Jump to content
SAU Community

Leds For Centre Brake Light

GeeDog

By GeeDog,
in VQ Series - V35, V36 & Infiniti

 Share

Recommended Posts

GeeDog Experienced

GeeDog

Posted
Posted

2 of the Lumiled LEDs in my centre brake light are dead. Because of the way the LEDs are wired, this means that the centre brake light didn't work at all.

I've tried a few places to see if I can buy replacement LEDs, and the best I can find are tri-coloured LEDs from Jaycar. These have 4 legs - one being a common, and the other 3 being for the 3 different colours. I've cut off the blue & green legs, and soldered the LEDs to the board, and they work. The problem is that they just aren't as bright as the original ones, so I've got a dull bit in the middle of the light.

Has anyone managed to find a supplier of suitable LEDs in oz? Or does anyone have a broken centre brake light they don't want?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
port3s Enthusiast

port3s

Posted
Posted

I replaced the centre rear break light on my 33 a few months back... I went out to autobahn and got some SMD LED lights and replaced the old panel with them. I found that because the plastic housing is red, buying white SMDs gave me the required brightness. SMDs are basically super bright LEDs... give them a try if your up for it... worked of me xD

Link to comment
Share on other sites
The Max Mentor

The Max

Posted
Posted (edited)

SMDs are basically super bright LEDs... give them a try if your up for it... worked of me xD

Not necessarily. SMD stands for Surface Mount Device and makes no reference to the performance characteristics of the LED in question.

Therefore, be sure to pick out LEDs which have the appropriate brightness, measured typically in candela (cd) in luminance terms (intensity) or otherwise lumens, in illuminance terms (flux). The difference between the two measurements is the luminance is the perceived light from the LED whereas the illuminance is the perceived incident light on the surface of the object that the LED is shining on. That's why you typically find luminance measurements for LEDs intended as indicators as opposed to illuminance measurements for LEDs intended for light globes and torches.

Obviously, the higher the number, the brighter the LED.

You'll probably find that port3s' recommendation might be the more cost effective way to go. Not having seen these tail lights myself, I don't know what the direct replacement is for these things so I can't make any recommendations but if I were to start looking for bits, I'd look to the auto parts guys first too. Failing that, I usually look at guys like RS Components and Element14 as they generally have what I'm looking for, though at a premium.

Edited by The Max
Link to comment
Share on other sites
GeeDog Experienced

GeeDog

Posted
  • Author
Posted

The LEDs I got from Jaycar are SMD, just not as bright as the originals. I'll try Autobahn. Did you buy a complete light panel from them? Note that my lens is clear, not red, and the existing LEDs are definately red - this is the centre light (the one on the rear parcel shelf), not the combo taillights or a spoiler mounted light. I don't have a spoiler (unfortunatly).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
The Max Mentor

The Max

Posted
Posted (edited)

The other suggestion I forgot to make as well is that if you are unsure what the luminance characteristics are of the existing LEDs, you would be best advised to replace them all so that you don't wind up with any hot/dim spots in your LED array when they're active. Do you have the Jaycar catalogue number of the dimmer LEDs you bought?

Edited by The Max
Link to comment
Share on other sites
The Max Mentor

The Max

Posted
Posted

Looking at the specs, they're 200mcd, which is not all that bright. Also, they're tri-colour which means you've paid for two other colours which you don't need in your brakelight since it's a clear lens. Had it been a red lens, you could then use all three colours to achieve white.

Nevertheless, you'll need more than 200mcd luminance, it seems. The perceived brightness is logarithmic so for double the brightness, you'll need around 450mcd, quadruple brightness is around 670mcd and so on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sonicii Veteran

sonicii

Posted
Posted

Listen to Tony.. what is says is correct.. there should be plenty of high intensity red LEDs available, you just might need to look further than Jaycar.

I also suggest you replace all of them while you am there, even if you can get the same spec LEDs, the older LEDs will have lost some of their intensity, and you could end up with a 'hot spot'.

Does the center brake light really use SMD LEDs? I expected they would be normal 5mm LEDs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
t5iv Grand Master

t5iv

Posted
Posted

Listen to Tony.. what is says is correct.. there should be plenty of high intensity red LEDs available, you just might need to look further than Jaycar.

I also suggest you replace all of them while you am there, even if you can get the same spec LEDs, the older LEDs will have lost some of their intensity, and you could end up with a 'hot spot'.

Does the center brake light really use SMD LEDs? I expected they would be normal 5mm LEDs.

Im stealing that part of the quote :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GeeDog Experienced

GeeDog

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Definitely surface mount - there are 6 LEDs arranged as 3 pairs (each pair in parallel), then each pair in series with the other 2. There is also a diode (for rev polarity protection probably, not sure why though as the LEDs will do that) and a pair of current limiting resistors. I've got the old ones here somewhere, but physically they are the same size & shape as the Jaycar tri-colours, but only 2 legs (obviously - 1 colour).

It's in & working now, I'll keep my eye out for more suitable LEDs & change them if I find some.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • niZmO_Man
      Duncan's V37.......race car?

      By niZmO_Man · Posted

      Awesome stuff. I should sell my R32 and get a V37 RedSport haha. Looking forward to this build.
    • Duncan
      Duncan's V37.......race car?

      By Duncan · Posted

      So, first things first, it's had a service for all fluids (2x coolant as it has air/water heat exchangers instead of air/air), new air filters (they were terrible, and one was pinched when installed by NIssan's "technician"). Also, both the boot and bonnet gas struts were shot, so ebay sorted some new ones, the jack handle kept me alive for the first service It needs tyres (more to come on that...) and the brakes are horribly grabby, looks like they've been badly glazed sitting around in Sydney traffic. On the bright side there are no obvious leaks and it runs well. The car goes well with 300kw (stock, claimed, I'll put it on a dyno soon), does good skids and handles reasonably well eg in long medium g corners. It is no cruiser like the Fuga though and is noticeably jiggly on the average (poor) rural road and terrible on corrugated dirt.  I'll get some road/race shocks in it shortly which should help.
    • Duncan
      Duncan's V37.......race car?

      By Duncan · Posted

      So, for those following along at home, I've had the R32 up on stands for a while since a minor incident in the last rally, which required a new rear quarter panel to be welded in after the car had been (pretty much) put back square again. The problem is of course, that some R32 GTR stuff is simply not available (eg front guards) and other things are either expensive (second hand) or very expensive (nismo heritage).   In the end I've decided to try out a v37 with some track days, hill climbs etc before going ahead with modifying it for race/rally like the old GTR. To do so I've picked up an ADM Infiniti Q50 Red Sport, rather than a JDM car which offers much better value but might lead to complexities when I discuss spec with the production racing guys. In the meantime it will be my daily (well, more like weekly) driver, mostly highway use to Canberra or Sydney. BTW yes, I did notice it is auto-only, and yes I did know the Z comes with the same motor in manual. Big issue with the Z for me is that it is unlikely I can meet the new rally cage clearance requirements in that chassis so I've gone the 4 door/auto route The colour isn't great for rural lyf, and neither is having a sunroof for racing, but the Q50 market is small and it is what it is. Also...can't say I really like the shape much either, the front is OK but from the rear it is a dead ringer for a mazda 6
    • DraftySquash
      Newbie from VIC

      By DraftySquash · Posted

      Ahh yes looks like I’m playing with a new cock on the weekends. Thanks for the information @soviet_merlin I’ll search for it later on and try to get it shipped. Looks like it won’t happen this weekend regardless. But the coolant looks fine so far (no floaties of concern). And waiting another week will slow down my money hole 😂
    • soviet_merlin
      Newbie from VIC

      By soviet_merlin · Posted

      I don't know whether that one should be reused or not. But here's one way to find the part. Go to https://nissan.epc-data.com and use frame number or the menus to drill down to the parts for your specific car. Looks like it is under 'Body parts -> 214 radiator'. See for example the respective part for my Stagea. Looks like it's called drain cock packing, and at least for mine it is part number 2148118000. Searching for that then gives you various places where you can buy it. Amayama can be a bit slow, so it's worth searching around. I'd make sure it's the correct one for yours. At least from amayama it looks pretty generic and fits a ton of cars. And if anyone asks what you did on the weekend, you can tell them that you put a new cock on the car
×
×
  • Create New...