Hey ...

if anyone is interested in modeling LED tail lights let me know !! I've got some ready for a 3rdgen camaro and need something to mount them in for pictures !!!

www.vanman.org

thanx

TVP

 

i have been thinking about making those myself - but hey i also like being a test bunny

 

Hey ...

you can do both .. I've got the bare PCB's on ebay too !! let me know .. I'm building up a few sets of camaro conversions and want to get a few together at the same time for a photo op .. those who set up will be offered the lights AT COST !!! about $75 for a pair !! installed and tested ...

thanx

TVP

 

hmm sounds fun only i live in VA and i have a firebird otherwise i'd be in it, do you have anyplans to make firebird lights? or can you just alter the layout??hell if you can i'll pay for shipping and stuff out to me and send ya back pictures

 

hey ...

yes .. I do plan to convert some for a bird .. I've got a base pair here , but I thought people would rather go after the TA's ?? either way ... if you want to step up for a pair of customs, and be the first to do a make and model, I'll give them at cost too ....as long as it's a cool GM .. I might be doing a set fo 69-72 chevy pickups too first come first served ...

thanx

TVP

 

actually i love the way my firebird lights are so if you have base model firebird lights cool, and get me a exact figure, and we may wanna take this convo off the board before it gets locked

 

check my profile for other means of contacting me

 

I live in NE GA and My 87 GTA would be great for that because it is a very nice car in immaculate shape. The only problem is I installed a new stereo system and part of it are two 12" Audiobahns that sit in the rear hatch. It would take great effort to get to those lights of mine. On top of it all, I just pulled the motor for a rebuild. I would like to see the end results though.

 

i'll do it definately just hit me up so we can actually talk about it on some messaging program or someting

 

I'm in Kennesaw and have a 91 RS. It's about to get painted though, so it may be a few weeks.

 

Hey ...

let me know when your RS is ready ... I still have NO takers ...
I'd like to get 3-4 Camaro's together for a better effect , but I'll take what I can get

thanx

TVP

 

I might be in depending on how they look... Of course the paint on my deck lid just started peelin bad but it'll get fixed as soon as I get time... theres pics in my sig

 

I've attached the shot I have of the Camaro lights ... let me know .. I've 3 set s of lights about done and need some models to shwo them off !!!

I'm also offering them AT COST to the host models and to ANYONE that does a new make and model with me ...

let me know ...

thanx

TVP

 

Do you have any grid style lights? A shot of them in the dark would really help so you can see the LED placement and everything too.

 

hey ...

I have some IROC lights here , as soon as these are done .. I'm going to swap out those covers ... pictures will follow shortly ...

thanx

TVP

 

hey all ....

more is being done a daily basis ...

here's a link to a bunch of pictures and details ....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=7912411372

and one attached so you can see them with the cover off ...

let me know

thanx

TVP

 

Hey TVP, I'm still interested but i would want the grid style lights (the later IROC, and 91-92 style) and bigger LED panels. Let me know if you get any done.

 

:hail: looks good i also would like to get the 91-92 style taillights

 

Hey ...

IROC Grid lights have the SAME EXACT reflector housing .. like the one shown .. for the panels to be bigger .. the housing would have to be bigger ... or else they won't fit ... I can convert just about light out there ... let me know

thanx

TVP

 

Cut the housings out ...make a square one maybe or just leave it off. It would look a lot better if the LEDs filled up the whole tail light. It also looks like you have a lot of hot spots... have you thought about getting those interior overhead light covers that have the spikes on them (similar to the triangles on the sides of the tail lights) to distribute the light more evenly? You could just cut out the rectangular shape of the lights and mount that in front of the LEDs.. it might help the hot spots. I know Lowes carries them, I would imagine Home Depot and the like would carry them also.

Also.. I took apart some IROC lights.. and some non IROC lights... and the IROC lights were much much more reflective than the nonIROC lights. May have just been chance and/or wear, but the difference was very noticable.


-Bud

 

Hey ...

that's what the 5.25" PCBs are for .. the original beta proto is like that .. but .. it's UGLY !! the LEDs and Boards are pretty much swinging in the wind at that point ... no protection from the elements ...

The Hot Spots are part of the design intent .. the LED matrix is just the shell of what is to come ... I plan to offer a FULL GRAPHIC system .... you can WRITE ANYTHING across the back of YOUR CAR !!!

some good camaro ones ... 3 digits space 3 digits ...

B Y E B Y E
3 8 3 T P I
B L O M E E
T O O S L O

Firebrid is EVEN better with 4 x 4

the hardware is there for that too .. dispersing the light will defeat that completely .. but I see where you are comming from .. the Honda lights I have are like that ... I'm just FILLING them with LEDs !! top to bottom , side to side .. I can do the same with Camaro lights , it's just money hows that old saying go ... how "bright/fast" can you afford to be

I'm not some big company either , I can't swing a new plastic mold .. hell the 1B company I work for won't get one !! So I'm trying to work with what I can find .. I'm open to any and all ideas !!!! LET ME KNOW !!! I think these look cool as !#$!@#$) !!! I'm selling them for what they COST me, right now .. you only pay for ASSEMBLY !!! Anyone who starts a new make model on "the one" program gets ALL my labor for free on top of that !!! As long as I have a soldering iron you get free labor !!

THe IROC housings are the same .. maybe chevy painted those better sicne the plastic colors are darker ????

let me know


thanx

TVP

 

I think 67 had something like this in mind......

I made these about a year and a half ago. There is no PCB...the LEDs are all through-mounted in the stock lense. Nothing dangles in the wind, and it's all sealed from the inside and weatherproof.

 

hey ...

You drilled all those holes in your lens, then covered the outside ??? I bet that took some TIME !!! looks good though !! what did you use for LEDs??? and how many per tail light ??? what was your budget on that ???

If you used my smaller PCBs you could stuff them in to look like that ... mine would still be on a grid matrix though , you could "alternate and skip" stuff them to get a pattern like that ....



thanx

TVP

 

well i just saw your post!!! and i hope i am not too late but my car just got painted sunset orange and it looks awesome!!! i have the ss hood and i think those would look great on the car! i am located in buford but i also know the gainesville area very well!!! let me know i would be up for a photoop!

 

Hey ... .

I think we spoke on the phone ??? let me know .. if you still want to model .. that offer is good !!! especially if you can do it soon !!!

thanx

TVP

 

I think I remember seeing your car (teal) in Atlanta 03 (?)... or at least one like it (unlikely but possible). That looks much better b/c it fills the space better.

Only thing that would irk me if it was my car is all the hot spots.

Don't Caddies use LEDs in those solid/evenly lit tail lights they have? Wonder what they do to dispurse the light so evenly.


-Bud

 

hey i live in baltimore md. im interested in buying a set of those led lights for my iroc, any help on how i can get my hands on a set , would be great

 

Yes I was thinking of something more like greatJ has. It seems like if you made the base that you mount the LED's to for each individual square of the tailights and then attatched them to the back of the lense or made a support of some kind in the housing which held it right next to the lense, instead of just sticking it in the back of the housing it would be easily doable. Not to mention look a ton better. But that costs time and money... and I'm not positive what im describing makes sense to anyone but me...

 

TVP.....drilling the holes isn't so bad with a drill press. You just have to run the bit at low speed because if you run it too fast the lense will crack (found that out the hard way.) I got my LEDs from eLED.com, they're pretty good on prices when you buy a bunch. I don't remember exactly how many LEDs are in each section, but the total is in the 1000-1100 range for both sides. That includes tails, brakes, turn signals, backup lights, and license plate lights.

67....that was my car at G7, and you probably talked to me as well. As far as I know, TVP is the only other person who has actually completed a true LED taillight swap in a 3rd gen (those worthless bulb-replacement LEDs don't count.) I like the slightly "grainy" look of being able to distinguish the individual LEDs. I don't know why but it's appealing to me. I believe the Caddies use a light dispersing lense (like the cover lense on a flourescent fixture) between the LEDs and the outer lense to even out the light.

Grngry.....I know exactly what you are talking about. I actually considered building mine that way, but went with the through-mount instead. I don't think you could get the spacing between sections quite as uniform with the boards. The really hard part would be wrapping the board around the corner in the outermost section. Holding the board next to the lense would be no problem (use foam rubber strips on the back between the board and the inside housing.)

 

Hey ...

1000-1100 LEDS !!! doesn't look like you used the "bright" ones, under 1000mcds?? .. so what, about .20-,55 each in the 1000's you used ??? so $200-550 just in LEDs ... no PCB so each LED has a resistor dangling ??? you've got to have ATLEAST 100 hours into each one !?!?! :hail: that is SOME ARTWORK there !!

the caddies look like that because the lens is CLEAR red .. no blur to them at all .. not to mention they are NO WHERE NEAR AS BRIGHT as the ones shown !!! they also stuff 5mm LEDs in there side to side ...hhmmm... also happens to be the cheapest color ...

I've got to finish this set for "the one" , then I'll try some of my other PCB's in a set .. I can stuff them top to bottom ... and fill the hole better with the smaller PCB's ... but ... then again .. the LED count goes up , so does the price tag ...

mouting them as close to the lens as possible has always been the plan .. here's a snap shot of the mega LED mockup ... these panels are actually red,yellow,white LEDs ...sounds like you guys just want the single color setup though ???

let me know if anyone is interested ..

thanx

TVP

 

here's the breakdown on costs to making that last version ...

each tail light panel holds 6 1.75" PCB's @$2 each and there are 3 panels in each light..

each 1.75" panel holds 64 LEDs .. 384 @ .08 for red .09 for yellow .23 for white ...

so ...

$72.00 ... ...36 x 1.75" PCB's
$61.44 .....768 Red LEDs
$69.12 ..... 768 Yellow LEDs
$176.64.....768 White LEDs
$484.16 ......

yeah ..eeeerrright !!! .. you guys are freaked out about $100 worth of parts .... guess I won't be selling too many of these ... I could stuff them with LESS than HALF of that part count ... but then we would be right back with what I've already shown ....

let me know if ANYONE is really interested in getting some of these .....

thanx

TVP

 

One resistor per 6 LEDs. The only downside to this is that if one LED goes, it takes 5 more with it.....LEDs are cheap and that cut my resistor count from 1000 to slightly under 200 so I think it was worth it. Taillights are 600mcd red @12c each, brakes are 1200mcd red @11c each, turns are unknown brightness orange @ $40/1000 off eBay, and backups/plate lights are 4000mcd white @ 30c each from a place in China that I can't recall. The prices at eLED.com vary with supply so you have to take that into account.

Total for LEDs was a hair over $200 and I have almost 800 spare orange ones. Time invested is in the 75-80hr range for the whole set, mostly soldering leads. The drill press really cut down on the lense production time (maybe 8hrs for both lenses.)

The taillights and turn signals weren't quite bright enough for my taste, but the brakes and backup lights were great (couldn't even look directly at the backups with the blackout off...they were THAT bright!!) I have them back off the car now (stock grid-styles on it) and I'll be re-doing the tails and turns whenever I get the spare time.





Now you see why I never considered marketing these....despite a dozen or more requests.....

 

Hey ....

I guess we are the only ones that really wanted LED tail lights ?? Everyone talks about wanting them , until you explain they cost a little less than neon, then they scatter like birds ... I had 40+ people watching the ebay listing , got a dozen or so questions .. and only one person has chunked down the cash to get a set , they saw them somewhere else .. and mine are a HELL of ALOT cheaper and brighter than yours !!! .. no offense .. your's look VERY nice, as everyone has pointed out ... :hail: my dimmest LED is 4000mcd !! oh well ... I was hopping the low cost would attact more people .. silly me :lala: maybe they are too cheap and it's scared everyone away ???

thanx

TVP

 

Those are pretty bright lights if 4k is the dimmest.....not to mention that you pack more of them into the housing than I did. I get a little extra intensity by not shining them through the stock lense, but I guess I lose it with the blackouts so yours are still brighter than mine.


I know how the "too cheap" thing is. At work, our normal price for an oil change is 18.95, and we get steady business at that price. When we run a 12.95 one-week special, we actually LOSE business. I guess people are afraid we're trying to get rid of some junky oil or something.....even though it's the exact same 500 gallon tank that we were pulling from 3 days before.

 

TVP...Im interested and live in Atlanta. I have a 92 TA (Stock Tail lights are Red with yellow signals, neutral density tinted with no center panel)

I gave you a call when you posted to the ACFA borad but never heard back. I still have your number on that site.....I'll try contacting you this week.

John

 

Hey ...

they are bright .. so bright that I have to take pictures through tint or off to the side of them , otherwise they blind the camera

JWKbride ... let me know !! I've called and emailed back everyone that contacted me ... I thought ...

TVP

 

ttt

 

Amber??????.........

I'd be interested if they were all red for a future mod planned later on down the road, i'm sure many others would like them to be red/white as well.......

 

FLYNLOW92rs what he said

 

The way he's laying it out with seperate boards for each section I'm sure "all red" would be very easy to do.

 

keep in mind .. I'M LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO MODEL MY LIGHTS .... I'M NOT SELLING ANYTHING HERE ... mearly discussing the possibilities of converting tail lights to LEDs !!!!

You can put in ANY color LED in you want , but the lens still has a yellow section in it ... if you drilled them through the housing like the OTHER persons set , it wouldn't matter what color the lens is ...

 

ok, so i am late reading up on these led tail lights. i really don't understand all the techical aspects of these lights, but i would like a little more info if possible. second is someone specific selling these lights??? do you have to send your stock lights somewhere to be converted??? bottom line - what kind of money are we talking about to get these tail lights made??? thanks for any and all info provided.

 

If you're still thinking or interested in doing a 91 Firebird (Formula) version, let me know and we can work something out. I've got a huge Dallas/Ft. Worth car show (300 or so F-body cars expected) on July 30th if you want to really show these off. Just let me know....

Will send you a PM as well.


- Vern