Diy Led Tail Light And Brake Light

[sinnerstar]

They look good but only 4000mcd? you might have some trouble in direct sunlight. With my first ones I made I used 8000mcd in red but I wouldnt like to go any lower than that.

And my second lot I went for high powered Superflux at 70ma, If you want bright I would recommend these.

[SargeRX8]

I can't get these damn R33 lights apart there is no WAY I can see to get them apart. I heat it up for 15 minutes in 100c oven and no matter where I try to wedge anything in to pull off the red lens, I can just hear it cracking. I think I have to give this tut a miss

Edit: Never mind! I f**king done it! The R33 lights are a bitch because it is one piece. What I done was heat it for about 18 minutes on 100c(fan OFF). When it came out I put a blunt object into the rear of the tail light where the globes sit and slowly pushed it out. I already broke most of the retaining clips so it just came out, you might have to pry them back to get the lens to come out. Now to design up the pattern, print it out and make my template!

And my second lot I went for high powered Superflux at 70ma, If you want bright I would recommend these.

Where do I source these superlux LED's? Ebay good enough? Did you build the current regulator your self or is there already a kit out there to control an array of these LED's. Do you just replace every regular LED with these superlux leds?

http://www.ebay.com....=item33458982de

This looks alright. 15000mcd brightness, 12 - 15v. All I would have to do is wire them up and drop them with a fuse and a potentiometer so I can control their brightness... But looking at what you have used, seems more technical... Care to elaborate on the parts used etc?

What pattern would you do for an R33? Would the R34 big light be suitable for both lights on the R33? Or just a single ring of LEDs?

Edited August 6, 2011 by SargeRX8

[sinnerstar]

Theres no off the shelf kits that I know of and that board that I posted is made up of 5 regulators 4 for each light and 1 for the indicators and then a pulse width modulator to dim them when the headlights are on. There is a lot more involved when working with superflux leds because of the extra current draw of 70ma compared to the 5mm which are normally only 20ma so I'd stick to the 5mm if your just starting out to get your head round it

Edited August 6, 2011 by sinnerstar

[SargeRX8]

I can build a current regulating circuit(Ive built a few in the past using a couple resistors, pots, LM317T). When I build the circuit using these parts, the LM317T is used instead to regulate current, rather than voltage. They support up to 1.5A so I should be able to feed them. The only problem is the where do I place them and is it the current which affects the brightness or the voltage?

I think for the sake of just building this and getting it done, Ill just use 5mm's because all the parts are tested and tried for.

[sinnerstar]

That's the regs I used in my circuit pretty cool because there adjustable.

Edited August 7, 2011 by sinnerstar

[SargeRX8]

Why did you need 5 regulators per light? The total draw would be about 2000ma(2amps) so maybe two of the regulators should be fine or did you divide the light into a pie and control each piece. That is 20 regulators you need...

[gumflapper]

use a LM338K voltage regulator (good for 5A)

[SargeRX8]

use a LM338K voltage regulator (good for 5A)

Is it a direct replacement for the LM317? I need to remember how to calculate all this shit again.

[sinnerstar]

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

[gumflapper]

yeh u could use it as a direct replacement if u wanted to...

only this is from jaycar they're about $15 each

Datasheet - http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/stmicroelectronics/2576.pdf

[vidoni]

so i gave this a go over the last couple weeks, and i must say it was a bit trickier than i first thought..

but after all i think it turned out quite well..

ps. stay away from cheap ebay led's

[sinistaGTR]

so i gave this a go over the last couple weeks, and i must say it was a bit trickier than i first thought..

but after all i think it turned out quite well..

ps. stay away from cheap ebay led's

nice man

[Tom91]

Me and my mate gave this a try today just doing the rear middle brake light. we got it all working fine but then when we put it all back together it wouldnt come on and niether will the other rear brake lights. any ideas?

[sinistaGTR]

Just an update, using the 4000mcd i changed the input resistors the other day to 68ohm for the tail light and 10 ohm for the brake light circuit....loooks a bit better in the summer sunlight now.

[sinistaGTR]

PM sent tom....

But for others if this happen then you need to understand some fault finding steps.

If an open circuit happens ie a LED blows....it will not affect the other lights.

If a short happens you will blow either the brake light or tail light (potentially on headlight circuit).

If this happens....

Plug left tail light assembly in turn on tail light then hit brake light. If this lights up then....

Unplug left tail light assembly and plug in right side repeat as per the left side....

unplug right side and plug in centre tail light and hit the brake....

Whichever blows the fuse means that circuit has a short in either the input wiring or when you have put it back together a short has happened, just pull it apart and check/insulate your wiring where need be.

[Tom91]

Thanks for the help got it all working now.

Blew the fuse thanks to 2 lil wires crossing each other when putting back into place.

i will admit i did go wtf have i just done to my car now moment

[sinistaGTR]

Good to hear Tom.

[madman_rocks]

hey

awesome write up

im thinking about doing this just want to know if you had a link to LEDs you got and anything like that

and would all the resistors and all that work with 8000mcd and not the 4000mcd

thank you so much

[Owgasm]

Hey Dan, can you chime in and comment on the above question.

Might tackle this over the next few weeks and want it to be bright, but not go into what the other guy posted.

[GTRsean]

My attempt at Nismo style LED tail lights. Nearly melted part of a housing!!! lol.

4000MCD from jaycar. Only outer LEDs get brighter for braking as per factory.

I also have a center brake light kit ready to go.

I will probably do the indicator as well once I source some orange LEDs and fit a resistor to load up the circuit to avoid the blown globe fast flash issues...