LED taillights

[nando]

The best chance of something usable from that site would be the board with the Luxeon LEDs set back as far as possible with the reflector cut off the back of the taillight, and a recess made in the removable light panel to get it as close to flush as possible.

It must be the Luxeons, the cheap ones will NOT work right. The Luxeons might. You'll notice there also the most expensive. There is a very good reason for that.


Personally, for the expense, possibility of failure, and amount of work needed to get it in there, what the hell is so wrong with a bulb that works pretty damn well? If there was some amazing benefit, sure, but what? You dont like replacing $2 lightbulbs roughly once a year?

once a year? in 6 years/75k I've only replaced one.

basically, it's just for looks.. and after you have the same car for a while, it gets boring. :p

[84E30]

hey guys where can i pick up some of
those led lights for the back
n signal lights?
hit me up ppl

[Inspar8r]

The best chance of something usable from that site would be the board with the Luxeon LEDs set back as far as possible with the reflector cut off the back of the taillight, and a recess made in the removable light panel to get it as close to flush as possible.

It must be the Luxeons, the cheap ones will NOT work right. The Luxeons might. You'll notice there also the most expensive. There is a very good reason for that.


Personally, for the expense, possibility of failure, and amount of work needed to get it in there, what the hell is so wrong with a bulb that works pretty damn well? If there was some amazing benefit, sure, but what? You dont like replacing $2 lightbulbs roughly once a year?

Because most people don't like the "dot" of light coming from the middle of replacement bulbs.

That said, like I've posted before, I'm not here to convince anyone. My work speaks for itself, as will thousands of other customers who have purchased my products.

I build things that suck, so if in the end, they end up sucking, you'll simply see a post saying it didn't go as planned. Luxeons are an option, but at this point, it's not necessary.

For those who want LED tails, great. For those who don't, great. People will want them because they are rare, they give you 15ft of additional reaction time @60 mph. But most of all, because they are cool.

By your logic no one should mod their car because the car already does it's intended function.

[Inspar8r]

as for an update, I haven't made much progress, I've been slacking off, and I have a ton of web orders to fulfill for the IS300.

I'm hoping chris will be able to help out on sunday, perhaps get the additional boards built and start testing them out. I had to change a load resistor for the front turn signals because I had to account for 14.4V dynamic power (it's 13.7 believe it or not on the IS300).

[sweetride01]

as for an update, I haven't made much progress, I've been slacking off, and I have a ton of web orders to fulfill for the IS300.

I'm hoping chris will be able to help out on sunday, perhaps get the additional boards built and start testing them out. I had to change a load resistor for the front turn signals because I had to account for 14.4V dynamic power (it's 13.7 believe it or not on the IS300).

So the fronts are almost done?
That would be sweet! If you had some Euro smiley parking light LEDs running off the side light power, would it affect the turn signal functioning? I doubt it, but always better to ask...

[DaveSmed]

Because most people don't like the "dot" of light coming from the middle of replacement bulbs.

Yea, thats what I'm referring to with LED replacement bulbs. Your LED panel design eliminates that and is the "right" way to go about having LED taillights. Too many people are interested in the cheap or easy way, not necessarily the right way. I cant help but laugh at the cars with a dimly glowing spot the size of a quarter in an otherwise dark taillight who bought LED "conversion" bulbs thinking they would get a visibility improvement.

To realize the benefits LEDs have, proper design must take place. Sounds exactly like what you are up to, much appreciation for that.


Load resistor... are you talking about modifying the flasher unit itself, or adding a dummy resistor? I understand a plug and play system is more desirable, but I would think a different flasher would be a good choice to realize the benefit of lower current draw.

[Inspar8r]

Yea, thats what I'm referring to with LED replacement bulbs. Your LED panel design eliminates that and is the "right" way to go about having LED taillights. Too many people are interested in the cheap or easy way, not necessarily the right way. I cant help but laugh at the cars with a dimly glowing spot the size of a quarter in an otherwise dark taillight who bought LED "conversion" bulbs thinking they would get a visibility improvement.

To realize the benefits LEDs have, proper design must take place. Sounds exactly like what you are up to, much appreciation for that.


Load resistor... are you talking about modifying the flasher unit itself, or adding a dummy resistor? I understand a plug and play system is more desirable, but I would think a different flasher would be a good choice to realize the benefit of lower current draw.

Changing the flasher has had spotty results in other applications, so I will use a resistor that will maintain the correct flasher rate. They won't ever get hot for the turn signals, because the voltage is not constant.

Perhaps this weekend chris and I can test out the front LEDs again.

[sweetride01]

Changing the flasher has had spotty results in other applications, so I will use a resistor that will maintain the correct flasher rate. They won't ever get hot for the turn signals, because the voltage is not constant.

Perhaps this weekend chris and I can test out the front LEDs again.

Any news???
Someone else on here already did their own custom setup that's pretty sweet, I want to know when your stuff is done ;-)

[VAPORBLADE]

if I remember Libertek does some nice custom work in canada. They did my old CBR.

[Sam Cogley]

Yea, thats what I'm referring to with LED replacement bulbs. Your LED panel design eliminates that and is the "right" way to go about having LED taillights. Too many people are interested in the cheap or easy way, not necessarily the right way. I cant help but laugh at the cars with a dimly glowing spot the size of a quarter in an otherwise dark taillight who bought LED "conversion" bulbs thinking they would get a visibility improvement.

To realize the benefits LEDs have, proper design must take place. Sounds exactly like what you are up to, much appreciation for that.


Load resistor... are you talking about modifying the flasher unit itself, or adding a dummy resistor? I understand a plug and play system is more desirable, but I would think a different flasher would be a good choice to realize the benefit of lower current draw.

I have the LED conversions in my 77 Corvette - they light up the stock taillight lenses as well as stock replacement incandescent bulbs and are brighter. YMMV.

[MaxBell]

I hate to dig something up from everyone's past, but what came of ye olde LED taillights?

[george graves]

Outside of the average r3v'ers budget.

[sweetride01]

Outside of the average r3v'ers budget.

I woulda bought them... but then I'm selling my car now, so a bit pointless...

[george graves]

The thing about something like this is that you'll get people saying "I'd buy them! I'd buy them!" but then when he offered to custom make them it was all crickets....

[nando]

they would buy them - for $10 a pair, you pay shipping. ;)