PFF - Pennock's Fiero Forum, PDA Edition

Notchback Taillight custom LED-setup (Page 3/10)

Fieromaniac

JAN 02, 09:12 AM

quote

Originally posted by nismokidd12:

to make the L.E.D. tail lights work do u have to have any additional electronics? or can you just wire them right up? i bought a couple sets of 2.5" round red L.E.D. tail light conversion with.. and some one said id need some more electronic parts to make them work....

i will install stabilized powersources for every cirquit to save the LED from powerspikes of the starter

------------------
1984 Fiero Sport
1987 Fiero <- Ethanol powered Batmobile
1984 Fiero SE
1999 Chrysler Grand Voyager 3.3 LX <-LPG powered family car

*** nuclear winter cures global warming ***

AP2k

JAN 02, 02:11 PM

quote

Originally posted by Fieromaniac:

i will install stabilized powersources for every cirquit to save the LED from powerspikes of the starter

A heavy duty 15/16V Zener in series with a capacitor to ground in parallel with the lights should do the trick instead of really fancy power supplies.

[This message has been edited by AP2k (edited 01-02-2008).]

MartyK

JAN 02, 08:09 PM

I have done quite a bit of research on LED's and I can tell you that you will need to have a resistor for any LED array. Everything that I have read says to run them in series arrays utilizing parallel for supply and ground, simply put you will need to have several resistors. Use this website to set up your arrays, it seems to work best: http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

On another note, the picture shows stoplight, Turn signals and Backup lights. I do not see Tail lights (parking lights). To answer a question from earlier you CAN hook your LED's up to a 12V power source and with the proper resistor they will work fine. The thing that I had to do is figure out how to make the Parking lights and the Brake Lights work off the same Diodes (LED's). LED's are not voltage variable, in short they burn at the same intensity with 12 V as they do with 8 volts so what you do to Dim them is turn them off and on very fast. I am using a 555 timer circuit and have prototyped my circuit, it works good on the breadboard. Total cost purchasing the components from Radio Shack was about 5 bucks. If anyone is interested in the circuit basics go here: http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/555timer.htm

Hope I did not hijack this at all, I am very interested in this thread and will be watching the progress closely.

Good luck !!! Marty

Fieromaniac

JAN 05, 01:40 PM

3 holes done , 577 to go ......

[This message has been edited by Fieromaniac (edited 01-05-2008).]

Fie Ro

JAN 05, 04:35 PM

Another nice project ! I have to ask though, do you have plans to take more advantage of this Led setup...like sequential turnleds, grouping leds so they show a particular shape when lighting up...you could do some weird stuff

good luck !

Fieromaniac

JAN 06, 10:27 AM

quote

Originally posted by Fie Ro:

Another nice project ! I have to ask though, do you have plans to take more advantage of this Led setup...like sequential turnleds, grouping leds so they show a particular shape when lighting up...you could do some weird stuff

good luck !

i was thinking about 2 or 3 styles/wiring variants to be able to change the style of the taillights from the driverseat

revin

JAN 06, 10:50 AM

I have a question..

I have quite a few led's of different sizes and shapes. How can I tell how much voltage/current they require?
Like how do I tell if they are a 10mm 70000mcd LED or 10mm 140000mcd

oh and the little "flag" in them is always the pos. lead ?

Fieromaniac

JAN 06, 11:34 AM

quote

Originally posted by revin:

I have a question..

I have quite a few led's of different sizes and shapes. How can I tell how much voltage/current they require?
Like how do I tell if they are a 10mm 70000mcd LED or 10mm 140000mcd

oh and the little "flag" in them is always the pos. lead ?

the mcd number alone tells you nothing because you will need to know the angle of the LED
a LED spot with 350.000 mcd and 60� Angle has the same brightness like an 5.000.000 mcd spot with 10� angle
so its hard to find out the correct mcd . best would be if you take an Lux meter or you will need an goniometer
http://www.laser2000.de/index.php?id=367933

or you use a simple trick :

take a candle , a piece of paper with a spot of oil in the middle.
if you hold the paper in front of the candle , the spot will be brighter . now if you have a lightsource on the other side of the paper with the same distance like the candle to the paper , the spot will be invisible when your lightsource has 1cd = 1000mcd.
if the spot dissapear with the distance doubled , your light will spread over an area 4 times bigger = 4000 mcd .

If your candle is 10cm away from the paper and your led is around 40cm from the paper when the spot become invisible , your LED has around 64000mcd

typical voltagelevels are
infrared : 1,2 ..... 1,8 V
red : 1.6..... 2.2 V
yellow , green 1.9 ......2.5 V
blue , uv , white 3....4 V (typ. 3.4V )

anode is the longer foot
kathode the shorter

------------------
1984 Fiero Sport
1987 Fiero <- Ethanol powered Batmobile
1984 Fiero SE
1999 Chrysler Grand Voyager 3.3 LX <-LPG powered family car

*** nuclear winter cures global warming ***

[This message has been edited by Fieromaniac (edited 01-06-2008).]

Fieromaniac

JAN 08, 12:40 PM

Lenses are quite breakeable so i have to use the dremel for each hole instead of a accudrill

testfitted some LED and the outer cover

JAN 08, 07:15 PM

Really nice project you have there man, can't wait to see this unfold.

IMO, I would redesign the Pontiac lettering, not as tall and skinny, Maybe a little more stylized? I would do the whole part without the lettering and then go from there.

*ka-ching!* Just my 2�.

(edited to korect speeling)

[This message has been edited by HC (edited 01-08-2008).]