Is working brake light in back window required for NCT?

loobylou

Have a car due for NCT tomorrow. The two brakelights work but one, sometimes two of the led in the back window do not work.
Will this pass? Would I be better off disconnecting window light completely?

Stark

If it's present, it needs to be working. You'll fail with it disconnected.

no1beemerfan

loobylou wrote: »

Have a car due for NCT tomorrow. The two brakelights work but one, sometimes two of the led in the back window do not work.
Will this pass? Would I be better off disconnecting window light completely?

How many leds in total? If its a good few and only one or two don't work you'll be fine but if you've only say three leds so only 1 left working you'll fail.

Could you try get one in a scrappy?

loobylou

5 leds, sometimes 1, sometimes 2 not working.

mullingar

Hold on here,

My understanding is that legally, a minimum of 2 brake lights are required, one on the left and the other on the right hand side.

The 3rd brake light is NOT a legal requirement, its only to add extra safety so the car thats 2 behind you can see your brake light through the car between you.

NCT requires a brake "balance" between the left side and the right side, so just disconnect it, or as I did, a bit of black insulating tape over the lens as I had only 1/4 bulbs were working (disconnecting made the brake warning light come on), it passed

Atomic Pineapple

mullingar wrote: »

Hold on here,

My understanding is that legally, a minimum of 2 brake lights are required, one on the left and the other on the right hand side.

The 3rd brake light is NOT a legal requirement, its only to add extra safety so the car thats 2 behind you can see your brake light through the car between you.

NCT requires a brake "balance" between the left side and the right side, so just disconnect it, or as I did, a bit of black insulating tape over the lens as I had only 1/4 bulbs were working (disconnecting made the brake warning light come on), it passed

^^^

That should work, if its visible and not working they'll fail you but if its not visible and not required they cant test it

loobylou

Thanks everyone for the replies.
Just went into the test centre and asked them.
They say that "once 50% or more" of the lights are working they'll pass it, so I should be fine.

mullingar

From NCT Manual (page 26)

STOP LAMPS

Method of Testing

With the ignition and rear lights switched on, apply the service brake and check the stop lights for visibility, colour,
intensity and security.


NOTES
1. For the third (high) brake lamp, Reason for Failure (5) does not apply.
2. Additional stop lamps (other than those fitted by the vehicle manufacturer) are not part of the test.


ITEM REASONS FOR FAILURE
Stop Lamps

1 Missing or not clearly visible.
2 Not working or faulty.
3 Not brighter than tail lights.
4 Not red in colour.
5 Not of same dimensions and intensity.*
6 Insecurely mounted.
7 Lens missing or broken (crack separated or white light showing).
8 Contains water / moisture.

* This does not apply to third (high) brake lamps.
Note: For LED matrix lamps, incur a fail for reason (2) above if
less than 50% of LEDs are working in any single unit matrix.

So the rules of the NCT have changed a bit with no mention of the word "imbalance".

So, If the worst is 2 of your 5 LED's are dead, it will pass as its over 50%

Daisy Steiner

loobylou wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the replies.
Just went into the test centre and asked them.
They say that "once 50% or more" of the lights are working they'll pass it, so I should be fine.

That's cool if they said that, I was failed for not having the back window brake light working (peugeot 106) Both rear brake lights were working, I remember my mechanic went spare as many cars don't even have back window brake lights.

This was about 2 years ago.

Best of luck with it!

Guy:Incognito

Why would you not just fix it/get it fixed

Esel

2. Additional stop lamps (other than those fitted by the vehicle manufacturer) are not part of the test.

This is the bit I remember from when I researched this a couple of years ago.

matsy1

Hi, My nct is today... Just realised my right brake light is not working but the left and middle lights are.. Is this definitely a fail ye?

Stark

Hmm, I dunno. What do you think?

doohan

Apologies for hijacking the thread...but if my rev counter is not working correctly will they fail me on the NCT??

no1beemerfan

matsy1 wrote: »

Hi, My nct is today... Just realised my right brake light is not working but the left and middle lights are.. Is this definitely a fail ye?

Yes its a fail.

Stark

doohan wrote: »

Apologies for hijacking the thread...but if my rev counter is not working correctly will they fail me on the NCT??

That's okay as not all cars have rev counters.

MarkR

Yep. Get over to any motor factors and buy a bulb. Failing that, you could try halfords who will fit their bulbs for a few euro if you can't do it yourself.

matsy1

Stark wrote: »

Hmm, I dunno. What do you think?

I wouldn't have asked if I knew.

no1beemerfan wrote: »

Yes its a fail.

Thanks, just wanted to know for sure.. Wasn't sure because of the big middle light.

matsy1

MarkR wrote: »

Yep. Get over to any motor factors and buy a bulb. Failing that, you could try halfords who will fit their bulbs for a few euro if you can't do it yourself.

Got a bulb, but it still is not working, must be the switch or a dodgey connection..:-/

daoirse

Old thread, but posting up to date information.

I just had a car going for the NCT and about 4 of the 15 LEDs on the centre brake light cluster were not working. My mechanic told me that it could fail the test under recent rule changes. I considered removing the fuse for the centre brake light but in the end submitted it as it was.
It passed with no comments.

TheBoyConor

Could you just remove the centre light out of it altogether?
Should be a few screws and unclip a connector to remove it.
Failing that, bust it out of it.

I once ripped foglights out of a car to get it to pass as a bulb change didn't fix it so there was some wiring issue possibly.
One light had corroded fixings so I literally kicked the foglight as hard as I could until the attachments broke and the light fell out.

coylemj

You can't be failed on the third brake light.

For the third (high) brake lamp, Reason for Failure (e) does not apply.

Section 26, page 47 ......

https://www.ncts.ie/media/1027/nct_manual_july_2018_v4.pdf

biko

Thanks, but old thread..