CHAPTER 7: CHMSL: Turtle's Tale of Center High Mounted Awesomeness
Note: This was originally a posting from a few years back, now fit into the story chronologically.
Once upon a time in a magical land called The Bay Area, Turtle had an improvement idea. He wanted to add a CHMSL to his car, Lola.
But what is a CHMSL, you say? Well Turtle is glad you asked.
Back in the day, before people had a fraction of the in-car distractions they have now, the simple and elegant design of having the stop lamps in the same bulb as the rear position lamps (or known these days as the tail lights) was good enough for the morotists following us at night. In the mid-eighties, cars started showing up with these weird futuristic 3rd brake lights equipped in their rear windows. They didn't illuminate at night like a tail light would, and its only function would be to turn on when the brake is applied. This became known as the CHMSL:
Center High Mounted Stop Lamp
In North America, if you had the car model year 1985 and below, your car probably didn't have a CHMSL.
In North America, most cars made for the 1986 year and above came standard with a CHMSL.
Perhaps someone had the foresight to add this 3rd brake light, as through the mid 90s, cell phones increased in popularity and they would eventually become an essential item in most motorists' hands, requiring attention away from actual driving. In the early 00s still, text messaging caught on like wildfire, which required even more dexterity and thought away from the wheel. It's quite possible that the 3rd brake light is the single thing that cel phone using motorists look for in the car in front of them! Uncool!
This is what lead Turtle to seize fate by the boobs. If his car didn't come equipped with a CHMSL, then he'll add one! Turtle carefully observed other cars and took a few things into consideration:
Size (clunky = fail)
Angle (needs a shallow angle because Lola is a hatchback)
Style (not too fancy and round, Lola has hard edges)
Position
After making the observations and getting a feel of what he was looking for, Turtle went to the junk yard and started to look. Turtle was amazed to see how clunky and big some CHMSLs turned out to be. Tens and tens of minutes passed when he finally found exactly what he was looking for.
perfect angle, perfect size, perfect style! Turtle was so excited about his find that he quickly bought the item and hurried home to plan out installing it! On the way home, he continued to observe where he would like to install his new find. Should it be at the top of the glass or positioned at the bottom?
Now home, Turtle admired his find.
[img]
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_LZ3kglYiE5s/Sx9Lt ... C01642.JPG[/img]
Look at this! it's made by HELLA! What a pleasant surprise. Hella frickin' rad!
Turtle started to make a plan out how to install the CHMSL. How is the wiring going to work? How would he mount it?
The wiring appeared easy enough, it just leeches off the brake light.
What about the mounting? Turtle designed a fancy cradle for the light.
But there seemed to be a much more simple solution. The CHMSL itself is extremely light. Would double sided tape work? Sure, but double sided tape would tend to get messy if he ever decided to remove it for some reason. Then he thought of a better solution.
VELCRO!
Turtle went out and bought some velcro strips. After that, he soldered on a harness and cut and fit the velcro strips on.
He then measured the center of the CHMSL and then measured the center of the rear window.
He lined up the two centers and outlined the CHMSL on the top of the glass. From inside the car, he applied the velcro's adhesive to the glass, aligning the CHMSL with the lines he drew. The result was even better than expected.
It can barely be seen in the rear view mirror.
And finally, he tested to see if it worked, and it did! freakin aye!
Turbo boost, Kit.
All in all, Turtle was completely satisfied with this quick and easy upgrade for Lola. A few of the lights were blown out on the CHMSL, but they will all be changed with LEDs eventually. One final item to clean up is the wire that protrudes from the back, but that should be a very easy fix. Also something to consider is hot weather. Will the 3M adhesive on the velcro hold up or melt under 100 degree temperature? If it doesn't, at least the cradle can still be added.
So if you ever see Turtle's 1985 Corolla Hatchback stopped at a light and you wonder "W T F is THAT!?" THAT, my friends, would be a CHMSL.
CHAPTER 7: END
R
Note: This was originally a posting from a few years back, now fit into the story chronologically.
Once upon a time in a magical land called The Bay Area, Turtle had an improvement idea. He wanted to add a CHMSL to his car, Lola.
But what is a CHMSL, you say? Well Turtle is glad you asked.
Back in the day, before people had a fraction of the in-car distractions they have now, the simple and elegant design of having the stop lamps in the same bulb as the rear position lamps (or known these days as the tail lights) was good enough for the morotists following us at night. In the mid-eighties, cars started showing up with these weird futuristic 3rd brake lights equipped in their rear windows. They didn't illuminate at night like a tail light would, and its only function would be to turn on when the brake is applied. This became known as the CHMSL:
Center High Mounted Stop Lamp
In North America, if you had the car model year 1985 and below, your car probably didn't have a CHMSL.
In North America, most cars made for the 1986 year and above came standard with a CHMSL.
Perhaps someone had the foresight to add this 3rd brake light, as through the mid 90s, cell phones increased in popularity and they would eventually become an essential item in most motorists' hands, requiring attention away from actual driving. In the early 00s still, text messaging caught on like wildfire, which required even more dexterity and thought away from the wheel. It's quite possible that the 3rd brake light is the single thing that cel phone using motorists look for in the car in front of them! Uncool!
This is what lead Turtle to seize fate by the boobs. If his car didn't come equipped with a CHMSL, then he'll add one! Turtle carefully observed other cars and took a few things into consideration:
Size (clunky = fail)
Angle (needs a shallow angle because Lola is a hatchback)
Style (not too fancy and round, Lola has hard edges)
Position
After making the observations and getting a feel of what he was looking for, Turtle went to the junk yard and started to look. Turtle was amazed to see how clunky and big some CHMSLs turned out to be. Tens and tens of minutes passed when he finally found exactly what he was looking for.
perfect angle, perfect size, perfect style! Turtle was so excited about his find that he quickly bought the item and hurried home to plan out installing it! On the way home, he continued to observe where he would like to install his new find. Should it be at the top of the glass or positioned at the bottom?
Now home, Turtle admired his find.
[img]
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_LZ3kglYiE5s/Sx9Lt ... C01642.JPG[/img]
Look at this! it's made by HELLA! What a pleasant surprise. Hella frickin' rad!
Turtle started to make a plan out how to install the CHMSL. How is the wiring going to work? How would he mount it?
The wiring appeared easy enough, it just leeches off the brake light.
What about the mounting? Turtle designed a fancy cradle for the light.
But there seemed to be a much more simple solution. The CHMSL itself is extremely light. Would double sided tape work? Sure, but double sided tape would tend to get messy if he ever decided to remove it for some reason. Then he thought of a better solution.
VELCRO!
Turtle went out and bought some velcro strips. After that, he soldered on a harness and cut and fit the velcro strips on.
He then measured the center of the CHMSL and then measured the center of the rear window.
He lined up the two centers and outlined the CHMSL on the top of the glass. From inside the car, he applied the velcro's adhesive to the glass, aligning the CHMSL with the lines he drew. The result was even better than expected.
It can barely be seen in the rear view mirror.
And finally, he tested to see if it worked, and it did! freakin aye!
Turbo boost, Kit.
All in all, Turtle was completely satisfied with this quick and easy upgrade for Lola. A few of the lights were blown out on the CHMSL, but they will all be changed with LEDs eventually. One final item to clean up is the wire that protrudes from the back, but that should be a very easy fix. Also something to consider is hot weather. Will the 3M adhesive on the velcro hold up or melt under 100 degree temperature? If it doesn't, at least the cradle can still be added.
So if you ever see Turtle's 1985 Corolla Hatchback stopped at a light and you wonder "W T F is THAT!?" THAT, my friends, would be a CHMSL.
CHAPTER 7: END
R
