LED 3rd brake light, woot! - Zilvia.net Forums | Nissan 240SX (Silvia) and Z (Fairlady) Car Forum

240meowth · 03-11-2005, 05:37 PM

So yesterday, me in my utter bordomness decided to take apart the 3rd brake tail light for some ha ha fun. Than, at 3am in the morning, I decided, why not chuck some LED's in there for more fun! Since i had some LED's left over from another project. (this is for cars w/o spoilers)

And today, i went down to el radio shack, for le PC board, so I can start the project.

So I cut the PC board in half, and started to solder LED's on. After the LED's were soldered on, I used some rather creative ways to solder the resistors on... Since it was a one sided PC board.

all 32 LEDs lined up in a party!!! 64 pins to solder!!!

So i soldered the positive wire on and while i was getting to the negative wire, i stood there for 10 minutes like a deer caught in the headlight; in awe of what I've done to myself. Looks like i totally forgot about the negative wires... And to solder them together, it'll take two days. After half an hr of thinking, i used the LED legs that I cut off to connect the grounds together. BRILLIANT!

When all was said and done, I decided to plug the dudes into the power supply. And than it turned out I used the wrong resister and blew out all 32 LED's and threw the whole thing away...

j/k! I had to do some finishing touches on it, turned out a few LEDs were whacked and didn't get the connection soldered right. When that's done, I chucked it behind the 3rd brake light housing.

than i chucked it on the car in the blazing sun! And it shows through!!! (notice you can't even see the normal brake lights well)

and a close up w/ my pretty zilvia sticker that I received long time ago for some donation for some server or some software stuff...

and when i was done, i went to the local high school and tried to pick up girls, and it didn't work. So don't do this mod.

WOOT!

So what do u guys think? yay or nay? perhaps i'll get some pictures of it at night.

edit:attached night picture

dct223 · 03-11-2005, 05:49 PM

night pictures!

over all looks pretty clean, how bright are the LEDs? maybe you can extend the LEDs so it covers the whole brake light.

240meowth · 03-11-2005, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dct223

night pictures!

over all looks pretty clean, how bright are the LEDs? maybe you can extend the LEDs so it covers the whole brake light.

they are 18000mcd. I bought a bunch of them a while ago for some project i plan to do, and it didn't wokr out. So if you guys are interested in LED's let me know! as well as the 1 watt metal oxide resisters. I got a bunch of those.

I thought about extending it throught the whole tail light, but than, the longest PCB they had was 6" You can surly do it to extend throught the whole brake light if you have a long enough PCB.

Oh, and it took me 2 and a half hrs to do it. I'm sure if anyone else want to do it, they can make it much quicker, just learn from my mistakes: Get the circuit wiring figured out before you jump in. And priortise what needs to go in first.

Yoshi · 03-11-2005, 07:05 PM

Looks good man... little excessive on the solder tho huh?

240meowth · 03-11-2005, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

Looks good man... little excessive on the solder tho huh?

i'm a noob man... that's w/ a new soldering iron i just bought! not bad eh

And i don't know any other way to connect the dots that's right next to each other than just to blob it up. and i said "creative" ways solder =b that's exactly what i ment

reefer1114 · 03-11-2005, 07:13 PM

how much was the total cost to make one? maybe you should make a lot and sell them to make some dough?

240meowth · 03-11-2005, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reefer1114

how much was the total cost to make one? maybe you should make a lot and sell them to make some dough?

a while ago i bought a bunch of parts for this thing i wanted to do, but it didn't work out. i bought like 400 LED's in bulk, so it was just over a buck each. the PCB was 4 bucks from radio shack. Resistors i bough in bulk with like 4000 of 'em for like 40 cents each.

so
32 leds = roughly $40
8 resistors = $3.20
PCB = $4
2.5 hrs of my work==priceless

total=$47.20+pricelessness

I didn't do this to make money, I just had some extra parts laying around, and I wanted to contribute to the 240 community. I mean zilvia taught me everything i know about the 240's for 3 years now. That's why i tried to document everything i did. Because it's really not worth my time, i don't have lots of free time.

So like, if anyone wants to make it, and need the LED's and resistors, i'll sell it just to get some of my money back.

Dark-Hawk · 03-11-2005, 07:37 PM

Looks nice! I may try this with my tail lights if I get bored enough one day lol.

jdmsilvia909 · 03-11-2005, 09:09 PM

they look sweet i wunder if those LED lights would work on fastback 3rd brake light....hmmmmmmm?

wootwoot · 03-11-2005, 10:02 PM

Definitely yay and I say you need to do that to your tail lights as well. This makes me wonder if I could maybe do an LED conversion when I get my Kouki tails for my hatch. Where can I learn about LEDs installation and such for f's sake! I want to learn!

AllenRPS13 · 03-12-2005, 12:47 AM

that's nice! look awesome!!!

Nostradamus · 03-12-2005, 03:15 AM

Anybody who wants a longer protoboard let me know and I'll cut it to size and charge $1 over shipping costs. We have these laying around at work, not sure about sizes but I'll check Monday. As for the tail lights you definitely need to use more than one piece since the largest consumer protoboard I've seen is 7" long, I'm sure there are longer ones but I just haven't looked into it.

Drunk Bastard · 03-12-2005, 03:21 AM

looks good

s14xman · 03-12-2005, 03:29 AM

looked like a cool little project

240meowth · 03-12-2005, 04:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdmsilvia909

they look sweet i wunder if those LED lights would work on fastback 3rd brake light....hmmmmmmm?

i'm sure you can. I don't have a hatchback here, if someone wants to donate their hatchback brake light, i'll be glad to look into it.

Fastback180 · 03-12-2005, 06:12 AM

Awesome! Send me one for mine!
Or better yet, trade for some Famicom games!

I bet i'll pick up some high school chicks with that in the parking lot

240meowth · 03-12-2005, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fastback180

Awesome! Send me one for mine!
Or better yet, trade for some Famicom games!

I bet i'll pick up some high school chicks with that in the parking lot

i have famicom games, just not the counsol! Want LED's?

240meowth · 03-13-2005, 10:50 AM

Does anyone want to donate their s13 hatch 3rd brake light for experiment?

RBS14 · 03-13-2005, 11:56 AM

are those just 5mm's or superflux?

HyperTek · 03-13-2005, 06:08 PM

I was just htinking of how this would look in a old 240z... fair enough, i found a page where someone else did it.. http://www.v8zcar.com/s30z/tail-led.htm

altralosix · 03-13-2005, 10:37 PM

$1+ each for those LEDs? That's insane. Check out http://www.goldmine-elec-products.co...tem=7&mitem=56
2500MCD and if you click special pricing, you can get 100 of them for $.55 each. I love the electronic goldmine

240meowth · 03-13-2005, 11:02 PM

they are 5mm, would of used flux type if i had 'em, but i'm stuck w/ 5mm's! =b Those LED's on the website are 2,500MCD and these are 18,000 MCD! 18,000 > 2,500 =b

Wei240 · 03-16-2005, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 240meowth

they are 5mm, would of used flux type if i had 'em, but i'm stuck w/ 5mm's! =b Those LED's on the website are 2,500MCD and these are 18,000 MCD! 18,000 > 2,500 =b

cool stuff,
may i ask what the beam angle is?
because 18000 mcd may not tell how really bright it is in terms of lumens...
there's some formula that takes beam angle and luminous intensity (mcd) to get lumens...

03-11-2005, 05:37 PM	#1
240meowth Nissanaholic! Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: torrance, ca Age: 38 Posts: 2,399 Trader Rating: (4) Feedback Score: 4 reviews	LED 3rd brake light, woot! So yesterday, me in my utter bordomness decided to take apart the 3rd brake tail light for some ha ha fun. Than, at 3am in the morning, I decided, why not chuck some LED's in there for more fun! Since i had some LED's left over from another project. (this is for cars w/o spoilers) And today, i went down to el radio shack, for le PC board, so I can start the project. So I cut the PC board in half, and started to solder LED's on. After the LED's were soldered on, I used some rather creative ways to solder the resistors on... Since it was a one sided PC board. all 32 LEDs lined up in a party!!! 64 pins to solder!!! So i soldered the positive wire on and while i was getting to the negative wire, i stood there for 10 minutes like a deer caught in the headlight; in awe of what I've done to myself. Looks like i totally forgot about the negative wires... And to solder them together, it'll take two days. After half an hr of thinking, i used the LED legs that I cut off to connect the grounds together. BRILLIANT! When all was said and done, I decided to plug the dudes into the power supply. And than it turned out I used the wrong resister and blew out all 32 LED's and threw the whole thing away... j/k! I had to do some finishing touches on it, turned out a few LEDs were whacked and didn't get the connection soldered right. When that's done, I chucked it behind the 3rd brake light housing. than i chucked it on the car in the blazing sun! And it shows through!!! (notice you can't even see the normal brake lights well) and a close up w/ my pretty zilvia sticker that I received long time ago for some donation for some server or some software stuff... and when i was done, i went to the local high school and tried to pick up girls, and it didn't work. So don't do this mod. WOOT! So what do u guys think? yay or nay? perhaps i'll get some pictures of it at night. edit:attached night picture __________________ Last edited by 240meowth; 01-31-2007 at 09:49 AM..

03-11-2005, 05:49 PM	#2
dct223 Nissanaholic! Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: hella NORCAL! Age: 36 Posts: 1,662 Trader Rating: (4) Feedback Score: 4 reviews	night pictures! over all looks pretty clean, how bright are the LEDs? maybe you can extend the LEDs so it covers the whole brake light. __________________ Sfourteen

03-11-2005, 07:05 PM	#4
Yoshi Post Whore! Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Washington Age: 44 Posts: 3,000 Trader Rating: (1) Rides Gallery: Yoshi Feedback Score: 1 reviews	Looks good man... little excessive on the solder tho huh? __________________ www.360realms.com/S13-S15

03-11-2005, 09:09 PM	#9
jdmsilvia909 Zilvia Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: riverside Age: 39 Posts: 188 Trader Rating: (0) Feedback Score: 0 reviews	they look sweet i wunder if those LED lights would work on fastback 3rd brake light....hmmmmmmm? __________________ Image(s) exceed(s) forum limit, strike 2 -Moderation R.I.P. 1990 NISSAN 240SX...U WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN

03-12-2005, 12:47 AM	#11
AllenRPS13 Zilvia FREAK! Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Bay Area (East Bay) Age: 37 Posts: 1,294 Trader Rating: (0) Feedback Score: 0 reviews	that's nice! look awesome!!! __________________ ~小アレンのリベリオン~ いくせ, 勝負た! 轟こう, オレのKRMS13!!! オレの得意技！蹴り進入！角度の少ないドリフト！

03-11-2005, 07:13 PM	#6
reefer1114 Zilvia Addict Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: in your womans pants Posts: 638 Trader Rating: (0) Feedback Score: 0 reviews	how much was the total cost to make one? maybe you should make a lot and sell them to make some dough?

03-11-2005, 07:37 PM	#8
Dark-Hawk Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Willington, Ct Posts: 11 Trader Rating: (0) Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Looks nice! I may try this with my tail lights if I get bored enough one day lol.

03-11-2005, 10:02 PM	#10
wootwoot Post Whore! Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: sarasota florida biatch Age: 35 Posts: 3,850 Trader Rating: (0) Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Definitely yay and I say you need to do that to your tail lights as well. This makes me wonder if I could maybe do an LED conversion when I get my Kouki tails for my hatch. Where can I learn about LEDs installation and such for f's sake! I want to learn!

03-12-2005, 03:15 AM	#12
Nostradamus Zilvia Junkie Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: poolhall ma Posts: 355 Trader Rating: (0) Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Anybody who wants a longer protoboard let me know and I'll cut it to size and charge $1 over shipping costs. We have these laying around at work, not sure about sizes but I'll check Monday. As for the tail lights you definitely need to use more than one piece since the largest consumer protoboard I've seen is 7" long, I'm sure there are longer ones but I just haven't looked into it. __________________

03-12-2005, 03:21 AM	#13
Drunk Bastard Zilvia FREAK! Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 1,405 Trader Rating: (2) Feedback Score: 2 reviews	looks good

03-12-2005, 03:29 AM	#14
s14xman Zilvia FREAK! Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: washington Age: 37 Posts: 1,022 Trader Rating: (0) Feedback Score: 0 reviews	looked like a cool little project __________________ FRontline (marinating since 02)

03-12-2005, 06:12 AM	#16
Fastback180 Zilvia Addict Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: NoVA at heart Posts: 939 Trader Rating: (0) Rides Gallery: Fastback180 Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Awesome! Send me one for mine! Or better yet, trade for some Famicom games! I bet i'll pick up some high school chicks with that in the parking lot __________________

03-13-2005, 10:50 AM	#18
240meowth Nissanaholic! Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: torrance, ca Age: 38 Posts: 2,399 Trader Rating: (4) Feedback Score: 4 reviews	Does anyone want to donate their s13 hatch 3rd brake light for experiment? __________________

03-13-2005, 11:56 AM	#19
RBS14 Nissanaholic! Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Santa Cruz/San Diego Posts: 2,271 Trader Rating: (0) Feedback Score: 0 reviews	are those just 5mm's or superflux? __________________

03-13-2005, 06:08 PM	#20
HyperTek Post Whore! Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Cali Posts: 13,222 Trader Rating: (3) Feedback Score: 3 reviews	I was just htinking of how this would look in a old 240z... fair enough, i found a page where someone else did it.. http://www.v8zcar.com/s30z/tail-led.htm __________________ Keep it Classy

03-13-2005, 10:37 PM	#21
altralosix Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Charlotte, NC Age: 38 Posts: 36 Trader Rating: (0) Feedback Score: 0 reviews	$1+ each for those LEDs? That's insane. Check out http://www.goldmine-elec-products.co...tem=7&mitem=56 2500MCD and if you click special pricing, you can get 100 of them for $.55 each. I love the electronic goldmine

03-13-2005, 11:02 PM	#22
240meowth Nissanaholic! Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: torrance, ca Age: 38 Posts: 2,399 Trader Rating: (4) Feedback Score: 4 reviews	they are 5mm, would of used flux type if i had 'em, but i'm stuck w/ 5mm's! =b Those LED's on the website are 2,500MCD and these are 18,000 MCD! 18,000 > 2,500 =b __________________

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