DIY LED Tail Lights

[Razi]

Did my 3rd brake lights as a test.
Since it went well, I'm gonna take a crack at doing the taillights soon.

Board with the LEDs + Chromebrite tape from Pepboys.


All inside with the resistors:

Lit



Kinda hard to capture how it actually looks with just a point & shoot camera though.

RHS13, how did you take the lens off your taillights?
I've heard of people baking them open, but they also end up melting the thing on accident too.
Maybe I should try it with a heatgun.

[mikeyee]

figured I share a few projects that I've been working on for some friends and customers.

[mikeyee]

Currently have these underway.





size reference



also just finished these for a customer



SOLO8 parts

[exitspeed]

I had those in the 80's as a kid too.

[Corbic]

Originally Posted by exitspeed

I had those in the 80's as a kid too.

First thing I thought of.

[mikeyee]

Originally Posted by Corbic

First thing I thought of.

it's quite similar to playing the game when making the boards.

[LEG1T]

SOLO keep up the great work!!!! I wouldn't mind getting something custom done in the future aswell...

Moar picccsssss!!!!! plzzz haha

[mikeyee]

[Southern Elegance]

So how does the whole led thing work, whats the rule with resistors? wanting to try this project out

Really "BADASS" taillights!!! keep up the good work

[mikeyee]

started on some AE86 Levin sidemarkers





I would like to try doing this to Silvia sidemarkers.

[Southern Elegance]

I have silvia sidemarkers how much?

[mikeyee]

Originally Posted by Southern Elegance

I have silvia sidemarkers how much?

between $80-100



also finished these datsun 280zx lights, took me under a week to do these.

[mikeyee]

you know who makes the coolest LED light conversions?

japan.

»ì‰æ‘œ

[Knuckles]

Originally Posted by mikeyee

between $80-100



also finished these datsun 280zx lights, took me under a week to do these.

Dam good work sir!!

[mikeyee]

Originally Posted by Knuckles

Dam good work sir!!

Thank you!

Here's an update with some s13 related content.

Completed these the other day for a customer in Hawaii.





Then finished these up recently as well for teddys13 and installed the LEDs personally. I was already planning a trip to go down anyways, so it couldn't have worked out any better.





apparently the stars are too bright. so I'll dim the LEDs a bit when I head back sometime in July.



but I think it's safe to say these are the first "japan style" s-chassis LED taillights in socal?
: DD

[rat240]

what do you use for the board it doesn't look like pcb or perforated board

you use white leds for everything right
also how are you getting the dual brightness function pwm? or resistors

[sharpe_corners]

Originally Posted by BustedS13

you know what might look interesting? what if you took a few sticks of neon, or like, colored fluorescent bulbs, and mounted them under the car for a glowing effect? that might be interesting.

\
new sig, thank you.

[HyperTek]

dam sweet work man

[h2v7]

led so awesome i will send monies and tails soon and your gonna make me some!

[rat240]

WP_20120704_071506Z.mp4 video by dr1f7t - Photobucket

j spec combination style chuki turn signals


hatch center brake light

[89fastback]

bad ass stuff in here i currently have ganador imagic leds but am thinking of doing led type x tails definetly something to try out

[Banana_Cute]

Ok, GREAT. so everyone post picture of the FINISHED product. Any one has a step by step procedure for us who doesnt have a clue how to even get started.

[Digi7ech]

I applaud the unique designs but how are you controlling voltage? I only saw resistors and in some pics. No sign of a regulator. Were you color matching led's to the lenses?

Here's some of my S5 FC Tails
I've since modified them so the turn signal halo's aren't on as running lights.


Rx7 FC3S LED Tail light conversion - YouTube

[rongfk]

ok so im having issues with my lights, this is my first attempt at this and its not working right. when i connect them to a batterie direct they work fine, but when i hook them up to the car the dont light up right.

ok so this was my first attempt at retro fitting led's to my tail lights, so im not very knolegable to this, but i can tell you all the info i do know. im using 20000 mcd led's with 470 ohm 1/4 watt resistors. each board of my tail lights and signal have 99 led's. tails have about 16 rows of leds in series of 4 with 470 resistors after the positive leads, which are all tied in with a power wire running to it.

its like the power coming from the stock harness isnt enough. im not having any issues with the reverse light or the running lights which are the outer ring of each brake light. i was able get the same effect when i added a resistor after the batterie, looks like this when its in the car.

what size resistors are you using? hopfully an led expert will see this soon and shed some light on the situation. i do appreciate your input though, because i cant find any usefull info in the net in regaurds to my issue.

and here is how they look when connected direct to a batterie.
didnt come out exactly how i wanted with the tint

driving lights

brake lights

all on

all on with driving lights only

driving lights with signal




any help will be greatly appreciated.....

[DRIFTER-M]

Nobody has ever posted up actual step by step instructions, as mentioned above. Wish somebody would!

Stuff looks GREAT guys, by the way!

[Digi7ech]

Check voltage out tail outlet. It probably flutctuates.
Car Off 12v-ish maybe even high 11v.
Car running 12-14.7v

Your statements don't make sense.
I assume these led's are the "Suberbrights".
Which checking ebay means 3.2v min 3.4v max voltage need.
assume 3.3x4 = 13.2v
This means you need that voltage to get them to light up without a resistor.

4 led's in series with a forward voltage of 3.3v(@ 20ma) and a 470 resistor means you need a minimum input voltage of 22v to overcome the 470ohm resistor. Are you sure you didn't mean 47 ohms?

This website will help you figure out led needs.
LED series parallel array wizard

I'm using voltage regulators to clean up the input voltage. I run series led's around 9.8v.
I also use Superflux LED's which run a lower voltage, last longer, and have a higher ma threshhold(can run up to 70ma).

Here's a pic of my setup.
4 superflux led's in series with a 15ohm resistor at the end of each. Running vregs around 9.8v


Some of us make money off this stuff and it isn't simple to do it right. So a step by step can't really be done. There's a lot of personal design in these as well. Each person does it differently.

[rongfk]

thank you sir for your input and help. the resistors are 470 ohm like these ( 1000 Resistors 470 Ohm for 12v led 1/4W 5% Carbon Film | eBay ) so what advice can you give me to achieve the correct voltage put of the factory harness?

Thanks

[Digi7ech]

You need to figure out what voltage comes out of the harness. Stick a multimeter in there and hit the brakes with car off, Then with car on.

Those will be your two voltage conditions.

I built my tails so they would work even in extremely low voltage conditions(dead battery).

The issue with LED's is that you need to build them with expectations of the highest voltage they will see so they don't burn out. 12v to 14.7v is a large swing.

They aren't like light switches though. They will illuminate below the specified voltage. So they may come on dimly.

You also need to post up your LED specs.
I'm just assuming 3-3.5v forward voltage with 20ma.

So here's some basics using the led wizard.
12v Input
4 leds series 3.0v @20ma = 1 ohm resistor
(Note: voltage too low to run at 3.3v, will be dim. ALSO DANGEROUS TO RUN WITHOUT RESISTORS!)
14.7v Input
4 leds series 3.3v @20ma = 82 ohms

[Digi7ech]

I did the math and the 470ohm resistors are only good for a single led, none in series.

Also, it would blow the LED's with on car voltage.
Math:
12v input
1 LED 3.3v @20ma = 470ohm
14.7v Input
1 LED 3.3v @20ma = 680

[HyperTek]

Was thinking about slanging my tail lights to a friend for his stockers plus some cash on his end. Since i did mine with trailer 4 inch round lights slapped in there. https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4180984_n.jpg

Was thinking about painting the inside of the housing chrome and just building an led board , should look like new car tail lights. Think I can accomplish that under $100?