Doing a little more testing this is 10 LEDs worth and this is what it looks like in real life minus the light bleed. I still need to play with spacing and distance from the lens to get the correct line width but it is looking good so far. Crappy cell phone pic will get better ones tomorrow.

 

Looking good! Keep at it

 

Made a little progress today. I made the amber signal section red and fixed the spacing on my led's. The camera shows slight hotspots of the individual led's but in real life everything is blended together.

 

sweet, keep up the good work

 

Getting some soldering done!



My super cheap soldering station works amazing I think I purchased it for $20 and it heats up instantly.

 

1/4 the way done still need to make the turn signal section and create the dividers for a more crisp line. I am not completely happy because I can still see hot spots. Right now the leds are as far as I can put them back without modifying the housing.

 

I got rid of the hotspots but I don't like the overall look of the lens. I used a prismatic diffuser and now it sparkles and does not have the OEM look I am going for. I am also having trouble of getting rid of the light bleed. If you look closely I put some tape on the back but the light is still bleeding. My only other option is to paint the back.

 

Very crude setup I still need to add the dividers and order some acrylic to diffuse the leds. I am hoping it will diffuse enough to close the gap between the lenses.

 

Well I bought some acrylic from the local hardware store and tried to diffuse the LEDs with some sanding. Unfortunately it made the hotspots worse which wasn't what I was expecting. It also reduces the intensity so I am probably going to scrap that idea.

I found some acrylic made to diffuse LEDs but at $40 per sq. foot I am probably going to hold off for now. Trying to keep the lights affordable.

Next option is to use the prismatic acrylic which so far is the best solution or pack the lights with more leds but.that adds twice the work and I would have to find some different components to handle the current.

 

Version 1.1 in the works. Hopefully you can tell what look different.

 

Wish I could edit my post so I wouldn't have to make a new one. Almost finished with version 1.1. I need to pick up some more components tomorrow and I may have some time to work on it if not a final proto will be done on Monday.

 

Looking good. What is your plan for the brake lights (I am assuming what you have shown are for the running lights)? Do you feel confident in the brightness for the brakes?

 

I have not decided yet. The original plan was to make them running and brake and add another line for signals. It will add twice the work and time so I might just make them run/turn/brake. I could add sequential when the turns are on to keep visibility at a maximum because if I rum it that way the brake will go away when signal is on.

I am confident that the brightness is up to par. These are OEM components.

 

 

Very interesting thread.

I actually want LED tails, but don't like how the Car Shop Glow ones look.

Fingers crossed you can get something developed that can be made into a GB!

Keep up the great work!

 

Please excuse the double post, but I've also seen these with the FRS crowd:



Was hoping they made something similar for the FD, but I haven't seen anything yet.

Maybe that can give you some ideas for materials or something.

The company is Valenti.

 

Hello, nice job!

anybody never think, it's like a cool thing to make these our rear lights like this?



(Image from Mayday led lights, but i have modified this with the third rear light in led)

 

It is impossible to make a design like that the third brake light does not light up that far across. I am making a LED center tail but it will be in the stock location.

 

Anything is possible. Little summer project of mine.

 

Keeping an OEM look and actual being functional is the hard part. Not to trying down your project but it is harder than just sticking flexible light tubes in the tails.

 

When the lights aren't on it does look OEM.


Your project is coming along nicely, a lot of attention to detail.
Keep up the good work.

 

I have toyed with this and the conclusion I had was to mold my own light bars using clear resins.
I would use 12mm steel rod with the ends rounded off or just cut off, bend to the shapes you want make a cast of half it. fill the mold with the resin place the leds in the resin.... only thing is i do not no how well it would work.

I got the led and the resin but never got to do a test on how the led would react to the resin

 

any details on your setup?

 

subscribed

 

PM me and I'll break it down for you.