LED Third Brake Light, My Newest Design Options

[Special_Edy]

So I originally built a 58 Red LED third brake light and was dissatisfied with the result-








It was only about as bright as the OEM incandescent so it was back to the drawingboard.

I finally had time today to solder this together, it uses 97 5mm White LEDs(the maximum amount I could cram in). The current draw is apx. 9 watts and the service life is apx. 100,000 hours. It is bright like headlight bright.





First Layer of 57 LEDs-







Second layer of 40 LEDs, Finished!!!!!!-











And finally Video-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh44hn_EBz4


If there is enough interest I may make some of these for 6gc members as well as some of the other exterior lights.

This post has been edited by Special_Edy: Nov 24, 2012 - 3:01 AM

[broderp]

Ok so here is an update, because I dont have to tell you how long it takes to wire that cleanly.
Right now I have 100 solders left(a fraction of what Ive done so far) because all I have to do is connect the two 50 pin IDE cables from the turn signal and parking lamp boards to the LED board. Then I can test fire it up and troubleshoot if necessary.


Oh and like I said guys we will see what happens with the 12v CMOS chips driving the 5v TTL chips that are relays. My hands are tied in that these are the only style IC chips I could source.

I may be wrong, but 12V CMOS driving 5V TTL may not be a very good idea. Without looking at the schematic you came up with, the 12V can either drive the crap out of TTL and burn them up. It could be instantly or maybe after a short while.

Can the 5V TTL contacts handle the 12V and currents assosoiated with it? (You say they are acting as relays) If so, then all you would need to do is make a small 12V to 5V power supply to power the TTL chips with the correct voltage. An LM7805 should do the trick. Just be sure to add a few filter caps to control ripple and transient voltages.


If this link works, its a simple circuit to step down 12V to 5V: You need to be sure what your 5v current draw is as well, you don't want to exceed the circuits capability.
http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view...umb=ygsGC3CfBsv