S13 coupe LED taillight conversion

[Kalypso]

There is plenty of information and pictures in the led section of hidplanet.com for you to figure out how to diy.

thanks

[MastaYu]

very sick

[nightsauce]

Red & amber are genuine superflux. White are HKB.Red is 2.80 FV, 70 MAAmber is 2.80 FV, 70 MAWhite is 3.60 FV, 100 MA Controlled by a PWM. I used 30 for my 3rd brake light, I thought that was alot! 40 would be bright!!

might i ask, what does the PWM do?

[Justin_K]

might i ask, what does the PWM do?

The PWM is a Pulse Width Modulator. It's used to dim the LEDs so that you can have tail lights and brake lights. It actually doesn't dim the LEDs though, it blinks them so fast that they appear to be dim but you don't actually see the blinking at all. If you use resistors to dim them you'll end up seeing some inconsistencies between the LEDs but if you use a PWM they all look the exact same. I think the reason he hasn't posted up the write up is because the guy he bought his PWM from quit making them. Right now I'm working on my S14 Kouki tails but I'll be offering LED S13 coupe tail lights soon, maybe the beginning of next month. I also use a PWM but I make my own.

[Dammitboy]

Nicely stated. Good to see someone else putting together cool stuff. I've been so busy with school & work lately you wouldn't believe. I have all the pics of the taillight conversion, i just need to put them together for a write-up.

[Justin_K]

Nicely stated. Good to see someone else putting together cool stuff. I've been so busy with school & work lately you wouldn't believe. I have all the pics of the taillight conversion, i just need to put them together for a write-up.

Thanks, you did a great job on your LED taillights. You should at least post the pics of the lights finished, it wouldn't take much time just to throw those up here.

[Stev0n]

S14 hatch or ban.

LOL i found a common ground for both of you...if it only existed.

those tails are completely badass. I give you MAJOR props for originality!

[Dammitboy]

Thank you, thank you. I'm about half-way done with the pass side light, time permitting. I will put it all up when done.

[nightsauce]

cant wait...did you have someone make your PWM, did you make it yourself or did you order one already made?

[Bumnah]

Do some cool stuff with the LEDS. Example: When you brake the lights towards the center of the car light up first and then the rest progressive light up; one row after the other. When you signal the the amber LEDs near the center light up then the rest light up progressively. That'd be neat. Fun little twist on everything.

Good stuff either way.

[Fractur3]

looks sick man

[BigOh8524]

For the JDM style signal lights.... did you set it up so the amber only lights up when using the signal or does it light up simply with turning on the lights? Will the white light up when signaling during the day?

[GearHead21]

please tell me you finished and did a write up?

[im_looking_for_a_240sx]

aww man, i saw this post in recent and thought he finally did a write up....well, hopefully he's almost done

[nightsauce]

aww man, i saw this post in recent and thought he finally did a write up....well, hopefully he's almost done

same here...i was so excited :|

[brzlnblader]

take your time......NOOOOOT (borat voice)but really did you forget about this??

[Nismo24zero]

that looks sweet i bet those corners are gonna be bright as $hit

[Kalypso]

aww man, i saw this post in recent and thought he finally did a write up....well, hopefully he's almost done

me to

[nightsauce]

its never gonna be done..........

[Dammitboy]

Just picked em' back up to finish. Hopefully be done this w/e & I'll post moar pics.

[justinsilvias13]

I saw your thread on hidplanet. I plan to do something very simular with my setup. I plan on getting some of these very soon and running 4 lines of led's horizontally in each section. Just one question tho, did you use 1 or 2 pwm's? one for each side?

[Dammitboy]

OK, believe it or not, I've finally finished the passenger side light. Here's a quick video of the results. I will post a few pics & info on what i did shortly.

justinsilvias13, I'd like to see the results with those lenses!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWPW9CDKCmI

[Xdisaster240sX]

link doesnt work

[Dammitboy]

Try agin'

[Xdisaster240sX]

awesome.

[Dammitboy]

OK, here's a write-up on how to do this thing, which I'll never do again. Honestly, this is an expensive, time consuming, frustrating mod, so do it at your own leisure, & your risk. I'm not responsible! First, get ahold of a SPARE SET of tails, remove the tabs with a Dremel tool. Don't have one? Get one!Bake lenses at 175 degrees for 1 hour.



Starting with the reverse lens, carefully put pressure through the bulb opening to remove lenses. Extreme care should be shown to the red lens!

At this point get your dremel...

And your Perf board...

Trace the perf board to the shape of the housing you want it to go in & cut it out with your Dremel.

Repeat these steps for the other sections.

At this point, you can arrange your LED's the way you want them, but I highly recommend you read up on LED arrays, & understand the concepts involved. http://www.hidplanet.com is a great place to start.



From the back, solder your joints accordingly to fit your array's needs.

All for now, will finish up later.

Here's a few still shots.



Modified by Dammitboy at 5:56 PM 1/2/2009

Modified by Dammitboy at 5:57 PM 1/2/2009
Modified by Dammitboy at 6:01 PM 1/2/2009

[Ghost_silvia]

Just wow!! I wish I payed attention in applied science in school. I don't believe I have the leisure time you speak of so if or when you decide to sell thes I'll be the first in line!

[Redevil]

Great job. I highly recommend not using those white leds for dome lights and things like that because I've had quite a few burn up on me. They're just more cheap crap from china. I think cree makes a better alternative for white superflux style led's.

[Dammitboy]

Good point. I initially had problems burning up those 5 chip white LED's when running them at 100 ma, which they are rated for. I run them at 80 ma now and have not had any problems yet.

[breadbox]

Sick mod. If I ever get so inclined to try this on my hatch I know I will be stressed by the end.