Custom LED tailights

Hey! I read the text as well.

Looks good. Hot glue is amazing! Just hope it doesn't melt in the summer.
 
I've seen a fair amount of crappy custom LED tail lights. But this is by far the BEST and CLEANEST job I've ever seen. Bravo! :D
 
thanks man. Funny, i mention that about the text because i do that a lot. Look at the pretty pictures and if I have time, read some text :rolleyes:

Thanks Pan, appreciate the comment.
 
Just looked up the lowest melting point for hot glue. 127 deg C is melting point. The board with volt reg will most likely be in the trunk. With the 110 deg heat here in AZ I think ill be cutting it close.

Any ideas on how to mount them or other adhesives?

Thanks Highrule
 
Not sure if you mean that it melts at *C or *F. IF it is indeed *C youll be more than fine. ;)
 
Celsius. Othe sites stated the temperature was even higher, so your right, I think I should be good.
 
WOW, those look great!!!!

I read the text too. I have recently fallen in love with hot glue, easy to use and secures things pretty well very fast, its not permaments but solid enough to leave if need be. I have been using small amounts of hot glue to hold things in place and then just using epoxy to fully secure it, try that.
 
FrankLS said:
Thanks guys, project has been fun.

I already spoke to my gf and I'm gna have her follow me while we are driving and record to see exactly how the tails look. Ill try this with one led tail and one stock. Nobody drives my car so that'll be the only way ill see them functioning.

Sure ill sell some to members, $1k, any takers? :D

After this set ill be retiring!
Click to expand...

scottmmckinney said:
When will these be available for sale?
Click to expand...



Just ask for all the parts he used and attemp it yourself. Doesn't seem to bad since frank has done all the leg work.

On a side note, you could make some good $ off of these if you made them. I would get deposits from a person first them start making it so you aren't left with extra tails laying around... if you ever decide to make them
 
It's exciting following your progress :)

How much current are you sending through the LEDs? What resistors did you add to each series of four? (none? :shifty:)
Are the opti-drive and regulator units designed to be hooked up in parallel (one fat shared 12v(?) output) or will you have them powering separate banks of LEDs?
 
Yeah scott they won't be for sale as I don't have the time to make them in a reasonable time frame for potential buyers. I have posted all the mateials that I have used and your welcome to attempt them and hopefully improve on my design. Very simple to make, just require some patience. Although tempting, making them to sell is not something that I have time for right now, and my gf would kill me! There I was soldering while she's mad, wondering when id join her in watching vampire diaries :D.

Owlman ill post the info in a bit.
 
Ok so here is some of the info for the leds and resistors. I should of posted this earlier so that you guys could let me know if Im mistaken anywhere as im no electrical guru.

Brake/marker section:
-Total # of LED's = 106
Foward voltage of 2.6 volts at 70mA
-Wired in Series in groups of 4
26 groups of 4, 1 group of 2

At first I wired them at full 70mA and was way too bright. Then a 33 ohm resistor, and according to the online calculator, the LED's were running at 59mA but was still way to bright. So the next thing I did was trial and error. I raised the the value of the resistor several times on my test board until i reached a brightness that was closer to stock brightness. The resistor I ended up with was a 1k which would be running the LED's at 1.9mA. I still think that is insanely low, but the brightness im getting resembles the brake brightness very closely. Id like to hear your thoughts on that.

The mini-opti drive allows me to change the birghtness for the marker. With a screw driver I can adjust it quickly. The brightness of the brake is set by the resistors soldered.

One part I am a bit unsure of is the set of 2 LEDs. I assumed that because there are 2 led's I would simply neeed to double my resistance from my 4 led set up, so a 2k resistor. The online calculator states that Id have to use a 3.9k resistor. Im a little unsure on that figure but I went with what the calculator gave me. Anyone know more about this?

The mini-optidrive will be running both my left and right brake/marker section. It can handle a total of 2 amps and if my math is correct it should be more than enough. Each array is running at 1.9mA x 27arrays x 2tailights=.1026 Amps. It has an input for brake and marker from the car and a single output for the "+" to the LEDs.

I will be using 2, volt regulators. One for each blinker side. These have a input from the vehicle and a 12v output for the LED's. Ill be needing two as they will be functioning independant from each other.
 
I want to see these installed. They came out great, very good work!
 
I wish id have them insalled already. I attempted it last week but didn't have a multimeter so didn't do much. My gf's been having a fit that we don't hang out enough so I've been staying away from the LS.

I've been secretly working on the 2nd one :D
 
I have to say, it's the best LED tail light conversion i have seen. Looks professional.
 
Lol yeah I know.

Been fairly busy lately. Got a new LOC for my sub install so have been working on it here and there. Will be getting the amp and LOC tuned on Friday.

I should be able to do a bit of work on the tails on Friday too. Last time I tried wiring the lights w\o my voltmeter, nothing good came out of it. I thought I could just easily conect my leads to the wiring in the vehicle. The bulb sockets in the vehicle clearly mark what wires are the ground and positive. I attempted it that way and was unable to make them work properly. A voltmeter should allow me to troubleshoot.
 
I know I've been slacking! Lots of stuff going on but the project is always on my mind. As I live in an apt, I can't do any mechanical work without getting in trouble. I already got called on it. Enough with the excuses, updates will be coming soon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 129 (members: 0, guests: 129)
Back
Top