Custom LED tailights

When i was doing my testing and running them at 70 mA it would hurt my eyes and I was only testing with 12 LEDs. I would look away and all I could see would be white spots. Right now I have the brake/marker section running at low mA. Once I temporarily place them in the housing with the lens I will be able to swap one of the tails and compare the brightness to stock.

Remember ill be running about 105 in that section.
 
The lens will block out a lot of that light.
 
True. A lot of variables affecting the light output. Trial and error may be the best option. Worst case scenario ill have to spend 30 min and change out the resistors.

Maybe your right and ill have to run them at 70 mA and if so, ill be slapping myself in the face. :D
 
This is the best progress any LED taillight mod has had.

Get the lens on and fire it up!
 
Looking real good so far.

If they are really that bright, they will for sure see you stopping :D
 
How are you going to deal with the generated heat?
 
hard piped.....




41P83BC0inL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
 
Costs

Mini opti drive- 35.00
2- voltage regulators- 10.00
99AznAccord, hidplanet.com
210- Red LEDs (both tails) 210 x .40= 84.00
142- Amber LEDs (both tails) 142 x .285= 40.47
futureelectronics.com
Rust-oleum Metalic Finish Paint about 6.00
2- 6 x 8 breadboards (1 per tail) about 2 x 4= 8.00
2- 8 oz electrical solder 2 x 9.00= 18.00
Wire (IIRC I baught 90ft of 22gauge solid) 7.00
Total 208.47

This doesnt include any shipping, taxes or an extra set of tails which I would recommend (some items were free shipping, or baught local). Thats about it.
 
These are going to work out nice. Have you done your instrument cluster?
 
FrankLS said:
They wont be for sale or will be making more, but if they were, youd be #1 on the list :D
Click to expand...

Plus if they were being made to buy they would probably be over 400 bucks a set with parts and labor and still having a bit left to eat lunch on. This is an awesome build and write up.
 
ETA?

Not sure. Right now im waiting on my LED's and other tailight to arrive. Im guessing the 2nd tailight will take me about a month and should be done with this 1st one in maybe 2 weeks.

Heat

As far as heat goes the mini opti drive and voltage regulators haev their own heat sinks. I ran the LEDs in brake mode (so bright) for 30 minutes and werent even warm to the touch. They are running at a very low mA. Im sure direct sunlight will increase the temperature. This is something Ill need to do a bit of research on. azdave at hidplanet.com ran his enormous array and mentioned that the LEDs from lumileds have a limit of 187F which is pretty high. If im reading my specs correctly my lumileds state a max of 125C which is higher so I dont expect to have any heat problems.
 
centason said:
These are going to work out nice. Have you done your instrument cluster?
Click to expand...

Im unsure on what you mean by instrument cluster. I believe I may be mounting the mini opti drive and the voltage regulators side by side on a thin sheet of some wood veneer behind the carpet, mounted to the inside wall in the trunk.
 
My biggest question and you may have covered this and I missed it, but how did you form the bread boards, just heat them and form them?
 
2002_lincolnLS said:
My biggest question and you may have covered this and I missed it, but how did you form the bread boards, just heat them and form them?
Click to expand...

Yes, I posted a picture of how I used a cooking pot and heat gun and formed it that way. These boards take a lot of heat to shape. At times i thought they would go up in flames!
 
FrankLS said:
Im unsure on what you mean by instrument cluster. I believe I may be mounting the mini opti drive and the voltage regulators side by side on a thin sheet of some wood veneer behind the carpet, mounted to the inside wall in the trunk.
Click to expand...
No No, have you done LEDs behind your instrument cluster? If so what did you use and how many?
 
there is a write up about the cluster I do remember seeing it. It was quite a while ago though
 
I'd just like to know how many to buy. I know I could just pull the instrument cluster and check, but with the work schedule I have this week, not happening.
 
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