RPMS Posted April 9, 2001 Author Share Posted April 9, 2001 Dewzenol writes: >Some of these clusters are cheap, some not. >Many of them are 2000mcd per LED, and >contain 7 - (23? -- figure 5). >Does that mean that the 2000mcd fig.5 red >cluster would put out 23 * 2000? >46000mcd???? >I'd buy that for five or ten bucks! Scott answers: Who hoo!!! It looks like you hit the motherlode with this one, my friend! Next time you're in the D/FW area, I'm buying you a beer! It looks to me like you're right - the total luminescence should be 48,000 (24*2000) mcd, which is plenty bright. And the voltage looks right, too. As long as you bypassed the stock wiring and ran relays to the clusters, 14 volts is nearly perfect. Now... Assuming we're using the standard lenses, how we handle three functions (brake, turn signal, parking lights) in two lenses? Someone much smarter than me posted an electrical diagram a month or two ago that would allow two different voltages to be applied to give different light levels for brake, turn, and park lights. Anyone remember where this is??? Scott Ferguson 260Z w/ no need of ANY lamps right now because it doesn't run! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted April 9, 2001 Share Posted April 9, 2001 Try searching the other big long post in the archives for that diagram. It is true you can run the LED at different voltages but three functions might be more pain than its worth if these things are only 5 bucks. ? Will these things stand up to vibration in the car? There's actually specs for these in the auto industry. I did some messing around too, http://www.homestead.com/s30z/files/elec.htm Did some more but havent written anything up yet. All I know is that I hate soldering and would rather MIG weld these LEDs on! I'm also investigating using those wedge type bulbs and sockets for the lites. Anyone hear anything good or bad about these? ------------------ http://www.homestead.com/s30z/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Bayley Posted April 9, 2001 Share Posted April 9, 2001 Scott, I posted a schematic with a very basic description of how this might be possible... but I doubt that I'm much (if any) smarter than you or anyone else on this board. Since my geocities site blows, I'll post the direct link to both my website. Between the two, you should find it somewhere. Good luck and keep us posted. http://www.geocities.com/grannypotts/LEDLights.gif http://grannypotts.freeservers.com/LED.html -Andy ------------------ "But I don't sit idly by, I'm planning a big surprise." Andrew's Land of Z and Honey [This message has been edited by Andrew Bayley (edited April 09, 2001).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPMS Posted April 11, 2001 Author Share Posted April 11, 2001 Thanks, Andrew! I'm glad you reposted that. I'll see if I can't get out there this weekend and mess around with it a bit. I figured out yesterday that if I put all the LED's in there I desire (252 per lens, in a 7 x 36 array) each one will be pulling 5 AMPS of current! That's about 15 amps of draw from the brake and turn lights combined. For some reason, I thought it'd be far less than this. DEFINITELY a good place for some heavy duty relays! Scott Ferguson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted April 27, 2001 Share Posted April 27, 2001 LEDlight.com has an interesting selection of LED's...sorry I was just looking through your posts, and I thought I would see what I could find. Red 5 mm 8000mcd LED's are 55 cents each(min order 24), but temporarily out of stock. No price was listed under the white LED's. Also, they advertise LED reflectors for automotive taillight use in order to make them more visible for 20 cents apiece(min order 100) BTW the red 5mm 2200mcd LED's are 35 cents each(min order 24) and have a 30 degree radius as opposed to the 8000mcd ones having only 8 degrees (plus that they're in stock...) Hope this helps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 11, 2001 Share Posted May 11, 2001 This is a slightly dead horse, but I'm gonna beat it anyway. I've thought about this idea too for a while now, but what I was thinking is to do the LED's in an array the shape of the original Lights (240 style) except with the amber euro style blinkers on the bottom. I could probably do the reverse lights as LED's too which would most likely work much better than the stock ones anyway. I've got some circuit board layout software so I was thinking if I do this I could etch a board pretty easily. I've got a Fry's electronics by me who sells all the crap to do it, so I guess those electronics classes in high school were useful after all. Anyway, when I get around to doing this, I'll be more than happy to provide the PCB layout. I could probably do the boards for anyone too but I'd like to make sure my own works first. Etching boards is pretty easy for something like this that only requires single layer PCB's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 12, 2001 Share Posted May 12, 2001 I was thinking of doing some sort of taillight conversion and saw some ready made LED lights at www.jcwhitney.com that probably could be modified to work, cheap too! To see go to above websight, click on "lighting" and then click on "brake lights". null Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 Hey all, I just got the new allelectronics catalog (allelectronics.com) and it has a 6000 red led for 75c. Cheaper in quantity. Here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z_Dust Posted February 13, 2003 Share Posted February 13, 2003 Check this place out. They sell red 5mm, 8300cmd, 23*, 630nm LED's in bulk. It seems a bit pricey but LED's is all they do. I ordered a LED' cluster replacement for my Mag Light from them last year and it was fairly good. WWW.theledlight.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPMS Posted March 4, 2003 Author Share Posted March 4, 2003 Hey all, I just got the new allelectronics catalog (allelectronics.com) and it has a 6000 red led for 75c. Cheaper in quantity. When I first posted this, I didn't realize that folks would be adding to it for the next two years... $50 for 100 superbright LED's seems pretty reasonable. Considering that pre-made round clusters go for aobut $30 a pop, that's dirt cheap. Well worth thinking about... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dot Posted March 5, 2003 Share Posted March 5, 2003 I have been running truck trailer lights since the mid eighties. Last year I put in a set of LEDs and they work great. Another economic option for those who prefer the stock look could be the brake light found on the top rear of the small Chevy van. Internally the come in a strip of 10 or so red LEDs and could be modified to fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhaTTy Posted March 5, 2003 Share Posted March 5, 2003 OK.. I will throw this out here.. How about the older style (60s to 80s) corevette taillights with LED's? I was thinking maybe having a circle of white LEDs in the center of the light and then the outside out of the white would be red for brake and turn signal. Just have a diode and resistance set up for giving more power for when the brake is pressed. Is this possible? Any ideas or diagrams.. I was thinking like the old two cirle lights on each side and the inner ones would be the ones with the white backup lights and the outer would just be all red except for the missing center would be unlit to make it look similar to the other lights. Donno if anyone understands my giant run on but.. Let me know your ideas and what would be involved in doing this on a 83 280zx .. thx! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zolorin Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 Hey I am interested in completely clear 240Z taillights such that I would include the red, amber, and white/purple LEDs Do you have any ideas where I can get them, custom, or make it at home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Zed Posted May 24, 2004 Share Posted May 24, 2004 Not LED's but if anyone wants a euro look for their 260/280z, these are in the classifieds http://hybridz.org/nuke/modules.php?op=modload&name=zClassifieds&file=detail&cat=66&de=290 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPMS Posted June 2, 2004 Author Share Posted June 2, 2004 Not LED's but if anyone wants a euro look for their 260/280z' date=' these are in the classifieds http://hybridz.org/nuke/modules.php?op=modload&name=zClassifieds&file=detail&cat=66&de=290[/quote'] Now those are sexy! Too bad they're so expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhaTTy Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Quite and old topic.. but I've been snooping around: http://www.led-r-us.com/lights.shtml http://www.superbrightleds.com/1157.htm http://www.superbrightleds.com/truck_lights.htm Just some ideas.. Let me know what you guys think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pallnet Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 LED's in Tails is nothing new. I have been running them for a good long while now. I made 2 other 280Z sets of LED brake lights for friends and one set of full LED 240Z tails for another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpatrol Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 how does 12000mcd hit you? knock yourselves out superbrightleds.com phillip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 how does 12000mcd hit you? knock yourselves outsuperbrightleds.com phillip But they only have a 8 degree viewing angle. That's not very good for brake lights. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaysZ Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 i was thinking, since wide angle led's are usually more expensive, why not cluster the narrow angle led's in the middle and have the wider angle led's along the perimeter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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