Has anyone managed to get the center part of our tailights to light up? Me and my uncle have some ideas and we can make it work but im not sure exactly how cool it will look. If anyone has any pics please post them up so i can see them. Thanks!

I have seen it done, and didnt look as great as I thought it would look, I suggest just getting the center piece painted to match the rest of the car. That in my opinion just looks bad ass.

PM azdave

http://www.azflight.com/rcaz/sub%20indexes/eclipsecenterlight/index.htm

i have. all i did was take some old bumper marker lense's i had laying around and took the bulb socket/wiring and bulbs out of the lenses and then drilled a small hole in the 2 lights in the center piece and then stuck the lights in them and then just used some silicone to seal them in there. if and when they burn out, just rip them out and change them and then re-seal them. pretty ghetto, but i had to use some small bulbs to make them fit.
if you look real close in the center piece, in the middle of the two circles, you can see the bulbs, they look kinda black....
oh ya, i wired them to my brake lights as well ....

there was a good write up somewhere making it pretty simple.. i forget where though

I did, but I used an Altezza center piece. Didnt look too bad. I converted back to stock tail and I am definitley interested in that LED mod, if anyone can help me with that.

lol i just told you one of the most easiest ways to do it.
-take the socket/bulb/wiring from the bumper lense.
-drill a hole in the center center section/ or two if your using a altezza piece like i did.
-stick the socket/bulb into that hole
-silicone around it.
-let dry
-wire to brake lights or just the regular lights.

its ghetto, but by far the easiest way i think:afro

I have been working on a project to convert the left, center and right tail lamps to entirely LED lit parts. I am very picky about how my car looks and I won't just stick in some LED's or bulbs and call it good. No offense but, I've not seen a lighted center piece that looked like a factory job. They usually have very unbalanced lighting and don't match the right and left tails at all. I love to tinker on projects like this and if it all works out I'll post about the success. I have future plans for the LED lighting and that is why I didn't just use stock filament type bulbs to convert the center piece.

Here is the prototype centerpiece with LED's.



Here is how red LEDs look next to stock tail lamps. See how much orange there is with the stock lamps?



Here is the stock tail lamp



Here is the prototype LED tail lamp

Originally posted by azdave
I have been working on a project to convert the left, center and right tail lamps to entirely LED lit parts. I am very picky about how my car looks and I won't just stick in some LED's or bulbs and call it good. No offense but, I've not seen a lighted center piece that looked like a factory job. They usually have very unbalanced lighting and don't match the right and left tails at all. I love to tinker on projects like this and if it all works out I'll post about the success. I have future plans for the LED lighting and that is why I didn't just use stock filament type bulbs to convert the center piece. Here is the prototype centerpiece with LED's. Here is how red LEDs look next to stock tail lamps. See how much orange there is with the stock lamps? Here is the stock tail lamp Here is the prototype LED tail lamp

if you could get that done successfully and maybe make a kit on the side, id buy it off you.

I def. would aswell. That is what I was talkin about. Ive already did the drilling thing. Im done with that. I want mine to look like that.

ya thats hottt:thumbsup

i have had my center piece lighting up since i got my car 4 yrs ago ... the apc chromes and tyc black housing .... it looks ok but the tyc needs a bigger light inside of it so it doesnt look dull .... i am currently using 194 bulbs but am thinking about using the map light bulbs to make it brighter ...

have u thought about using a 12" thin white neon? if u could get it inside somehow it would look good imo

that LED setup is pretty nice reminds me of the Infiniti G35 lamps...
i would never waste the time to do this for some tails but i WOULD buy a kit...

good job man

:cheers

Originally posted by THEBALLIN1
that LED setup is pretty nice reminds me of the Infiniti G35 lamps... i would never waste the time to do this for some tails but i WOULD buy a kit... good job man :cheers

DITTO!!!!!

Give some details or instructions or soemthing dude. I'm jones'ing here.

I'm trying to get some H-4 lights in my reverse lights with an override switch, so the next fucker that rides my ass, gets some bling.

On my stock bumper I replaced my reverse lights with some H4 driving lights rigged up to a toggle switch, along with the reverse switch. That worked when somebody road my ass, it was hella bright, lol.

So we gonna get a write up on these LED's?

Originally posted by DJ420a
On my stock bumper I replaced my reverse lights with some H4 driving lights rigged up to a toggle switch, along with the reverse switch. That worked when somebody road my ass, it was hella bright, lol. So we gonna get a write up on these LED's?

Uber posted a link to the visuals. I'm sure it's open to some interpretation. (And I told you, Dave, this will spread like wild fire once it gets out.) :P

Yeah with the H4 reverse lights as well. I like the sound of that one. :-) Mine quit working so what better tiem to "FIX" them. :-)

Guess, I took to long to speak up on the LED Idea, I never intended to make the center piece light up, but I am in the process of working on the 2 side tails. I am lighting them up with bigger Leds so it has the g35 look, I want it to be distinguishable.

I think the LED's look so awesome. Has anyone got a sequential turn signal isntalled? That would look real tight. Especially with the LED's. I'm going to get my center piece painted real soon unless someone puts this LED kit together first. (hope, hope, hope)

If you missed it, here is the link to what is online, so far, about my project.

http://www.azflight.com/rcaz/sub%20indexes/eclipsecenterlight/index.htm

I am not too happy yet about the light output during braking so I am continuing to test. I have several options to explore.

LEDs are a wonderful little source of light but with some interesting technical issues.

LEDs are very fickle about current and voltage.
Very little change in either can be the difference between bright, dim or fried. LED current consumption increases as temperature rises. This means if you run a LED at its upper limits it will draw more current as it gets hotter. That means I have to plan for current demands at the upper ambient temperature limit in Phoenix of 122 degrees plus the additional heat generated by the LED when it’s on.

It's also not recommended to run LEDs in series-parallel combinations. You always run the risk of a cascade failure when powering multiple LEDs in series. A lot of these problems go away if I use less LEDs but then the light distribution does not look as pleasing to me.

My next experiments will involve using separate LEDs for the brake and running lamp functions. The benefit of this is two-fold. I’ll be able to eliminate the blocking diode needed when the brake and marker lamps try to back feed each other and I’ll be able to drive to braking LED’s to a higher level since they are not on constantly.

Take a look at cars that come with OEM LED tail lamps and you will see that the lens is designed quite differently. That also hinders my project since I have to use the stock lens.

All-in-all, this is still a fun project and I’ll post again after more progress is made.

For the normal Joe, just removing the silver paint from the lens and sticking a bunch of small incandescent lamps in the center piece is way easier and looks reasonably well to most.

I'm after that extra challenge of going all LED.

Originally posted by azdave
The benefit of this is two-fold. I’ll be able to eliminate the blocking diode needed when the brake and marker lamps try to back feed each other and I’ll be able to drive to braking LED’s to a higher level since they are not on constantly.

^I don't follow, but honestly I don't know the electrics behind the brakelight high-intensity vs. running light normal-intensity. I always had a dream to do LED's on the back b/c it was the only way to make the tails and the center piece homogenous in light intensity. High five for your progress man. Do you do the whole board in series, or just each row?

Originally posted by ez

Originally posted by azdave The benefit of this is two-fold. Ill be able to eliminate the blocking diode needed when the brake and marker lamps try to back feed each other and Ill be able to drive to braking LEDs to a higher level since they are not on constantly.

^I don't follow, but honestly I don't know the electrics behind the brakelight high-intensity vs. running light normal-intensity. I always had a dream to do LED's on the back b/c it was the only way to make the tails and the center piece homogenous in light intensity. High five for your progress man. Do you do the whole board in series, or just each row?

Since right now I am regulating the voltage down to 8 volts to maintain current levels, I am only running a max of 4 LEDS in series. Normally, that's a no-no unless you have some tolerant LEDS and they are from the same manufacturer and same manufacturing lot(I do).
On one prototype board I'm running then LEDS in 4 series x 48 parallel. Yup that's one heck of a lot of little SMT LEDS to solder.

Originally posted by DR1665v2

Originally posted by DJ420a On my stock bumper I replaced my reverse lights with some H4 driving lights rigged up to a toggle switch, along with the reverse switch. That worked when somebody road my ass, it was hella bright, lol. So we gonna get a write up on these LED's?

Uber posted a link to the visuals.

I troll his site from time to time. Great pics and walkthroughs.

Waht is the site address? I loked and missed it. :-)

Originally posted by scothern
Waht is the site address? I loked and missed it. :-)

http://www.azflight.com/rcaz/sub%20indexes/eclipsecenterlight/index.htm

Originally posted by Ark

Originally posted by scothern Waht is the site address? I loked and missed it. :-)

http://www.azflight.com/rcaz/sub%20indexes/eclipsecenterlight/index.htm

Good Job on the center light and posting pics! That must of been a pain to solder all of those LED's

Now thats hot hot hot

Good job...and i know how its a pain to work with led's i have fried many an led in projects

hey question what kinda led's did u use and what kinda resistors? i really wanna do this but ive never done anywhere near that many at once

Well as I said further up in the thread I'm still experimenting with the LED drive circuits. The true, safe way to drive an LED is with each LED having it's own current limiting resistor. I'm looking at what other companies are doing and combining a mixture of LEDs in parallel and series. The surface mount LEDs are actually a gull-wing style I found on ebay for a dime each. That has also driven my decisions since I'm using so many. I'm also testing a variety of viewing angles on the LEDs so I don't get bright spots in the lens. I'm very fickle about how these will look so I'm taking my time experimenting.

Soldering the individual LED's takes time but I use a flux that is very sticky and flood it over the entire board. I then place the LEDs about 50 at a time and thn solder them. After the board is done I wash it with lacquer thinner the clean the board.

Here is another issue I am solving. Where the stock lens has a reflector you can see individual LEDs through the plastic. I don't like that so I am installing a small plastic grid behind the lens to further disperse the light.

Here is without the corner reflector installed.


Here is with the reflector and the extra grid.


Here is without the extra grid.Individual LEDs still visible.


Here is with the extra grid behind the reflector section only.

thanks, dude ure awesome, those are about the nicest lookin 2g tail lights ive ever seen, i just hope my attempt will come close to what uve done, if not anywhere near what ure doin will make me happy, keep up the awesome work, good luck with the rest of it

Dave...now if you could get them to cascade from the center to the right side of the tail when you have you right turn signal one and vise versa for the left that would kick ass.

like the old cougars from the late 60's :thumbsup

Design a kit, I'll buy. :)

Originally posted by Ryan_Hes
Design a kit, I'll buy. :)

exactly like i mentioned before. azdave, if you make a kit and sell it.....i will be all over it like michael jackson on a little boy.

I appreciate the positive comments. I figure a kit is a long ways off but I'll certainly consider it once I am happy with the results.

If you are interested in the electrical planning portion of this project there is some good info at this link. It covers LED drive circuits, brightness calculations etc. like in the diagram below showing the proper way to drive multiple LEDs thus providing current and spike protection for your lights.

http://faq.auto.light.tripod.com/signal-leds.htm

thats an awesome link, thanks, hopefully i can get the shit to work right

You know, I was thinking (had to aly down, it hurt). why not jsut make the entire light assembly flash on and off when you activate the turn signals? that woudl solve the turn signal issue. then you could just wire a seperate set of LEDs in for the brake lights. Just use a higher voltage LED and should be brighter right? I don't know its been like 9 years since my electronics clases.

Originally posted by scothern
You know, I was thinking (had to aly down, it hurt). why not jsut make the entire light assembly flash on and off when you activate the turn signals? that woudl solve the turn signal issue. then you could just wire a seperate set of LEDs in for the brake lights. Just use a higher voltage LED and should be brighter right? I don't know its been like 9 years since my electronics clases.

In oder to get a nice uniform brightness across the entire tail lamp assembly I have used many SMT LEDs that have a wide viewing angle. These work fine for running lights but when driven at the current levels to make them bright enough for brakes, the amount of heat they put out drives the current consumption way out of the safe zone. In other words, when they get hot they will not be as bright because I have to limit the overall current available or I will have a cascade failure of a bunch of LEDs.

The running lights now will be completely seperate from the brake lights. That lets me use cheaper LEDs for the running lamps where I need a lot more of them. It also lets me take a blocking diode out of the circuit which means I can run more LEDs in series before I reach the ceiling of my voltage regulator output.

Here a pic of the first prototype of right tail assembly. I'm awaiting delivery of some different LEDs to continue testing.

Originally posted by azdave

Originally posted by scothern You know, I was thinking (had to aly down, it hurt). why not jsut make the entire light assembly flash on and off when you activate the turn signals? that woudl solve the turn signal issue. then you could just wire a seperate set of LEDs in for the brake lights. Just use a higher voltage LED and should be brighter right? I don't know its been like 9 years since my electronics clases.

In oder to get a nice uniform brightness across the entire tail lamp assembly I have used many SMT LEDs that have a wide viewing angle. These work fine for running lights but when driven at the current levels to make them bright enough for brakes, the amount of heat they put out drives the current consumption way out of the safe zone. In other words, when they get hot they will not be as bright because I have to limit the overall current available or I will have a cascade failure of a bunch of LEDs. The running lights now will be completely seperate from the brake lights. That lets me use cheaper LEDs for the running lamps where I need a lot more of them. It also lets me take a blocking diode out of the circuit which means I can run more LEDs in series before I reach the ceiling of my voltage regulator output. Here a pic of the first prototype of right tail assembly. I'm awaiting delivery of some different LEDs to continue testing.

God I wish I would have paid more attention to this stuff in electornics class. It seems very possible though. Could you use a capacitor bank to store the necesary current/voltage and discharge it when necesary. good luck man it looks nice.

LOL glad im not the olny one that was thinking of this.

Dino did this years ago, with the map bulbs tough and aluminum foil.

I have the lights to flash sequentially, the circuit for this will have to be modified to work with LEDs though. Also I have not decided weather or not to include the center lights in the sequential system.

Another idea I have been playing with is making only a portion of the center light. Kinda like the vipers have the viper logo. Maybe a 2gnt or something...really thinking that one through though.

you guys should see some of the LEDs we are playing with in the university lab, Their getting up there on replacing headlights. Like Azdave mentioned though the lense design, heat output and current are all factors.

hey dave you have an IM program?

Doing sequential blinking or lighting up special patterns or designs within the LED grid is the easy part. That's just a matter of wiring. There are modules on the market now that you can use to make sequential blinkers.

All of those extra feature will be fun to add later but only if they look professionally done. For my project I want the most uniform lighting possible.

Here is another website or two with great info on doing LED light conversions. These sites offer conversion ideas, LED sources, pulse width modulators and project photos.

LEDCAR is mostly LEDs only. The site looks like its been inactive recently but still has a lot of good info.
http://www.ledcar.com/index.html

HIDPlanet has a section of their forum for LED projects. Again, a great place to start for LED info.
http://hidplanet.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=3

I appreciate all the work this guy from ledcar.com did on his 3000GT taillights but if mine turn out looking like this I'll never mount them on my car, EVER. This is not the look I want. I hate seeing each individual LED in through the lens but it seems to be the way most manufacturers are going because it's easier and cheaper. They are very few cars on the road that look good with these little bright red dots all over their taillight lenses. Cadillac has one of the nicest, uniformly lit LED taillamps on their cars.

(Begin Altezza rant) I'll put friggen altezzas on my car before I would show these things off. Yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder but since when has putting circles inside of squares, rectangles and triangles passed for real styling??? (End Altezza rant)



If my taillights look like this when I'm done I will smash them with a sledge hammer.

Originally posted by azdave
If my taillights look like this when I'm done I will smash them with a sledge hammer.

Yeah I agree. So hows it comming? I seriously want a set but don't have the time to make them.

This is a project I'm working on as I have time. I received more LEDs to test yesterday and have more due in today. I'm also remodeling my house and all other kinds of things that distract me from this but I'll keep posting here as I make progress.

I honestly don't think I will have anything to offer as even a "short kit" until summer. I can suggest you look on the web for other DIY boards and parts if you want to experiment as well. Otherwise, keep an eye out here for updates.
Thanks for your support.