mull Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 So, has anyone tried putting green bulbs in your Z to get a orange indicator/flash/blink? Just curious, since I have red (US-spec) tail lenses myself (although it's legal since the Z is old enough to have it) and I started thinking that people might not notice the red flash since it's so uncommon in Sweden/Europe... : ) Just thought I'd check if anyone had tried the green bulb approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArnZ Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Do you think that the green bulb going through the red lense would be bright enough? Where do you get green bulbs? Marine applications? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mull Posted December 11, 2007 Author Share Posted December 11, 2007 Apparently some cars in the Peugeot line up use green bulbs and red lenses. Green LED-bulbs, etc can be found here: http://autolumination.com/1156_1157.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkYBlue280Z Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 why are u putting green in your tailights? does it look cool or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsommer Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 why are u putting green in your tailights? does it look cool or something? Are you just posting to up your count? Jeez dude read the post, learn who is who on the board, then respond. Mull lives in Sweden, forget it. He says WHY in his post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 So, has anyone tried putting green bulbs in your Z to [b']get a orange indicator/flash/blink?[/b] Did Mull write anything about looking "cool" or anything like that? I don't think so... Philip, if I were you, I'd try to buy a set of Euro/JDM tail light lenses. Dunno if it would satisfy you though... They're available at http://www.datsunrestore.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsommer Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 I can vouch for the quality of the parts at Too Intense Restorations, top quality and easy to deal with. Those lenses will require a little bit of rewiring but not anything that is beyond your ability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mull Posted December 11, 2007 Author Share Posted December 11, 2007 why are u putting green in your tailights? does it look cool or something? Is this you? Philip, if I were you, I'd try to buy a set of Euro/JDM tail light lenses. Dunno if it would satisfy you though... http://www.datsunrestore.com/images/240Zeurob.jpg They're available at http://www.datsunrestore.com. I don't need new lenses. I have two sets of red US-spec that I'll be wet sanding, polishing and clearcoating. I was only wondering if anyone had ever tried putting a green bulb in a Z to get orange indicators. That's all. Thanks anyway Gareth : ) I like my car being able to (legally) have red lenses. Just being curious... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonfly Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Looks to me like you will be charting new teritory with this... Just make sure you have good grounds for the tail light harness so you get the full power to the bulbs, the more layers of color you have to go through the less light there is for the person behind you to see. As a side note (and you are probably planning this already) make sure to fully polish or replace the reflectors in the tail light housings as well as clean and polish the lenses. On our cars they are still made out of a polished piece of metal rather than a chromed piece of plastic so they tend to corrode/rust and loose thier ability to reflect light as well as they used to. Dragonfly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mull Posted December 11, 2007 Author Share Posted December 11, 2007 Looks to me like you will be charting new teritory with this... Just make sure you have good grounds for the tail light harness so you get the full power to the bulbs, the more layers of color you have to go through the less light there is for the person behind you to see. As a side note (and you are probably planning this already) make sure to fully polish or replace the reflectors in the tail light housings as well as clean and polish the lenses. On our cars they are still made out of a polished piece of metal rather than a chromed piece of plastic so they tend to corrode/rust and loose thier ability to reflect light as well as they used to. Dragonfly Actually, I'm thinking of not using reflectors at all, since I'm planning to make some pretty little circuit boards - and pumping 'em full of LED(s)! I dunno, guess you could coat the circuit board with some aluminium foil or something. I'll make some prototypes when the time for the electrical comes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badjuju Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Is this you? WOW! I've never seen a cat other than mine with those markings... Black, white boots, white face, with the black hitler 'stache. sorry. thread hijack, talk about upping a post count, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonfly Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Actually, I'm thinking of not using reflectors at all, since I'm planning to make some pretty little circuit boards - and pumping 'em full of LED(s)! I dunno, guess you could coat the circuit board with some aluminium foil or something. I'll make some prototypes when the time for the electrical comes. I run LED's for all my tail lights except the brake lights. The LED's are bright but because they have such a focused beam they do not disperse light that well. I use mine the way I do because I know people can see the LED's just fine at night and when I hit my brakes the incandescents come on like flood lights to wake up the person behind me. As for the foil around the LED's that is actualy a good idea, what works best is to have the reflective material completely flat and about two times the width of the LED down from the tip, then at the edges of each LED grouping raise the reflective material up at about an 80 deg angle away from the LED's to a height of either two times the hieght of the LED above the reflecteve material or to the lens depending on your design. If you are inclined to do so (and since you are making your own LED boards) you can angle some of the LED's at 45 deg and some at 90 deg from the primary LED's then use a standard reflector to amplify the light from the angled LED's. Dragonfly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Actually, I'm thinking of not using reflectors at all, since I'm planning to make some pretty little circuit boards - and pumping 'em full of LED(s)! I dunno, guess you could coat the circuit board with some aluminium foil or something. I'll make some prototypes when the time for the electrical comes. Hey Mull, look at this if you need to calculation the resistors and led setup =) http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mull Posted December 12, 2007 Author Share Posted December 12, 2007 Hey Mull, look at this if you need to calculation the resistors and led setup =) http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz Thanks a bunch! : ) Great stuff. I needed something like that! : D By the way, how bright should red LEDs be for the tail lights? I was thinking of getting some 60,000 mcd ones since they don't cost a lot nowadays. The 60k mcd ones could be dimmed with a PWM but if the 10k mcd LEDs wouldn't prove bright enough, that would suck... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted December 12, 2007 Share Posted December 12, 2007 Thanks a bunch! : ) Great stuff. I needed something like that! : D By the way, how bright should red LEDs be for the tail lights? I was thinking of getting some 60,000 mcd ones since they don't cost a lot nowadays. The 60k mcd ones could be dimmed with a PWM but if the 10k mcd LEDs wouldn't prove bright enough, that would suck... you should be looking for 12mm wide LED's that are 60+ degrees in angle view. I don't think I've found powerful enough LED's that were smaller than 12mm. They should also be the brightest you can find. They can be found on ebay from someone called Spectrum LED, and he pre-wires them for car use, but you'll have to rewire them in most cases. Around this time he gets busy with requests from auto manufacturers to supply them with LED's as well, as he is a BIG supplier, but you should message him and he can better assist you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mull Posted December 12, 2007 Author Share Posted December 12, 2007 you should be looking for 12mm wide LED's that are 60+ degrees in angle view. I don't think I've found powerful enough LED's that were smaller than 12mm. They should also be the brightest you can find. They can be found on ebay from someone called Spectrum LED, and he pre-wires them for car use, but you'll have to rewire them in most cases. Around this time he gets busy with requests from auto manufacturers to supply them with LED's as well, as he is a BIG supplier, but you should message him and he can better assist you. I checked if I could find anyone called Spectrum led, wound up with someone called "spectrumled" - is that him/her? Checked their auctions but didn't really find anything spectacular(?). Anyway, I found some 8mm LED's that pump out 45,000 mcd at 45° at a very reasonable price, so I bought 50 of them. The last bunch I got for trial & error were not that bright, nor had that much angle, so this should be interesting : ) Here are some pics from a year ago or so, those are 5mm LED's btw: This thread is getting way off topic, but since I'm the thread starter and it seems no one has tried the green bulb approach, it might as well stray into diy LED territory : ) Come to think of it, maybe I could sneak some amber LED's into the reverse light section of the tail light? Hmm.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heavy85 Posted December 12, 2007 Share Posted December 12, 2007 So, has anyone tried putting green bulbs in your Z to get a orange indicator/flash/blink? Uh is it just me or is anyone else wondering how red+green=orange??? Cameron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mull Posted December 12, 2007 Author Share Posted December 12, 2007 Uh is it just me or is anyone else wondering how red+green=orange??? Cameron Duh? : ) http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_do_you_get_when_you_mix_red_and_green_colours Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 Hi Mull. They look good in the pic, However, I would put some sort of reflective tape as a base before soldering them to the breadboard. just make sure that the reflective tape is not conductive, ofcourse Many time's I've drove by a car, only to notice it a couple of meters in the distance because of it's chrome trim and reflection off the back of the tail lights. So that should be an indication of how well the reflective portion helps at night. Are you sure they are wide enough angle? Also, you'll want to make sure you get 640nm wavelength, as that is the purest RED in LED form, and won't make it look pink, like most DIY (and even some factory) LED tail lights I see on the roads today. That spectrumled fellow seems like the right guy, but perhaps you should message him for more information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deja Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 I got all the LEDs for my Z from http://www.superbrightleds.com/ They have LED replacement bulbs as well as invividual LEDs in a variety of colors and brightness. There is also a wealth of information about LEDs in an automotive application. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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