I'm thinking of machining a piece of thin aluminum to bolt in to my third brake light housing and mounting some LEDs in there. I know I would have use a resistor(s) and possibly quite a few LEDs. What MCD LED should I use? Also, since I have a red lense cover should I use white LEDs or use red ones and ditch the red lense? What yall guys think? Any reason this just won't work without a lot of work? Any hints or tips?
Thanks,
Brady

 

Like my picture? I cut a piece of lexan and drilled holes in it to mount the led's. I used 30-1000mcd red leds, but would recommend like 2000 to be real bright during day. If you wire your led's in series you can get away with out using resistors, with my led's if you wire 6 in series you can directly hook them up to 12v's. I got rid of my lense so you could see the bowtie, but it all depends on what you like. I think you should be able to do this. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work because its basically the same thing i have done. It took me about a day to design and make mine, so i think it was fairly easy.

Hope this helps, Harry

 

Here is another pic of just the led's the lexan.

 

That's pretty cool. I would prolly just do a rectangular design. How did you mount the lexan? I was thinking of making the whole thing LEDs. Know what I mean? You just did the "back" portion. Looks good though, thanks for the info. How would I do it if I wanted to use something like 50 or 75 LEDs?

 

I sheped the lexan to the shape of the housing and epoxied in in. Then i spray painted the inside of the housing flat black so it would look better since i didnt' have the lense in. So your going to make the whole lexan piece led's?, or the whole housing? For 50-75 led's, i'd figure out how many you'd need in series with out resistors. For example, if 6 led's wired in series is like 13.8v, then i'd use 12 sets of the 6 led's for a total of 72 leds. You'd wire the 6 leds in series and the 12 sets in parallel to each other. So each set of 6 will have 13.8 volts across them. I hope this isn't too confusing. I just found this thread about wiring led's, thought it might help... https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=171217

Harry

 

So if I wanted to use 12 sets of 6 then I would do something like this (sorry for the crappy sketch):

oh and this is the correct way to wire LEDs in series correct (although this only uses 5 LEDs)?
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/att...postid=1238790

 

i just noticed that link takes you to a drawing, the one on the left is parallel and the one on the right is in series correct?


Edit: While I know ya are coming in here.....

I have a triple gauge pod, very similar to this one.
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...art=ATM%2D2393
Each gauge has its own light bulb. So each light bulb has a 12 volt hot wire and a ground wire. Could I cut the wires off of the light bulb and wire from the 12 volt hot wire through 6 LEDs in series then to the ground wire? You think this would light up the gauge alright? What MCD would you use for this. I dont know the exact path that the light has to travel to get to the front of the gauge. It's just a 2 1/16" gauge? So, lets say I use 5 or 6 LEDs what MCD should I use, and do you think different colors would work, or should I stick to white?

 

yea those pics are right. The one on left is parallel and on right is series, so your correct.
Yea, you can cut the wires and put in the led's in series. I think the gauges should light up fine. i'd probably use like 5000 mcd led's to make sure its bright enough. As for the colors, you can use whatever you want, i'd probably make it match the color of the gauges.
hope this helps, Harry

 

see if ya follow me on this one....
It's hard to see, but in the middle of the picture is the stock black housing. The red rectangle represents a piece of lexan or aluminum or something (basically what the LEDs are going to be mounted to). Each blue dot represents a LED, although in the real world I would want more because the blue dots are not exactly in scale with the actual size of a LED. That is my plan, just a simple piece of lexan or aluminum with a bunch of LEDs in it, and then one its wired in I can glue the piece of lexan down to the housing and mount the housing up. So if this is what I did, how many LEDs should I use. I don't mind spending a little more money, and I think it would look better if I had more LEDs with a lower MCD, don't you? Since the diameter is usually around .2" it would take many LEDs to have it looks "full". I figured (by the measurments of the red lense) that my piece of lexan would be 5.5" long by 5" wide. And about 10 rows of LEDs down and 9 rows across. This would put me at 90 LEDs. And 90 divided by 6 (because 6 in a series doesn't need a resistor(s)) is exactly 15. So I would have to have 15 "hot" 12 volt wires coming off of the single original power wire, and 15 ground/negative wires going back up to the ground wire. I'm just thinking and typing as I go, let me know if ya find something wrong.....
What MCD should I use if I wanted to use 90 total LEDs? I don't want it to be so bright that it is freaky looking, but it needs to be bright enough to see during the day and be properly functional. Also, what would be the results if I mounted another clear piece of lexan over the LEDs? Would the hatch glass technically do the job of a "lense"?
Whatcha think Harry?
Thanks,
Brady

 

ok, i understand what you want to do now.
I think the leds i got were a good deal, 100 red led's @ 1000mcd for 15 dollars. I used these ones b/c they fit my budget. I think 90 led's should work out fine
The 6 leds equaling 12v only works with the led's i got, so it could be different if you got different led's.
for my brake light i used 30-1000mcd leds. its bright at night, but not extremely bright during day. I think 90-1000 mcd's might be too bright at night. i just used the hatch as my lense, so you could see the bowtie.
I think that you understand this, but if you need any help just ask.
Harry

 

I think I got it. I just put in the order from Jameco. I ordered 120 red 600mcd LEDs. Cost $18 plus shipping. I should have plenty to do this light and have a lot left over. I have a single plane intake that will be ready to go on this weekend, and I have this little project and Easter is this weekend. Guess I'm going to be busy. Thanks a lot for your help.

Do you think I should use a piece of metal. With metal I would have to be careful not to have anything short out, but I could also just make the it 12 volts. And at the start of each series I would just solder the LED lead to the metal plate. Of course I would have to be careful with the grounds I think it might make it easier....
I don't know for sure yet.........

Thanks
Brady

 

You might want to use something other than a metal. I bought a 1x2ft sheet of lexan from home depot for like $8. I spray painted the back of the lexan flat black and it looks good. With metal i'd be worried about a short. If you do use metal, i'd definitly put a fuse on the wire somewhere.