i vote for this idea ... even though it's not an official option ... but if you're going to spend a lot of time and effort on the design ...

 

Well i decided on the 4 ring design, and i'm glad i did. It looks great. Here's some pictures.

 

It's been over a month and i redid the tail lights. I decided to redo the design and make a 2 ring design. I experimented with etching this time and it was much more difficult to design but mounting the leds were easier. Took me a good 2-3 hours to get the leds on there. They're surfaced-mounted. All resistors are on the back side of the board. Feedback please.


Blank Copper board with designed printed on


Just came out of the etching solution.


Ink is cleaned up and ready for mounting


finished tails

 

nice..been following this on hidplanet.

 

Wow nice work. Does the center light up when you brake?

 

nope, i try to make it look like the skyline. Just two rings that glow dim when parking and will glow bright when you brake.

 

the final two-ring incarnation is outstanding!

 

Here's an update as of 12/20/07. This is a copy of what i posted on my.is.

I order my new regulator/pwms and they look great. They're going to be enclosed in a black box. I only need one to run both sides (for both brake/turns). I'm going to have a separate regulator running the turn signals. I've been lagging on this project. I guess i don't want to seal it up till i have everything the way i want it.
I want to retint the lens, the tint i have now is 20% and it's a bit dark. It gives it a great "philz tails" look, but i think i can still accomplish that with 35% tint and let a little more light through.

Here are two shots of how it looks as of now.
Regulator/pwm


Leds running at less than .25 amps @ 14.4v. Very happy with the electronics of this build.

 

Looks good. I have led tails on the IS similar to one of your designs. They look ten times better on the IS than any other model since they are round.

The models with flat tails (like the SC) look terrible because people try and stick something new on a 15 yr old car and it ends up looking like a 15 yr old car with new tails. Most people do not realize that you need a clear face to do this also. I see people trying to stick LED's behind a colored lens (and a diffuser to boot).

PS- Nice dell

 

nice work!

 

That looks sweeet. Nice mod.

 

Amazing work!

 

The led boards are finally secured onto the housing, and everything is working. Now i just got to seal this sucker up and put it on the car. Too bad, i only finished one side. But at least i got my turn signals working. I'm loving it. Can't wait to put it on.







[post copied from my.is, cause i'm to lazy to write new things]

 

do you have a DIY?

 

This has been a 3-4 months project. There are no simple writeups for this project.