Diy Led Tail Light And Brake Light

[Owgasm]

How did you cut the perspex?

Where did you buy it from?

Will be doing what you're doing, outer only

[GTRsean]

Perspex sucks!!! I got it from bunnings.

If you can get polycarbonate/lexan, that material is less likey to shatter.

I cut it with a bandsaw at bashers workshop, the inside ring, I just drilled a crap load of holes with drill then used the drill to cut between the holes.

Then just gave it a quick file. It's rough, but beats paying $1200+ for nismo's.

Cost:

housings $250 (I didn't want to pull mine apart)

perspex $35

90 LEDs $78 (jaycar electronics)

resistors and diodes $4

silicone $12

I'm hoping the will be bright enough! In hindsight I should of tried the brake lights in the sun to check brightness....

[Owgasm]

Thanks for the break down.

I've got plenty of housings which is good

Where did you buy the LEDs?

My usual spot for random things is eBay, but someone recommended in the thread not to.

So cheap on there.

What MCD LEDs did you go for? - you're hoping they're bright enough! Let me know haha.

[GTRsean]

From jaycar, and they are 4000MCD.

Lol, I put in in the last page of my post....

Cool, yeah I had a brief look in ebay..meh

My tip for the day is keep an eye on the oven, if you smell plastic....RUN lolz!!!!

[tefu]

Just need to know, is there a reason why you only do 3 LED in series in stead of 4? I based mine on 12 V instead of 10 V.

Edited April 3, 2013 by tefu

[etang789]

http://diyaudioprojects.com/Technical/Voltage-Regulator/

I see you printed the circuit boards for your LED Taillight conversion was it difficult?

http://zilvia.net/f/showpost.php?p=4694490&postcount=21

Can you make some for the R34?

[suwidji]

3 yrs later and the price of 1 4000MCD LED is $2.45 costs more to buy the LED's for this DIY than my set of full tail lights!! I was excited to do this today too

[MozzMann]

Making good boards like this is pretty easy if you have the right tools ,

Sneaky trick running 3 LED's rather than 4 in each string allowing the brightness level between Tail and Stop to be a reasonable contrast.

I'll be placing some LED's up the rear pillar on my Axis this weekend if I'm not on the road, so I had best take some pictures as well

.

Edited April 9, 2015 by MozzMann

[dori34]

someone needs to mass produce the circuit boards precut for r32/33/34....

comeon!!!

[Aggroman]

i was thinking about doing it mass produced wise, had the patterns all stored in the cutter and everything and and even have a 70% finished set sittign in my room with male adapters for the factory plugs.. so much CBF though

[suwidji]

given that the DIY states the pattern is supposed to be offset and not centred due to the angle in the lens, would the template work? The pictured template looks centred to me lol.

[etang789]

someone needs to mass produce the circuit boards precut for r32/33/34....

comeon!!!

Totally! I would be in for a few sets!

[JezR31]

Has anyone used Red LEDs instead of the clear ones in their tail lights?

The current prices at Jaycar are -

White waterclear LEDs 4000mcd = $1.90/25+ LEDs, x100 the total is $190

Red waterclear LEDs 4000mcd = $0.99/25+ LEDs, x100 the total is $99

(correct me if I'm wrong)

My understanding is that only the red light produced from a white LED is going to pass through the stock red tail light lense. Where a higher percentage of light from a red LED will will pass through the red lense.

So in saying that, would a red LED should be perfectly fine behind a red lense?

[etang789]

Has anyone used Red LEDs instead of the clear ones in their tail lights?

The current prices at Jaycar are -

White waterclear LEDs 4000mcd = $1.90/25+ LEDs, x100 the total is $190

Red waterclear LEDs 4000mcd = $0.99/25+ LEDs, x100 the total is $99

(correct me if I'm wrong)

My understanding is that only the red light produced from a white LED is going to pass through the stock red tail light lense. Where a higher percentage of light from a red LED will will pass through the red lense.

So in saying that, would a red LED should be perfectly fine behind a red lense?

Any update on your LED DIY?

[zoomzoom]

IME using white leds behind a red filter will give a pinkish red. Its not a proper brake light colour at all. Much better to use red leds in the first place.

Also those prices at jaycar are criminal. No way is a single 5mm led worth $1.90 per led (bulk price too!). I dont even bother with jaycar anymore unless there is a single item I need right away, the prices are far too high.

I have found regular lensed leds to be quite reliable from china off ebay. We're talking 100 of them for about $2. As long as you drive them conservatively, perhaps <50% of their rated current, they should be fine for many years.

I have never had a regular lensed led start flickering (and eventually fail), unlike SMD leds which I have seen many times.

I suspect part of the issue is that ebay led light packages come with too low resistors, and so the lights are being driven harder to be made brighter, but at the expense that a higher % of them will fail.

[JezR31]

Any update on your LED DIY?

No not as of yet, car has been at my mechanics for many months so I haven't had a chance to get started on it. I will be doing a Nismo R34 led layout on an early tail light (afterburner) HR31 Skyline.

[etang789]

No not as of yet, car has been at my mechanics for many months so I haven't had a chance to get started on it. I will be doing a Nismo R34 led layout on an early tail light (afterburner) HR31 Skyline.

Let me know when you start working on this R34 LED project

[etang789]

Found this R33 LED project that has been done really well!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/jsWK16005GA

https://www.hidplanet.com/forums/forum/general-discussion/leds/40191-nissan-skyline-r33-rear-led-marker-project

http://s437.photobucket.com/user/multics_R33/library/LED%20Lights%20Project?page=1&sort=3

Edited February 8, 2016 by etang789

[etang789]

OMG WANT! R35 style in R34!

http://zledslights.com/gtr-r34-diy-kit/

Edited February 8, 2016 by etang789

[etang789]

I found a very nice R34 Nismo Style Tail Light LED kit and it uses SuperFlux LED!

Edited February 26, 2016 by etang789