LED Brake Lights / Signal Lights / Reverse Lights Combo

[ace79]

I have seen these new LED lights used for brake lights, but not for signal or reverse. Interested to do one for my car, but my knowledege in LEDs is very limited, close to zero I'd say! Rear light cluster to be modified is from Honda EG hatchback.

Yeah, I know that WRC Sunway sells a rear light cluster set with LED brake lights for EG, but the set looks so bengz! I intend to reuse the original EG hatchback light cluster cover, but with rows of LEDs replacing the bulbs used for brake, reverse and signal.

And yes, I do know that there are LED bulbs on sale already as well, but they do not serve the idea that I have at the moment. The probability of me doing a DIY on this matter is very2 slim, therefore I am also interested if someone here can do one for me. Heheh.

 

[SkYwAlKeR]

hmm... so u are looking for someone who can do it for u??... how much u can offer??... kekekeke...

actually i also plan to diy on my car first.... but cant really seem to find the time la... in short, lazy loh.... wuakakkakaa....

 

[ace79]

Aiyoo, u oso lazy to do for yourself, summore offer to do for me weh? Heheh.

Be warned, there is a myriad of LEDs available in the market. Nowadays not the normal - looking LEDs used for lights liao. Look at the pattern of the LED brakelights for MyVi, notice the size of the LEDs? Surely bigger than the normal LEDs we used to see so often at Jln Pasar. And there's 2 types of LEDs, I forgot, but they measure for brightness ( and as the application here is for brake, signal and reverse lights, the brighter the better ).

And how to control the pulsing light motion of the signal light, so that ir'll function like normal signal lights? And what type of resistors to use?LED housing how? Pening....

Anyone else here can help out, pls do. Thanks!

hmm... so u are looking for someone who can do it for u??... how much u can offer??... kekekeke...

actually i also plan to diy on my car first.... but cant really seem to find the time la... in short, lazy loh.... wuakakkakaa....

 

[SkYwAlKeR]

yeap... now most cars using LEDs are using highflux LED... means it is square, not the normal round head.....

they should be brighter compare to conventional LEDs....

 

[ace79]

I'm sure cna find me some of those high flux LEDs like you've mentioned, but to do one? Paiseh...

 

[SkYwAlKeR]

no need paiseh la... go study more about the circuits and electronic stuff.... do some research.... sure can do geh.... coz its all normal circuit only mah.... but wanna do it nice is the tough part la...

 

[ace79]

Heheh, that's the hardest part : to make it OEM!

 

[shiroitenshi]

Hmm.. I have a sample, but only for four LEDs..

If you add more, the same, just wire another resistor for another four.

If you have questions, just pm me..

My electronic knowledge really rusty, but I remember V=IR.

I forget exactly how much mA LEDs pull, since I did it a while back, but I got it off some website. Unfortunately I sort of gave up on doing more, since I had other work to do..

I think I have the bookmark for how much mA's LEDs pull for you to calculate the required resistor.... somewhere.....

Maybe you can google it up yourself if you feel like it.

Here's my first attempt when doing LED lights.. This was the inital experiment I did to test out what I've learnt. The required resistance can be read off the photo, so you can calculate how much amperage I'm giving the four LEDs. I also did a socket, so I can replace it with a better made version when I have the time, but it's been like half a year, and I've still not gotten around to it.

This is my second attempt, and a much better one, this one wired with 16 leds. looks OEM right? wait till you open the case!wires are haphazard oh! I used the same parts as above, except the numbers are quadrupled for the parts. The same circuit, but arranged differently to accomodate 16 LEDs.

Of note though, is that I've seen a 9 LED unit sold at accessory shops, and costs about 20-30bucks each.. I made these with a cost of less than 20 bucks. Remember to use SUPERBRIGHT leds.. some electronic shops claimed that theirs is superbright, but the brightness will be very different from REAL superbright LEDS. They're usually slightly more expensive than normal LEDs, but it's still sort of trial and error thing as well so buy, a few from various shops if you think you're not getting enough brightness out of the current leds you bought.. once you find a shop that has them though, you can buy a bunch for your project.

You can run slightly less resistance for more brightness, but the LEDs will run hot and have a shorter lifespan. Exactly how much is hard to say, since LEDs practically have burn times that probably longer than your lifespan if it's run with the proper resistance and voltage source.

 

[ace79]

Thanks Shiro!

Sadly my knowledge in electronics is wayyy worse than your bro.

But from your info, 4 LEDs : 1 resistor eh?

Problem : I want to do the brake lights as well. Wll the LEDs go brighter everytime I step on the brake pedal?

 

[shiroitenshi]

You can run a single resistor for two LEDs, even one.. but the ohm rating will be different.

If you're thinking.. hey! It's 12V right, so if I run four LEDs in series, I'd need no resistors! No.. it doesn't work that way.

LEDs do not have brightness control. They are either very dim, or bright, or brighter (overvolt) till discolouration occures. The problem with the brightness is that it's very different when it's in the state of not enough power, just enough power, and too much power. You can try plugging 2V and 3V, and then 6V into a white LED and you'll know what I mean. You might burn one with 6V, but that's the price of education.. :P

From what I've seen on some japanase DIY pages.. they do staggered arrays.

I didn't do the brakes, since I'd have to butcher the casing.. and with so much other stuff to do.. well.. this is a DIY project on permanent hold status.

Like below: X are always lit up, and the O's are only lit up with the brake pedals. Exactly how much LEDs you need depends on how much brightness you aiming for.


OXOXOXO
XOXOXOX

Another is mixing normal (those superbright Leds that aren't very bright) with SUPERBRIGHT ones. Some LED manufacturers don't make superbright LEDs that are very bright. Unfortunately, since when have you seen a brand imprinted on an LED? Trial and error purchasing loh!

An exeption is Luxeon.. but you can check out the retail on that. They're not that expensive, but S&H is not cheap oh...

There's also possiblity of using four LEDs on the bulb cap.. but I've tried that mod.. not bright at all. the light just doesn't spread like a true bulb, as you also know that LED lights are DIRECTIONAL, not DIFFUSED.

Where are you anyway? Can sit down and discuss some possible DIY projects if I ever head down to your area or you down to mine.

When doing this project months ago.. I actually remembered how to calculate resistance and how much amperage draw the LEDs need.. Unfortunately I've forgotten them all.. including the bookmark to the website that I got them from..

I'll update you if I find them.

 

[ace79]

I feel that the 1st option :

OXOXOXOXO
XOXOXOXOX

is much more reasonable ( in terms of building 'em up ), but, owh, wiring! That means I hafta split the wiring that comes from where the ori bulb will sit, eh?

The LEDs on bulb cap is not a good idea la Shiro, like u say, LEDs are directional, and not diffused.

Looks like I hafta shop around, spend some money and buy those blingin' LED lights for EGs and learn from there. Or, hey! WHat about MyVi's rear lights? The red LEDs for brakes keep normal bright red, and when braking, they go brighter!

Hhhmmm...

 

[ace79]

Me going down to Kelantan? Nahhhh. My location's central KL.

 

[ANDY PANG]

Hmm.. I have a sample, but only for four LEDs..

If you add more, the same, just wire another resistor for another four.

If you have questions, just pm me..

My electronic knowledge really rusty, but I remember V=IR.

I forget exactly how much mA LEDs pull, since I did it a while back, but I got it off some website. Unfortunately I sort of gave up on doing more, since I had other work to do..

I think I have the bookmark for how much mA's LEDs pull for you to calculate the required resistor.... somewhere.....

Maybe you can google it up yourself if you feel like it.

Here's my first attempt when doing LED lights.. This was the inital experiment I did to test out what I've learnt. The required resistance can be read off the photo, so you can calculate how much amperage I'm giving the four LEDs. I also did a socket, so I can replace it with a better made version when I have the time, but it's been like half a year, and I've still not gotten around to it.

This is my second attempt, and a much better one, this one wired with 16 leds. looks OEM right? wait till you open the case!wires are haphazard oh! I used the same parts as above, except the numbers are quadrupled for the parts. The same circuit, but arranged differently to accomodate 16 LEDs.

Of note though, is that I've seen a 9 LED unit sold at accessory shops, and costs about 20-30bucks each.. I made these with a cost of less than 20 bucks. Remember to use SUPERBRIGHT leds.. some electronic shops claimed that theirs is superbright, but the brightness will be very different from REAL superbright LEDS. They're usually slightly more expensive than normal LEDs, but it's still sort of trial and error thing as well so buy, a few from various shops if you think you're not getting enough brightness out of the current leds you bought.. once you find a shop that has them though, you can buy a bunch for your project.

You can run slightly less resistance for more brightness, but the LEDs will run hot and have a shorter lifespan. Exactly how much is hard to say, since LEDs practically have burn times that probably longer than your lifespan if it's run with the proper resistance and voltage source.

Could you please advise in the Room Light Circuitm& Picture of the Unit.

Cun le..:angel_smile::angel_smile:
I am thinking of making it.

 

[shiroitenshi]

I feel that the 1st option :

OXOXOXOXO
XOXOXOXOX

is much more reasonable ( in terms of building 'em up ), but, owh, wiring! That means I hafta split the wiring that comes from where the ori bulb will sit, eh?

What split the wiring? From what I know, there's three wires for the brakes.. one for normal brightness, and one for the second filament in the bulb for the extra brightness when braking.. another is ground...(I'll check tomorrow.. I think it's 3, not two)

And you'd have to butcher the rear end of the brake light case! As least from my initial thinking of how to do it... unless if you have alternative way of fitting a board with LEDs through that tiny bulb hole...

Looks like I hafta shop around, spend some money and buy those blingin' LED lights for EGs and learn from there. Or, hey! WHat about MyVi's rear lights? The red LEDs for brakes keep normal bright red, and when braking, they go brighter!

I'm not sure exactly how myvis work, maybe they're using a twin colour LED (LEDs with three legs, sometimes called multi coloured LEDs.. one bright red, one normal red? also available in other combinations of colours at your friendly electronic haven, Jalan Pasar!! hehehe (Not sure though how exactly myvi's one works, since it's myvi...) that's why I'm a hondarian, not a myvi-an hehe... but from what I know from normal LEDs.. you can't control the brightness like you do with bulbs.. It's either full-on OR very-dim/off so the brightness is controlled by how many leds you mounted on the board, and how many you have lighted up.

 

[shiroitenshi]

Could you please advise in the Room Light Circuitm& Picture of the Unit.

Cun le..:angel_smile::angel_smile:
I am thinking of making it.

It's the same as circuit in the first picture, except that there are four times the amounts of parts used, because I'm running a total of four of that circuits in parallel and I basically wired them tightly.. so even if I give you the picture, you won't see how to do it There's just a bunch of solder points on the rear of the board, and since it's not a printed PCB, you won't see where the connections are....

If you have a friend who's more versed in soldering and electronics, just show him picture one, then picture two, and he should have a very clear idea what he needs to do. The picture one IS THE CIRCUIT SAMPLE.. that's why the wires are done neatly and can be seen easily.

Sorry I don't have time to do a full tutorial.. I'll try to find time, but cannot promise anything.

If you cannot understand from the first pic.. then maybe you should buy a ready made one at accessory shop.. then just solder the wires to the switches on the ceiling light... less hassle.. 20-30 bucks, but save time oh!