have at the time, but I wasn’t sure it would be worth the expense. Now the light kit is about $50, and other LED brake lights I have seen on line cost upwards of $150. I have been hankerin’ to make use of that brake light slot, but I didn’t like the idea of paying big money to do it.

Trolling around eBay, I found this el-cheapo 9 LED strip.  I bid on it and won it for $0.01! (plus $2.95 S&H).  At less than $3, why not give it a try?

So, this weekend, I crafted a ‘holder’ for the light strip out of some semi-rigid packing foam, ran the wires back to a SAE trailer disconnect (another $3), and wired it to the brake light circuit. 

The results are pretty decent! For $6, it is probably the least expensive lighting farkle I could have managed. If the ‘made in china’ LED strip craps out, I’ll replace it with something a little better.  The hard part of running the wiring has been done.  Here are the results: