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My Custom Tail light Project READY TO BE INSTALLED


D_Venable
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I've been working on these for a year and a half (on and off because of school), and have just gotten them back in my hands now (moved for an internship about a month ago). I've only done the one side so far, and it'll be a while before I'm done with the second one.

 

So I have 68 red (5000mcd), 24 yellow (5600mcd), 16 white (18,000mcd) per tail light. LEDs are from www.superbrightleds.com

 

I designed and etched my own circuit boards as well.

 

 

 

 

I'll start off with that these were rusty tail lights, I traded the nice set I had with slowquest for these, so I wouldn't feel as bad about hacking them up.

 

Here's what I cut out...

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5733.jpg

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5734.jpg

 

At this point, I had one of the 3 circuit boards etched (but not populated)

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5732.jpg

 

I added a flat piece of plastic (not sure of the exact material) to begin to seal off the back of the tail light (still not sealed, gonna use some fiberglass for that)

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5737.jpg

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5736.jpg

 

I also copied Just_Paus with what he did to his Conquest outer lenses (don't have nay Starion ones, which would work better for this). Sanded off the black lines, and then sprayed them with clear coat (which filled in the scratches from sanding)

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5735.jpg

 

Test fitting of the boards before populating them. Yes those are sections of bic pens as spacers

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5739.jpg

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5740.jpg

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5738.jpg

 

 

------------------------------

Visual Test after getting ONE of the boards populated

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5741.jpg

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5742.jpg

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5743.jpg

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5744.jpg

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5745.jpg

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5746.jpg

 

This shows what the parking lights will be (compared to stock)

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5747.jpg

 

Reverse lights

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5753.jpg

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5754.jpg

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5755.jpg

 

...

Edited by D_Venable
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Parking Lights

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5756.jpg

 

Brake Lights

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5757.jpg

 

Turn Signals

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5758.jpg

 

All Lit-Up

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5760.jpg

 

 

Close Up

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5819.jpg

 

What she looks like on the inside...

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5817.jpg

http://www.26liter.us/gallery/albums/userpics/10030/DSCF5818.jpg

 

 

I let the cat outta the bag in the random pic thread, and thought it was time for a full on post.

 

But to for-warn everyone, these won't be completely finished for a while, and I don't know how long it'll be, but I'm still using the stock plug (but with an extra pin for the separate brake and turn signals).

 

OH, and don't ask me to make a set, it's too time consuming, which wouldn't be worth my time for less than 1K

 

Enjoy

Derek

Edited by D_Venable
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can you tell us how you did the circuit boards and populated it? wiring?

 

If you cant make it for us, i might be able to build off your design lol....

 

How much have u invested in this?

 

and thanks for posting specifics on the LEDs and linky

 

and those are 5mm leds?

Edited by spoolinturbo
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I designed the board layout in Illustrator, and then etched them myself.

 

I got copper clad boards from DigiKey.com, and transfer film from another place (have to look that one up) and Ferric Chloride from another place (have to look that up too).

 

Ferric Chloride is the chemical etchant, and you have to use a laser printer to print on the transfer film as inkjet ink won't stand up to the Ferric Chloride.

 

I can post more tonight when I get home from work

 

Derek

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thats very cool derek, great job. I didnt click on the links but are those super wide leds? ive seen people use 68degree FOV for tail lights but most stuff i find is a lot less than that for under $1 per led.

 

Do you think it will be enough? have you thought about diffusing the light through some lexan? im not sure how bright the "backlight" effect would be.

 

great project and great job!

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Yes these are 5mm LEDs, and the red and yellow LEDs are only 15* viewing angle, the white LEDs are 30*. That's why I wrapped them around the corner for the turn signal. You can still see the red from higher angles, but mostly the light that it emits onto the outer lens. There's not any room left inside for a piece of plexi or lexan, but I may try some mylar and/or tinting the outer lens. not sure yet.

 

I could mass produce the boards, BUT I'd have to charge around $100 to make it worth my time, as it takes about $50 in materials (mainly the copper clad board). and a few hours to do.

Edited by D_Venable
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we made some led tail lights for a car at work(even made the lenses) we used 240 leds! for the tails and another 45 for the 3rd brake light. They are also the super bright and you cant even look at the car straight on when they are on. 15* viewing angle also.
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Yes these are 5mm LEDs, and the red and yellow LEDs are only 15* viewing angle, the white LEDs are 30*. That's why I wrapped them around the corner for the turn signal. You can still see the red from higher angles, but mostly the light that it emits onto the outer lens. There's not any room left inside for a piece of plexi or lexan, but I may try some mylar and/or tinting the outer lens. not sure yet.

 

I could mass produce the boards, BUT I'd have to charge around $100 to make it worth my time, as it takes about $50 in materials (mainly the copper clad board). and a few hours to do.

100$ per taillight or 100$ a pair?

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100$ per taillight or 100$ a pair?

 

$100 for the 6 large main boards, and the 2 small boards for the reverse lights. and these WON'T be drilled, you have to do a lot of small holes, and that will take you at least 30 minutes (120+ holes for the top 2 boards EACH)

 

To be honest, I'd rather not even deal with making any for anyone. I'm not even sure $100 per set of boards is worth my time, now that I think about it.

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Here's the list:

 

www.superbrightleds.com

x136 (qty) RL5-R5015 $0.18 each

5000mcd, 15* viewing angle

x48 (qty) RL5-Y5615 $0.20 each

5600mcd, 15* viewing angle

x32 (qty) RL5-W18030 $0.89 each

18,000mcd, 30* viewing angle

 

Total = $62.56

 

www.digikey.com

x1 (qty) PC8-E-ND $34.29

 

This is the 18"x18" single sided, copper-clad board used for the circuit boards

 

x46 (qty) MC7806CT-BPMS-ND $0.35 each

x8 (qty) MC7808CT-BPMS-ND $0.35 each

 

these are the 6-volt and 8-volt voltage regulators that are on the back of the boards (to move all heat as far away from the LEDs themselves)

 

Total = $53.19

 

techniks.com

x1 Press-N-Peel Blue 20 sheet pack, 8.5"x11" (smallest amount they have) $33

 

this is the transfer film I used, it HAS to be printed on a laser printer, as inkjet printer ink will not resist the etching chemical (ferric chloride)

 

Total = $33

 

Radio Shack

x11 (qty) 22 ohm 1/2W 5% Carbon Film Resistor pk/5 $0.99 each

 

Total = $10.89

 

www.micromark.com

x1 (qty) 16oz bottle of Ferric Chloride $4.30

 

Total = $4.30

 

----------------------------------

 

Total = $163.94 WITHOUT SHIPPING COSTS

 

This isn't all though, this is the small list of small random things that I got locally, and I forget the prices:

-ball point pen casings (spacers/standoffs)

-threaded rod and nuts (to hold/secure spacers)

-wire

-solder

-heat shrink tubing

-plastic tub to etch in (wallpaper soaking tub), has to be the shorter ones (about 18") to make the Ferric Chloride deep enough to submerse the boards, otherwise, you'l need larger amounts of the Ferric Chloride.

-shitloads of free time (most of the work you see took 2 weeks of being unemployed to do, working on it everyday)

 

Derek

Edited by D_Venable
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hey boss.

 

I'll offer up $200 for the boards . $250 for the boards with a very detailed pic of your assembly so i can populate it and wire it.

You did an awesome thing here. i have no problem paying said price for a board layed out how u said, i can drill it and populate it and wire it, and buy all the other equip i need.

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Making the circuit boards isn't really hard, it's just time consuming. The only tricky part is with the transfer film, since I only have 8.5x11 sheets, I have to split the image for each board into 2, and try to line them up with each other (not too bad).

 

But using the iron on the transfer film poses the "challenge", as with a slightly overlapping piece, you get a small ridge, and you can't apply all the pressure to every spot around it, leaving some gaps when you pull the film up. But you can fill in those gaps with a Sharpie, it's ink will also resist the ferric Chloride, but make sure it's 100% dry before you throw into the ferric chloride.

 

if you'd be willing to do that on your own, I'd be more than happy to share the board layouts (jpegs, or the illustrator files, the latter being more detailed, and will print better) and more detailed images/instructions on the component layout.

 

I still have the 3 main boards to make for the other side/tail, and I'm contemplating adding 2 more lines/boards per tail light to have lights filling in the area better. so I still have a lot of work left to do on mine before I can even consider making any for others, which in all honesty, I don't want to do.

 

Derek

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hey any info you can send me would be awesome!!! more than willing to give it a shot on my own. if you want to post here or easier to email me that stuff if u want....

 

my email is spoolin_conquest@yahoo.com

 

thats just awesome what ur doing derek...best lookin' LED tails i have ever seen on a quest. and HOT lookin =) *applauds*

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