My only argument against Cathodes/neons is that they're always a light version of the color. This makes red kinda pinkish. The waterproof LED strips are certainly a good alternative.

 

I love LEDs as many of you know...HOWEVER...for the side vents I'd say go neon.

Cathodes are VERY washed out color wise in comparison to neons. I use to be into lights a bit "too much" a few years ago and did all sorts of product tests and what not. One stands out for me which was a green neon vs. a green cathode. The cathode was indeed brighter, but the light it emitted was much more white than a neon.

In contrast, LEDs give out a very deep light/color normally very close to what it advertises (as does most neon I have come across - I only use top of the line Street Glow (not that optx stuff) and it always was great) however it does not really produce a "glow" that a neon does.

I will try to explain what I mean...if you put a cathode in you would have a pretty bright light being emitted but the color would be washed out and not be optimal for the effect.

If you put LEDs in that are not shaved at the top (in order to stop directionality of them and reduce the angle of light emitted) you get streaks of light coming from the side vents (as is the case with my friends 02 black Z06 with red leds there).

With neon's, you get a decently bright GLOW with a pretty deep color. That is why I chose neons for my side vents, even if they ARE white.

I recommend the 9" Street Glow mini neons...very bright, decently relatively cheap, and the best looking IMO.

This is just my 2 cents

 

Just put the screens on yesterday! Lites? Not just yet!

 

SilverBullet00 - Nice What color are you going to use? Your silver will do a good job of reflecting light so you'll get that "fade glow" down the side of your car.

 

I angled the LEDs on mine so they point towards the front of the car. I installed them along the leading edge on the back side, so they are slightly recessed....only the reflection from the vent provides light (I did paint mine silver as well, though now I'm thinking I might have used the chrome paint instead for more reflectivity). It is almost impossible to see the LEDs, but the glow is reduced since it is all reflection. But for me, it ended up being fine....not too much, yet at night easily seen. I would tend to agree that there are brighter lights, though I could also have used two LED stringers instead of one. Actually, that's an idea, hehe!!

 

Has anyone messed with that flexable EL wire??? I wonder if it would work in this application...

I've been thinking about getting some and playing with it in my interior like around the inside of the speaker grills or something.

 

Brightness wise it is not that bright at all. I used this in my old explorer that was literally a disco (I'm afraid to post pictures of it here, heh) and it def. adds to the interior, though I do not think I would personally put it on the Z06. I can post up some pictures if you want to show you how I used it before...

- Carleton

 

You MUST post pics!!

 

How hard would it be to tie in some LED's to the turn signals?

 

That depends. The corvette has a unique turn signal setup.
- If you wire to your taillights, you'll get them with the brake light too
- If you wire them to your front turn signals, they'll light up with the DRLs
- If you want signaling ONLY you have to dive under the dash and find these two wires: (marked with an electrical tape "flag")

 

So, if I want the "tailight" senario, just "tap" into the wires entering the tail light sockets?
Would this affect standard operation, dont need extra fuses or relays of any kind?

 

Tap into the yellow and green wires (different for each side) LED use up so little amperage that it wont' affect the normal operation of the tails. I'd suggest using 22 gauge speaker wire and tapping into the tail light grounds too to make wiring easy.

If you're going to do this, the vent LEDs need to be red to stay legal.

 

Great info...thanks.

 

That and I want to see how good you are at taking shots of the interior lighting!!!!!!!! I know it gave me grief with my old digital camera!

It's always good to look at other's set-ups for inspiration if nothing else, typically my experiments end with a what NOT to do"! "

Tim

 

This is something that I may also try to do after I swap out my headlights to the black hids that are being delivered today. It might be a bit easier for me since I have Richard's blinker harness mod in my car to stop hyperflash. Any idea what wires to tap into on that setup?

 

does anyone have pictures of how the LEDs are mounted in the vents and where you ran your wires etc? I have been thinking about this for a while, I love the look and really want to put some of these on my C5. undecided on Neon vs. LED though...

 

SpdKilz website:

http://www.spdkilz.com/techtipneon.html

 

Very Cool

 

Now...before I post these just let me tell you.

I WAS YOUNG AND IRRATIONAL AND THIS WAS SEVEN YEARS AGO NOW!!

Also, to be fair, I was WAY ahead of the curve for neons, strobes, and LEDs. My car was sponsored so I got this stuff for VERY cheap and the car was actually more well known than my current SpdKilz Z06 (hopefully that will change now that I put on the twin turbos).

Thus, without further adieu....THE EXPLORER CMEGLOW


VIDEO - http://spdkilz.com/video-audio/Video...ide%20DivX.mpg Right Click and Save As or it will cut the video short for some reason.












Flame suit on!!!!! OH, BTW, I had 120+ neons/strobes/LEDs.

Had Neons/strobes in all six vents, neons under the seats, TWO underbody kits, 8 undercar strobes, 4 underhood neons with 4 strobes underhood, a laser pointer inthe back, a 2500 watt RMS system with 2 10" JL Audio W7's (hit 154spl), etc. Too much to name!

 

i think i saw that on the oznium.com forums.