Hi, I had installed OEM Genuine LED Tail Light in my Honda Fit.
I bought this tail light from Thai Vendor, so this tail light is Thai Version.
in some market this tail light had Fog Light installed in the lower section of the tail light housing.
Of course being a Fog Light, that mean it only have bulb in either Left or Right Tail Light,
(ie, Taiwan version have fog light only in left side, UK version have fog light only in right side).

but my Thai version do NOT have any light at all in either left or right side.
I had read on this thread:
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...ml#post1168037
that several fitfreak member had added another brake light at this lower section of the tail light,
and with some guidance from member "xxryu139x" and also from member "FitStir",
I decide to try to do it for my car and also do a DIY to share with fellow member.

Thank You again for fitfreak member: "xxryu139x" and also from member "FitStir" for giving me idea and guidance
for this modification.
also Thank You to member "Zalthras" who wrote a DIY on adding fog light for Taiwanese edition tail light,
because that thread from "Zalthras" is what make me realized that the lower section of my LED Tail Light do NOT have bulb at all.
Here is the thread from "Zalthras":
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...ge8-sport.html

Ok,
Here it goes:
Take out the Tail Light from the car, since many people already done this,
and it's just a matter of taking out plastic cover and then 3 bolts, I am going to skip this part.
Before you took it out from the car, see where is the best place to drill your bulb socket, and marked it with some pen/marker.
The best place also mean you can access the bulb socket and not obstructed by the metal part of the car.

After you took it out, prepare a set of Drill Bits,




Drill using the smallest possible drill bits to mark the center of the hole like picture below:




Pilot Drill for center point (notice the pen/marker I made to mark the area)



then gradually go bigger, but not bigger than the drill bits of the hole saw, like picture below:




Time for Hole Saw Drill:





After Drilling with holesaw:



Hole drilled by holesaw, but not big enough for the bulb socket, and none of
my holesaw size had the exact same diameter as the bulb socket:


Continue below,...

 

Need Dremel and File to enlarge the hole, remember don't enlarge it too much,
make sure it is a tight fit to help hold the bulb socket steady.




Hole Enlarged, ready to fit the bulb socket:




Here is the bulb socket:



Here is the bulb socket with the LED Light that I bought,
Remember to buy the LED Light type 7443 (NOT 7440).
Because 7443 had the capability for Dual Function (Brake and Tail Light),
while 7440 do NOT.
Also make sure you bought the RED Color so when it light up, it will blend with
the Red Housing.
This where I bought my LED light from:
You can also buy the LED light from here (but the price is twice the Amazon one):
45HP-LED 16mm Wedge Base 7443 Tower bulb | LED Lights for Cars | 12v | Super Bright LEDs
I did buy the Bulb Socket from here (caused it is much cheaper then in Amazon):
744x Base Wired Sockets | LED Lights for Cars | 12v | Super Bright LEDs
again when you bought the bulb socket, make sure you choose the 7443 bulb socket (not the 7440). 7443 had 3 wire coming out of it.

After you insert the 7443 bulb into the socket, test it first with 9 volts battery,
if it does not light up at all that mean you need to take it out again, since
some time the metal part of the light and socket do not line up.




Insert the bulb and socket into the tail light housing, and for extra protection, glue
them with hot glue:

 

Now, you need to put a Molex Socket between the wiring that came out of the bulb socket and the wiring from the car wiring harness.
I had several Personal Computer (PC) power supply molex socket, so I decide to use them.





Notice that I use heat shrink wrap, then use electrical tape and then plastic wire loom, I want the best protection just like original factory wiring.






Here is the picture of the Tail Light from the front after I install the LED Bulb inside the lower section of the tail light housing, and notice that the LED bulb is barely noticeable when not Lit, which is what I prefer:

 

Now, lets go to the car wiring, here is the original brake light socket from factory wiring that goes to the TOP LED Factory Brake Light, in the several picture below it will show how I cut and then soldered a parallel connection to this factory socket and add the female molex socket to be connected with the male molex I already connected to the new led bulb socket.






as usual shrink wrap, tape and wire loom for protection added:

 

Connect all the socket and test both the Tail Light and BRAKE Light function,

Test the Brake Light Funtion, good:





UPS NOTICE SOMETHING IS WRONG HERE,
because the Center High Mounted Brake Light LIT UP (not bright but lit up like a tail light) when I turn on the Tail Light without Pressing the brake pedal !!!


Ok, I then do several wiring scenarios testing (many cutting and soldering of wire),
but it is too confusing to be post here, so I just going to say that basically I need to buy DIODE !!!

Here is what happened,
The NEW LED Bulb that I bought are NOT two separate individual filament as the ordinary Non LED brake bulb, that means when you turn on the tail light, it also leak back about 7 volts out to the brake light wiring and since all Honda Fit original factory brake light are LED (Center Mounted and the one on the top section of the tail light are all LED), they were easily LIT UP from this 7 volts.
Also if I press the brake pedal (without switching on the tail light switch), same thing happen where 7 volts out goes to the tail light meaning most likely it also lit up the
front small light (I had not check this but I am pretty sure it will do that).

so I need to buy 4 diode.
2 for the Left side Tail and Brake Light and another 2 for the right side.

Diode function to make sure the current only goes one way.

so the Positive Side of the Diode is connected from the factory wiring source power,
and Negative side of the Diode is connected to the wiring that goes into the new LED Socket. Do this for both the Tail Light and Brake Light (both side left and right).

For Diode I bought Four of them at Frys:
NTE6083 R-SCHOTTKY,45V,10A
FRYS.com*|*Nte
Make sure you bought Diode with enough Amperage and Voltage !
I want to buy even bigger then the one that I bought, but it is not available in the store and only through mail order, but I think 10A x 2 (left and right) per circuit is enough, (remember there are 2 separate circuit for brake and tail light).
so 20A for brake circuit and 20A for tail light circuit.

Also buy the SCHOTTYKY type of Diode since they have the LOWER Voltage Drop compare to ordinary Diode, so the voltage that get pass through them do not drop much and your LED will LIT UP brighter.




Here I soldered the diode and later I shrink wrap the diode for protection,
because the diode heat sink is actually connected to the negative pin of the diode,
and you don't want this negative pin to touch the body, so you need to shrink wrap it.
Plus this diode would not see much current flow through it, so the heat sink will NOT Heat Up anyway.







Soldered this Diode and wire loom them to the factory wiring:

 

Now I test again:
Tail Light only, (notice the center high mounted stop lamp no longer lit up),
so this mean the circuit is CORRECT:



Now, Both Tail Light and Brake Light:



Ok, everything is OK now !!!
I hope my experience can help all FitFreak Member

 

I forgot to wrote about the factory wiring harness color, that goes into the Brake/Tail Light socket, so here they are :

Black Wire = Ground (Negative)
Green Wire = Brake Light (Positive)
Grey Wire = Tail Light (Positive)

 

Thanks for the tutorial. I was going to tackle this mod in the future, but I'm glad you took the guessing work away.

 

Very nice & detailed DIY...

 

Nice +1 rep Very nice & detailed DIY...

 

Nice work on the mod. Clean solid wiring job too!

Just pray that the LED bulb doesn't go bad on you too soon =P

 

Nice DIY. Thought to buy me a UK taillight for my Jazz.
How you get out the plastic chips from the drilling out of the taillight?

 

I shake it out, then I pour water into the housing to help push all the plastic chips and then dry them

 

Nice work, but I prefer the OEM/JDM style.

 

Hi Thanks,
but what do you mean by OEM/JDM style?

because my taillight is OEM/JDM from Honda Original Parts Factory in Thailand,
I just added extra brake light on the empty section where there is fog light (in some JDM models but not all, they came with fog light on one side only).

You see,
some JDM (Japan and Taiwan) models do have fog light on one side of the tail light only, (again NOT both side)...
so when they light up,
it will look like you have one side with a broken light,
so in order for it to be complete (light both side),
you got to buy the other side which have fog light and in this case means UK version of the light.

I forgot which way which, but if I am not wrong,
the JDM/Taiwan version only have fog light in the Left side of the car,
while the UK version only have fog light in the Right side of the car (or vice versa)...

and the UK version one cost (if I am not mistaken) $500 just one side from Lings Honda,
and they are not even LED, just standard bulb light....

that is why I just bought this OEM/JDM original Honda parts (not some fake one) (but mine is original from/produced in Honda factory in Thailand)...

I was thinking of buying one side Japan/Taiwan version and one side UK version
and use the fog light on both for extra brake light, but then again they are too expensive (might cost near $1,000 pair including shipping from Japan and UK),...
(around $350 for just the Japanese side with fog light with shipping and around $650 for the UK side with fog light include shipping)
so it is too expensive for me, and again the fog light section were not LED

this Thailand one (real Honda original OEM equipment from Honda of Thailand Factory which is the exact same style as the JDM and Taiwan shape) are around $350 pair including shipping

in fact, I think some of the JDM model of Honda Fit that use this tail light but not equipped with fog light (different trim have different level of equipment) must be using this tail light produce in Thailand because for example
the Honda Fit and CRV fog light SWITCH that used in Japan JDM car were not produced in Japan but in Thailand factory belong to Honda.
heck, there is even big possibility that even that one side tail light with a fog light inside for either the JDM/Taiwan/UK might be most likely came from Honda factory in Thailand too.

 

hmmm actually,

now I think I know what you mean,
you must mean this tail light:
First Style:


well the tail light above are actually the Very First generation tail light (before facelift) and it is NON LED,
meaning there is NOT a single LED light in the tail light above... all light are just conventional bulb...
most Thailand and Indonesian version use this NON LED above for their first generation GE Fit before facelift ,
The Tail Light above are LONG GONE,
and NO LONGER IN PRODUCTION for new car equipment
(of course they were still available as spare part or used part like the one danny pall is selling from Thailand)...


Second Style:
now below here are the
FIRST generation tail light too (pre 2011 facelift in Japan), but this one are the JDM version with LED on the UPPER brake light section only:




THIRD Style:
From year 2011 in Japan, Honda Fit had a face lift and they change
the color of the tail light, and this face lifted version of the LED tail light is
what I had now,
do you notice the difference with the pre face lifted one?
the facelifted one (here is mine) had the same overall design LED tail light as the one before
but with MORE RED color on the plastic cover:



FORTH Style:
but very recently for the RS version, Honda issue another update
on which the LED tail light are now all clear cover: (still same design as mine but with all clear cover)



so there you go,
there are only FOUR style/variation of NON USDM tail light,
so with USDM tail light the GE Fit have total 5 different kind of tail light...

 

The Second style is the EDM preFace Version

The third is our Facelift Taillight

The forth is our hybrid taillight from 2008-2013

 

wow, from your information above, that mean
the EDM (European) never came with the First style (NON LED)...

 

Not to be picky, but there are actually 7, you forgot the post facelift hybrid taillight as well as the Fit EV's.

 

what... there are even more variations ???
That I never knew...
well...
I never pay attention to the hybrid or EV's model, cause I don't think I will ever buy a hybrid or EV car, no wonder I miss the variations of those 2 model tailights hahaha...