E30 LED Tail Lights... (Pics & Vid, 56k no)

[Schnitzer318is]

pretty cute. why didnt you just bake off the tail lights? stick the whole assembly in the oven on 200 then carefully remove with gloves. i did it when tinting my lenses with black die.

Good to know... I didn't think I could bake these apart. I'll have to try that on the second light as it could potentially make things alot easier.

As for the LED count... I'm pretty happy with it, I wanted the brake light section to look different than the parking light section... so I used 2 different types of LEDs. Wide angle high power flux LEDs (24) for the parking lights, and narrow angle 8mm LEDs (36) for the brakes. Super distinct, even in the daytime. Only thing I am not 100% satisfied on yet is the signal viewability during the day. I think this is due to the painted lens. Going to remove the paint and see how it looks then.

pretty cute. why didnt you just bake off the tail lights? stick the whole assembly in the oven on 200 then carefully remove with gloves. i did it when tinting my lenses with black die.

also, imo you should even out the led count. seems you have too few in the brake light area.

i might attempt this. i was thinkin of turning my 3rd brake light into a digital (red) display that shows diferent displays n such when signaling foe ex. when i hit my left signal the display should show an arrow moving across like
/ >>> \
or when i stop it shows the BMW roundel
or when im turning right it shows
/ <<< \
a friend of mines has one on a potiac sunfire. pretty cool. too bad its on a sunfire
you can sutomise it to do anything like up to 5 different displays or effects. his says his name when he starts the car, it reads / !BEEP! \ when he hits the horn. and says stop when he stops and of course the signals. do you guys know if its legal? if not im shellin out the $200 bux for it. its awesome.

oh and if youre wondering how it works, it recieves voltage from 5 diff remote wires and has one power and ground wire. its pregramed via usb by a program called DIGISLPAY and can display 3 seconds of motion picture

[Schnitzer318is]

Right there is my whole bitch with the LED stuff. I want part of my check panel, like the fluid levels and stuff.

I like the idea of losing the check panel alltogether, and having bare LEDs on the dash.

^Why don't you just desolder the LEDs for the lighting system on your check panel? Then you get to keep all your other systems. That's what I would do if I had the overhead check panel.

Here is a new video on the car. I am fairly pleased with the result although I am still going to change some things up. Will keep you guys updated.

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/318is-LED-Tail-Lights-Rev-1-On-Car_157796.htm

[StereoInstaller1]

Right there is my whole bitch with the LED stuff. I want part of my check panel, like the fluid levels and stuff.

I like the idea of losing the check panel alltogether, and having bare LEDs on the dash.

[Schnitzer318is]

You can simply go to your local auto parts store to find an electronic flasher.

Hell, I don't even know if E30s use 2 or 3 prong flashers, or some bizarre German monstrosity.

Damn, that is just so cool, get it done!

I put an electronic flasher in it... that's why I have no hyper blink :) And I found the problem... I guess the resistance of the 12ohm 25watt resistor isn't enough to emulate the 12v/10watt bulb that was in the parking light circuit. As soon as I put the original parking light bulb back in the holder everything worked 100%. Soooooo... tomorrow I am going to go get a 10ohm 10watt resistor and see if that will do it. If not I'll keep guessing the resistor needed to trick the circuit. Davesmed is helping on a way around the check circuits altogether but for now I want to get everything working and then work on re wiring the car :)

[StereoInstaller1]

You can simply go to your local auto parts store to find an electronic flasher.

Hell, I don't even know if E30s use 2 or 3 prong flashers, or some bizarre German monstrosity.

Damn, that is just so cool, get it done!

[808AWD325xi]

very cool. maybe you could display longhorns in orange with a switch?

[Schnitzer318is]

^That would be cool for passing e46, and e36 ers. Though I did own multiple e36's and one e46, my e30 4 banger is the most fun of all 5 bimmers I've had.

[AlarmedBread]

So will you be able to write 'E30 FTW' across your tails next week? :)

[Schnitzer318is]

^No I'm going to flash the brake lights, euro fog area, and area above the reverse light eventually. Though I hooked it up on the car and for some reason I get a turn signal output to my LEDs on the Sho-Me even though I intentionally didn't hook up a turn signal input? Everything works fine, except when I turn on the signal, my brake/parking lights blink with the turns. Frustrating. I will probably remove the Sho-Me unit and go your method (Link to a flasher?). And keep the Sho-Me for when I get the all reds so I can have some massive turns/brakes on that mofo.

[StereoInstaller1]

Holy Crap, batman!

Very nice. I am gonna have to work my ass off to outdo you.

Why not just use a transistorized flasher, like on Chebbys with trailers? You aren't flashing anything but the turns, right?

[AlarmedBread]

Nice work man.

[Schnitzer318is]

The brake lights are brighter than OEM, the signals are either the same or slightly dimmer than OEM, and the parking lights will be around OEM brightness. The parking lights won't be as bright as the brake lights, like the OEM units. And since these are LEDs, from directly behind, where a driver would be behind you... they are easily seen.

[Garageaholic]

Just out of curiousity, do the brake lights/tail lights exhibit the same (or close) luminoscity as what is mandated by the DOT?

The only reason I ask is because you said that the brake lights have the same intensity as the turn signals. Will this be true between the brake lights and the taillight?

[Schnitzer318is]

link to sho-me unit?

Link to sho me unit is in this thread:http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=108659.

What specs of the LED's are you using? mA, Voltage drop/breakdown, mcd? Where did you get the LED's? Any wiring schematics? Any resistors in series with LED's? Looks great. I can't wait to see the final product.

All LEDs are available through seller lvekh on ebay. The brake lights are 36 8mm 45,000mcd reds. I am feeding them 1.9v and 20ma each using a string of 4 leds in series and a 330ohm resistor in series as well on the negative side of the string. Same thing goes for the 96 amber LEDs.

Thanks for the compliments guys. I'll keep the updates coming.