Cool mod 
door reflector leds
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,203
Likes: 21
From: centennial colorado
I finished wiring the reflectors today and found out that once the engine is running putting 14.2 volts to the system, I started loosing leds,burning out. I'm not sure why because at 2.3 v each x 6 equals 13.8. I ended up putting a 100ohm 1/8 watt resistor in the + feed and no more burnt leds.
I wired them into the footwell lights.Took the doorpanels off and fished the wires through the rubber door boot. Theres a square panel with awire harness coming through that you can just snap out by the kickpanel.They even left a little v at the top for the wires! Ran them most of the day and lost no more leds.
I wired them into the footwell lights.Took the doorpanels off and fished the wires through the rubber door boot. Theres a square panel with awire harness coming through that you can just snap out by the kickpanel.They even left a little v at the top for the wires! Ran them most of the day and lost no more leds.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,400
Likes: 3
From: Sarasota Florida
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 3,294
Likes: 482
From: Brea CA
Tom
I have been looking at the reflectors to do this mod. When you drilled the holes for the LED's did you find that they are hollow or solid? To me it looks hollow without cutting into it.
Gary
I have been looking at the reflectors to do this mod. When you drilled the holes for the LED's did you find that they are hollow or solid? To me it looks hollow without cutting into it.
Gary
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,203
Likes: 21
From: centennial colorado
Hi Gary;
THey are hollow as you suspect. The reflector has a slight dome to it and the back panel is flat. I learned to use a drill stop so you dont score the back of the reflector.I also discovered that they,or at least mine were easy to take apart. If you turn one on its side you can see a thin channel between the reflector and the backing it is glued to. I just carefully used a flat screwdriver and pried the reflector loose from its base.I had to replace a couple of leds that burnt out because of too high voltage.Then just superglued it back together.I took Sinisterc6 advice and increase the resistor size to a 560 ohm to protect the leds better. They worked fine is series untill I fired up the engine and got 14.2 volts then I started loosing leds. NO problems so far!!
THey are hollow as you suspect. The reflector has a slight dome to it and the back panel is flat. I learned to use a drill stop so you dont score the back of the reflector.I also discovered that they,or at least mine were easy to take apart. If you turn one on its side you can see a thin channel between the reflector and the backing it is glued to. I just carefully used a flat screwdriver and pried the reflector loose from its base.I had to replace a couple of leds that burnt out because of too high voltage.Then just superglued it back together.I took Sinisterc6 advice and increase the resistor size to a 560 ohm to protect the leds better. They worked fine is series untill I fired up the engine and got 14.2 volts then I started loosing leds. NO problems so far!!
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 3,294
Likes: 482
From: Brea CA
Hi Gary;
THey are hollow as you suspect. The reflector has a slight dome to it and the back panel is flat. I learned to use a drill stop so you dont score the back of the reflector.I also discovered that they,or at least mine were easy to take apart. If you turn one on its side you can see a thin channel between the reflector and the backing it is glued to. I just carefully used a flat screwdriver and pried the reflector loose from its base.I had to replace a couple of leds that burnt out because of too high voltage.Then just superglued it back together.I took Sinisterc6 advice and increase the resistor size to a 560 ohm to protect the leds better. They worked fine is series untill I fired up the engine and got 14.2 volts then I started loosing leds. NO problems so far!!
THey are hollow as you suspect. The reflector has a slight dome to it and the back panel is flat. I learned to use a drill stop so you dont score the back of the reflector.I also discovered that they,or at least mine were easy to take apart. If you turn one on its side you can see a thin channel between the reflector and the backing it is glued to. I just carefully used a flat screwdriver and pried the reflector loose from its base.I had to replace a couple of leds that burnt out because of too high voltage.Then just superglued it back together.I took Sinisterc6 advice and increase the resistor size to a 560 ohm to protect the leds better. They worked fine is series untill I fired up the engine and got 14.2 volts then I started loosing leds. NO problems so far!!
Thanks for the info. I have some ideas for how to do this, just need to find the right LED's.
Gary
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Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,203
Likes: 21
From: centennial colorado
After loosing a couple of leds the other day I decided to take some advice and re-wire these reflectors in parallel with resistors on each led.The brightness seems more uniform and brighter. Much better look. With the varying voltage seen in the car the resistors will protect the leds fine.Used 560 ohm resistors.
Night Owl for life
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 24,722
Likes: 4,561
From: Bugs Bunny should'a made a left turn here
is there a way to do it so the light is more diffused, & not such a solid pin point?
a different style of LED maybe?
i dunno, it just seems that they draw attention to themselves instead of being a "glow" of light.
maybe if there was some way to black out the underside of the lense, so the light could only shine out of the reflector from the top/bottom/sides or something.
i haven't looked at the reflector too much, does it have a clear lense and it's red behind it or is it red right at the surface?
a different style of LED maybe?
i dunno, it just seems that they draw attention to themselves instead of being a "glow" of light.
maybe if there was some way to black out the underside of the lense, so the light could only shine out of the reflector from the top/bottom/sides or something.
i haven't looked at the reflector too much, does it have a clear lense and it's red behind it or is it red right at the surface?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,891
Likes: 4
From: North Port Fl
I think I saw on a post somewhere where they cut the tip off the LED (flattened it out) and the light was more diffused. I think your problem wasn't that the voltage was to high, I think it was that the current was to high.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,203
Likes: 21
From: centennial colorado
YOu could shave off the tip of the leds,I may try that with the next set. I'm going to try the blackout treatment on these also. Now that they light up, they dont need to be red. That will cut down on the brightness if that bothers you. You right it does draw immediate attention to the car! I just thought of something. I could mount a thin led strip inside one of these to see how that looks too!
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 7,788
Likes: 6
From: Winchester TN
Cruise-In III Veteran
Cruise-In IV Veteran
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St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'05-'06-'07-'11
Hi nascar57 -
I would love to try something like this on my wifes 99 coupe.
Can you please tell me where to buy the led's?
What wire did you tap into for power, and how did you tap into it?
I also need some advice on soldering - maybe my old soldering iron is just crapping out, but I have a rough time getting nice clean solder connections.
I use a wand-type 30w iron, do I just need a larger iron?
Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
best regards -
mqqn
I would love to try something like this on my wifes 99 coupe.
Can you please tell me where to buy the led's?
What wire did you tap into for power, and how did you tap into it?
I also need some advice on soldering - maybe my old soldering iron is just crapping out, but I have a rough time getting nice clean solder connections.
I use a wand-type 30w iron, do I just need a larger iron?
Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
best regards -
mqqn
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 7,788
Likes: 6
From: Winchester TN
Cruise-In III Veteran
Cruise-In IV Veteran
Cruise-In V Veteran
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'05-'06-'07-'11
is there a way to do it so the light is more diffused, & not such a solid pin point?
a different style of LED maybe?
i dunno, it just seems that they draw attention to themselves instead of being a "glow" of light.
maybe if there was some way to black out the underside of the lense, so the light could only shine out of the reflector from the top/bottom/sides or something.
i haven't looked at the reflector too much, does it have a clear lense and it's red behind it or is it red right at the surface?
a different style of LED maybe?
i dunno, it just seems that they draw attention to themselves instead of being a "glow" of light.
maybe if there was some way to black out the underside of the lense, so the light could only shine out of the reflector from the top/bottom/sides or something.
i haven't looked at the reflector too much, does it have a clear lense and it's red behind it or is it red right at the surface?
Just remember that with a camera, it needs to stay open longer in those dark shots, so the pinpoint of light, while it looks very much like small spots, in real life it is probably much closer to a uniform glow - at least in my experience taking pictures at night....
best regards -
mqqn
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,203
Likes: 21
From: centennial colorado
is there a way to do it so the light is more diffused, & not such a solid pin point?
a different style of LED maybe?
i dunno, it just seems that they draw attention to themselves instead of being a "glow" of light.
maybe if there was some way to black out the underside of the lense, so the light could only shine out of the reflector from the top/bottom/sides or something.
i haven't looked at the reflector too much, does it have a clear lense and it's red behind it or is it red right at the surface?
a different style of LED maybe?
i dunno, it just seems that they draw attention to themselves instead of being a "glow" of light.
maybe if there was some way to black out the underside of the lense, so the light could only shine out of the reflector from the top/bottom/sides or something.
i haven't looked at the reflector too much, does it have a clear lense and it's red behind it or is it red right at the surface?
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,203
Likes: 21
From: centennial colorado
Hey Andy,thanks for the interest.I buy almost all my leds from here
http://www.oznium.com/led.
If your going to do the bare leds dont forget to buy the appropriate resistors. I route them along the doorpanel wiring,through the doorjamb boot and wire them into the footwell lighting under the dash.
The setup I use you can buy at radio shack.The dual temp iron 15/30 watt works best for me.I only use the 30 watt setting for larger wires.
I keep a tin of tip cleaner/tinner on the base as you can see.Also the sponge when wet cleans the tip also. There are EE techs on the forum who have tons more experience than me so maybe they can chip in also.I'll post some pics next.
http://www.oznium.com/led.
If your going to do the bare leds dont forget to buy the appropriate resistors. I route them along the doorpanel wiring,through the doorjamb boot and wire them into the footwell lighting under the dash.
The setup I use you can buy at radio shack.The dual temp iron 15/30 watt works best for me.I only use the 30 watt setting for larger wires.
I keep a tin of tip cleaner/tinner on the base as you can see.Also the sponge when wet cleans the tip also. There are EE techs on the forum who have tons more experience than me so maybe they can chip in also.I'll post some pics next.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,203
Likes: 21
From: centennial colorado
O.K. here is a little more detail on how I did mine.This the present configuration I solder up.
Pull the doorpanel.Here is how I routed my wiring
look for this panel above the kickpanel and just snap it out.
This is where you tap into the footwell lights. If you have the access panel out to fish the wires through you cant miss it. I dont use my footwell lights because I have led floodlights to do the job.Jus tap the red wire into the orange and black to black. JOb finished!! HOpe this helps! Tom.
Pull the doorpanel.Here is how I routed my wiring
look for this panel above the kickpanel and just snap it out.
This is where you tap into the footwell lights. If you have the access panel out to fish the wires through you cant miss it. I dont use my footwell lights because I have led floodlights to do the job.Jus tap the red wire into the orange and black to black. JOb finished!! HOpe this helps! Tom.
Last edited by nascar57; Jul 25, 2008 at 04:59 PM. Reason: missing photo