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

[smkr3w]

Shweet!

What's cost shipped looking like?

I was gonna ask if you were planning on sequential type lights but the video explained that. Great.work!

[Tigawoods]

yup. they are awesome. Great job!
Id definitely grab one from you.
Curious to see what you do with the sequential tails!

[diegohiga]

very nice

[Special_Edy]

I made another one-








I think I may leave this one hooked up to a power source for a long length of time to test the durability of it.
I also ordered 1000 resistors and 2000 more white LEDs. If I were to get red LEDs, would y'all perfer a red colored one or a clear one with red light output?





Oh and I cant forget this, I'm thinking $60 Shipped for these. Let me know what you guys think or want!

[mkernz22]

I'd totally love one, but the only problem I would have is that when one goes out, it would bug the hell out of me lol
They look fantastic though

[Special_Edy]

Ok I've updated it with power rails down the side and a terminal block for the power cables. I also bought a quality soldering tip, and omg it makes a huge difference.
Im thinking of adding a 1 amp fuse holder to it and I need to find a source for an adapter to the 921 bulb socket. I'm also considering the possibility of printing/etching the circuit boards for this











Video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYGep5oCUKY...eature=youtu.be


Oh and the preface turn signal is going to look unbelievable.

This post has been edited by Special_Edy: Nov 26, 2012 - 3:43 AM

[Tigawoods]

you are doing preface LED turns??

OH LAAAAAWWWD

[Special_Edy]

I'll just leave this here.





We will see how feasible it proves on the turn signals, there are 250+ LEDs on the board running on 100+ seperate circuits. That means I have to run 100 jumper wires to another circuit board for power and another circuitboard for the sequential animation. They are getting pretty complicated really quick.

[Tigawoods]

Could you do single horizontal rows with a row gap in between each row? that would cut down on the amt, and It might look good.

or use larger SMD leds or something of that sort so there will be larger "bulbs" that can fill up the space more easily

This post has been edited by Tigawoods: Nov 27, 2012 - 8:39 AM

[Special_Edy]

Yes Im definitely considering 1W or even 3W LEDS.

Im in the process of building the controller board for the sequential animation.

I have a 555 timer feeding three 4017 decade counters for the 24 seperate channels in the animation. All the outputs will go through transistors, resistors and capacitors then finally to the LEDs.


Basically when you hit the turn signal the pulse will turn on the computer and scroll the LEDs one cycle.

It will be easier to make duplicates once I get a working(ha!) board.

[richee3]

Looks great so far! I'm sure it's not a problem at all, but would we still be able to get the red LED board if we had one of Wolfie's clear brake lenses? I don't have one yet but I plan on getting one. Seems like a good time to upgrade both.

[Special_Edy]

Yes I could do the red LEDs. I would assume you would want clear LEDs that produce red light instead of red LEDs that produce red light, that way it would be totally clear. I just need to order some and wait for them to ship from China . Someone else PMed me about the same question.

[Nifty]

I prefer waterproof LED strips. And you can save A LOT of time instead of using millions of cheap LEDs.
Even if for some reason you don't like LED stripes, you can buy assembled arrays of LED on DX or eBay.

[Lil-Joe101]

I wanna see em lit up, very interested

[Special_Edy]

Watch the videos in my posts above. I have one lit up in every video.

I think the red LEDs are dimmer than the clears but the clear lense will let way more light through.

I can order the red LEDs two ways-
12,000 mcd with a 15° viewing angle or
5,100 mcd with a 30° viewing angle.

Which would yall perfer?



VIDEO TEASER!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDmO9H2hO-k...eature=youtu.be

This post has been edited by Special_Edy: Nov 29, 2012 - 1:33 AM

[Waynegriffin]

So I originally built a 58 Red peimar led lights 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.

Looking very effective and attractive. Do you still have these led lights?

This post has been edited by Waynegriffin: Dec 4, 2012 - 1:32 AM

[Special_Edy]

Yes I still have them, I was planning to make a batch of 5 or 10 to start selling. Unfourtunately I have finals this week and I ran into someone in my celica

I will get a video up, ironically I ran into someone with my LED turn signal. I had to pick it up off of the street(the lens and housing were completely obliterated, but 90% of the LEDs still work. So success in real life crash test.

[Tigawoods]

like you ran into a person? or a car

[broderp]

Interesting idea. Did you calculate the current flow thru each LED to utilize the proper size current limiting resiztor and optimize the output of the LED? I've seen many circuits that use the wrong sized resistors, this leads to dim LED or worse, overdriving the LED's and damaging them. (Will dim or just not work)

Also, based on the picture of the side marker light on your Celica, your not in the USA, do you have any restrictions on how bright a light can be? Seems to me that here in the USA, if I have a rear tail lamp as bright as a headlight, I'd probably get a ticket! lol So one like your first design with 50+ LEDS may be a better alternative.


Nice job.