Owen Posted March 23, 2001 Share Posted March 23, 2001 We had a big thread going on LEDs for tailites, did anyone come up with anything? I don't have a lot of time so I ordered some running lite/brake light assemblies and ripped them apart to get to the LEDs. Amber Super brights were barely visible...the reds however were really bright but I wouldn't be able to use them up front. I actually got the reds to slide into the bulb hole of the tail lite and it was the same or a little brighter than the stock bulb. This was with no strategic placement or aiming of the bulbs, so it looks like I've found the way to go for the tails. Now to find some cheaper ones, either that or learn to use a soldering iron, can't be much harder than MIG welding right Now for the front lenses...I have both clear and orange lenses and wanna use them both (not at the same time), so I'm figuring on really bright orange lenses. I took a lot of pictures but my FTP software is on the blitz. Q: If I have 2 wires, park and brake, going to a single LED string, would putting a resistor on one wire before the LEDs enable me to run the string at 2 different voltages? I will have resistors for the LEDs, either each LED or groups of 4 to 5. I could always run 2 separate strings too... Anyone else come up with anything? Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted March 23, 2001 Author Share Posted March 23, 2001 The solution for the front curved lenses? http://www.radiantz.com/flexarrayspictures1.html Owen ------------------ http://www.homestead.com/s30z/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted March 23, 2001 Author Share Posted March 23, 2001 one more http://www.varad.com/pnc.htm ------------------ http://www.homestead.com/s30z/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 How many of the Radiantz led strips would it take to replace a tail light/turn signal asm? Do you know what the price is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPMS Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 Owen sent us a link to http://www.radiantz.com/flexarrayspictures1.html Now that is KINKY fine! I can just imagine what we could do with such a thing, especially if it were in a flat form factor. Have you seen the organic LED's that Sony is experimenting with? They picture them used for flat computer displays, but I immediately thought of form-fitting, lens-less tail lights and cars that could change color at the touch of a button. VERY cool! Owen, did you use the LED replacement "bulbs" in your taillights? If you don't mind me asking, what did you give for them, and where did you source them? I've been playing with small LED clusters for a few weeks now, but that project took back seat to refurbing my V8. My goal is to increase the surface area that light shines from. The stock tail lenses seem to have a bright spot in the center of the lens, and it gets dimmer at the corners of the lens. I'd like to find a solution that stays bright from edge to edge. Oh, JC Whitney sells a 14 inch, 50-LED strip for $14.95. I'm sure they're not superbright lights, but I'm still intrigued. Four of them would make highly swank rear lights, I think. I'm also toying with fiber optics. Can you imagine how cool it would be to have a body-colored rear panel where the lights would be nearly invisible until you hit the brakes, then you'd see a thousand pinpoints of brilliant red. Talk about attention-getting! ------------------ Scott Ferguson 1976 260-Z, surrounded by an ever-growing cloud of V8 parts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted March 26, 2001 Author Share Posted March 26, 2001 On the Radiantz, I sent an email cuz the engineer wasnt around, I asked for brightness ratings in candella. Will post more when I know. Scott, I have a whole couple of pages typed out and waiting to upload, once my FTP program decides to start cooperating... I didn't use the LED bulb replacements, I heard they suck. Plus my other problem is the connections in the sockets/bulbs themselves. I bought some LED assys from JC Whitney, the kind that uses double sided tape to stick to the exterior of the car. Short story is, the ambers provide no lite. The reds are very bright and one 12-LED strip (or was it 16?) was enough to light up the tail lite (one section as seen from back) as much as the brighter of the dual filament bulbs. I'll try and upload the pages tonite. Owen ------------------ http://www.homestead.com/s30z/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPMS Posted March 27, 2001 Share Posted March 27, 2001 Owen, Do you have part numbers and prices on those LED strips? Hopefully it's better than the $15 each for the 50-light strips. On a side note, I saw some ideal candidates in a semi-truck parts store the other day, but they were $50 each. I did NOT want to spend $300 on brake lights, thank you very much!!! ------------------ Scott Ferguson 1976 260-Z, surrounded by an ever-growing cloud of V8 parts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted March 27, 2001 Author Share Posted March 27, 2001 OK, finally got some stuff uploaded, threw this together last nite so it may be hard to read. Turn up your monitor because the pix are dark too. The JC Whitney part nos. are: 12BU4336P 16-LED, Red Just barely big enough for one section of the tail light. 88BU9639A 12-LED, Amber Not worth buying, no brightness. Yeah, some of those truck lights are expensive. Even bare LED board assemblies cost close to $30. But unless someone can solder some up cheaply, I'm going with the pre-assembled boards. No time to do the soldering myself. At Fry's Electronics, Linrose bare LEDs were available but still high dollar. Resistors were like $2 per pack of 100. B4310H41 $3.49 Red, 3 candella B4310CH1 $0.99 Red, 1 candella BCMD333UWC $3.89 White, 2 candella BCMD2040UWC $3.59 White, 1 candella Even though some of these go to 3 candella, there wouldn't be enough viewing angle to light up the entire lens, which is like 7" long. I think these can be found cheaper online, if anyone has the ability to solder some boards together. See my initial tests here. http://www.homestead.com/s30z/files/elec.htm Owen ------------------ http://www.homestead.com/s30z/index.html [This message has been edited by Owen (edited March 27, 2001).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPMS Posted March 29, 2001 Share Posted March 29, 2001 I look forward to seeing what you have, Owen. Don't forget about us! ------------------ Scott Ferguson 1976 260-Z, surrounded by an ever-growing cloud of V8 parts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted March 29, 2001 Author Share Posted March 29, 2001 Did some checking at Jameco.com and found some 1 candella red LEDs for $0.12 ea for 100 or more. These are 1.7V, 20mA, 5mm diameter, should be just right. I am planning this, top parking lite/brake section: 1 or 2 separate cards of 30 LEDs x 4 LEDs. lower parking lite/turn signal section: 22 x 3 LEDs Questions: How do I wire to drive at 2 different voltages? Just use a resistor at the main input of one of the wires? Do I need a voltage regulator? Where can I find that perforated board stuff? Minus the boards, should cost about $45 bucks for both tail lites. Gotta learn to solder better though... Owen ------------------ http://www.homestead.com/s30z/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPMS Posted March 30, 2001 Share Posted March 30, 2001 Well, I know Radio Shack has the perf board for about six bucks a sheet, and each sheet is enough to do 3 or 4 assemblies, depending on how large you're making them. The inside portion of a 260/280 lens is approx. 10" wide by 2" tall. Regarding the dual voltage problem, someone posted a way to do this in the middle of the last topic on this subject. I forget exactly what he advised, but I think the best solution would be to use the 2000 mcd LED's as the brake lights, and some 1200 mcd lights as the running lights. That way you could go without the bother of creating extra circuitry. Oh, and sorry if this was a bit disjointed - I'm on some major-league cold medicine. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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