oregondime Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 alright so i had been throwing this idea around for a while, and i finally had an open weekend to rip my hair out playing with resistors and solder.. god i hate resistors.. but anyway i figured someone else might like to do this too. its a chrome vent butchered to make a sweet concealed turn signal, great for those dimes with no side lights.. supplies -resistors -leds -solder and gun -black rtv -pc board -patience and the other parts are obvious go here for an led array wizard http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz my rustic soldering skills the lights actually working! (i wired em in parallel, got mad at series setup) the *gasp* cut up chrome vent yes i used that air cutoff wheel, overkill rocks! and the rtv is still drying so ill post pics of it inside the vent in a couple hours and in the car when i get it wired into the turn signal. Quote Link to comment
oregondime Posted March 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 heres one with the lights inside the vent Quote Link to comment
oregondime Posted March 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 pic of the back and installed Quote Link to comment
71-521 Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 nice look... you did a good job. Quote Link to comment
oregondime Posted March 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 i tried my best :) now onto the other side.. Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 Nice...Way to use some overlooked space Quote Link to comment
71-521 Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 would be cool to have a moving Laser beam coming outta there... scanner type... Quote Link to comment
Icehouse Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 Cool dude, so does it turn on with the running lights or the dome light? Quote Link to comment
oregondime Posted March 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 a scanner style would be sweet. as of right now i just have em hooked up to the turn signals, but when i get some more time and the other side done, im gonna redo it so itll be on with the running lights and maybe a custom switch to light all my fun leds in the car.. then onto the front turn signals and the dome light, full redo of tail lights, and possibly some floorboard lighting. Quote Link to comment
71-521 Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 leds...oh the options! I have been working on the tail lights of my 521 for awhile now... threw out 3 attempts as they wouldn't work... can you draw up how you wired them? Quote Link to comment
oregondime Posted March 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 sure no problem i have a couple of close ups of the back of the board. also the diagram i made for myself, although im no good at series i found out. kept going dim so every 4 is powered by itself then all 4 sections are connected at the crimped end. heres my diagram (its a superflux so it has 2 more connections) and heres a good example of some led' taillights http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=21676 basically just resistor before positive, then neg to pos to neg to pos and the last neg to ground. Quote Link to comment
mklotz70 Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 Very nice.....love that stuff!! Quote Link to comment
Bleach Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 too cool. I know a guy who made a bunch of those and stuck them behind the stock 240Z tail light lenses. Quote Link to comment
hang_510 Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 ... although im no good at series i found out. ... neg to pos to neg to pos and the last neg to ground. that is a 'series' connection. parallel would be with all the pos together and all the neg together. looks good either way. Quote Link to comment
oregondime Posted March 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 too cool. I know a guy who made a bunch of those and stuck them behind the stock 240Z tail light lenses. that 240z's tails is my goal for mine, sooo sweet lookin. that is a 'series' connection. parallel would be with all the pos together and all the neg together. looks good either way. yea hang510, now that i look at what you quoted me, it was series :) but i guess what i was trying to say i couldnt piggy back one set of 4ea series plus resistor to then next 4ea series resistor. they were very dim, maybe to much resistance i dunno.. at least at works! (for now) Quote Link to comment
naz Posted March 27, 2007 Report Share Posted March 27, 2007 Kinda reminds me of POV stuff... http://www.ladyada.net/make/minipov2/ Quote Link to comment
oregondime Posted April 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 ive thought about making my brake lights say 510 in leds.. Quote Link to comment
irsa76 Posted October 23, 2007 Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 Looks cool. I'm thinking about doing my front marker lights. I'm going to cheat with the tails though, off the shelf LED lights. Gotta love a flat bed. Quote Link to comment
pope_face Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Nice, I like the lights... And yeah, I'm considering doing a similar thing with my truck... I want to hide the front marker lights/turn signals behind the grille, or maybe just have them flush mounted in the existing position... nice little write-up though. Do you happen to know if the lamp (or assembly) resistance affects the turn indicator speed on Datsuns, or does it not make a difference? On my Ford I've gotta watch the resistances, else my turn signals/brake lights won't work... Quote Link to comment
irsa76 Posted November 3, 2007 Report Share Posted November 3, 2007 From what I've seen, since this mod was for additional side repeaters they won't effect the flash rate. However, where you are replacing the standard lights with LED then you do need to watch the resestance. I've heard you can get new flasher units that aren't effected by LED, haven't seen them myself yet though. Quote Link to comment
pope_face Posted November 3, 2007 Report Share Posted November 3, 2007 From what I've seen, since this mod was for additional side repeaters they won't effect the flash rate. However, where you are replacing the standard lights with LED then you do need to watch the resestance. I've heard you can get new flasher units that aren't effected by LED, haven't seen them myself yet though. Interesting, I haven't heard of those... Then again, I do kinda like the idea of being able to control how fast the indicators... indicate... by changing the resistance. I've got xenon tail lamps on my DD, which seem to have a higher resistance than the stock 3050's, and the indicators now do a nice, lazy flash... I've always preferred the slow flash to the neurotic one... I heard about a guy that actually ran his flasher control through a potentiometer so that he could change the speed from inside the car... But, like I said, I'm a fan of the slow flashers, so I'll probably just play with the resistors until I get the speed I like... Does anyone know the resistance of the stock turn signal lamps, both front and rear? I don't think there'd be much of a difference between different Datsun models... Also, n00b question, but the total LED wattage in an assembly (as in, a single filament in a normal bulb) can exceed the wattage of bulb it's replacing without any ill effects, providing the wiring harness and alternator can support it, correct? Would a lower wattage have any adverse effects? Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted November 3, 2007 Report Share Posted November 3, 2007 the total LED wattage in an assembly (as in, a single filament in a normal bulb) can exceed the wattage of bulb it's replacing without any ill effects, providing the wiring harness and alternator can support it, correct? And provided it doesn't produce a lot more heat. More watts usually mean more heat (bad for plastic lenses and backs). Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted November 3, 2007 Report Share Posted November 3, 2007 Oh, and I'd really like to see a daytime pic of how it looks when it's turned off. :D Curious to see how "invisible" it is... Quote Link to comment
five10man Posted November 3, 2007 Report Share Posted November 3, 2007 Regarding flasher units that are immune to changes in lamp load, an industry number EL-12 (Stant, the radiator cap guys) or EF-32 (CEC, the cheap light bulb guys) will fit in the stock flasher connector, be the same size as a 552 flasher, and keep a steady flash rate no matter the number of lamps (LED or incandescent) attached to it. You can install LEDs all the way around, with no heat-generating load resistors, and it will operate correctly on just that small current. Another bonus is that your signals will start blinking right away, instead of the "signal...wait...buzz...click-click-click" business that has plagued some of us in the past. Expect to pay $6-12 US for one of these units. Quote Link to comment
datsunfreak Posted November 3, 2007 Report Share Posted November 3, 2007 Thanks for the info, that is VERY helpful. :D Quote Link to comment
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