TheRadioFlyer

This idea came from a customer needing to get his car UK approved with Side "repeater" turn signals. Using high-density LED strips that are ultra low profile, the plan is to have these installed in the mirror housing behind seated behind the mirror so they illuminate in the gap between the mirror and mirror housing. (when not illuminated, they are nearly invisible unless you know where to look) The tightly packed LEDs (5mm on center) creates the illusion of a solid bar of light as little as 2 feet away.

Prototype photo so far:




The prototype will be install on my car for road testing this week. Production kits are planed to be in cased in silicone for weatherproofing and have an adhesive strip on the back side for easy mounting. Installation require removing the mirror housing to run wires as and MAY require removal of mirror from housing depending on the ability of the strip to be placed correctly with the mirror mounted.

jrp1588

Neat, I like it.

imgn tht

Seems excessively long to me. Cool idea, but does it need to follow along the top and bottom edges so far?

What I would really love someone to come up with is a motorized mirror that folds when the car is parked and unfolds upon start up.

kasper-pA-

Very

3boystoys

Too much, maybe only an inch or so on the outside edge. I've seen a few OEM designs with a single LED.

kgie1217

Vetteman Jack

Neat idea, but I would agree with others it does seem to be a bit too long.

TheRadioFlyer

The strip could be cut shorter, but I Personally prefer the longer appearance as it seems to "point" in the direction of movement if viewed from far enough away.

The folding mirror option is available on Mercedes and BMW among other high end luxury cars. On the C5, you can just manually fold them back.

beboggled

I agree. Looks cool! Would prefer they be in red instead of amber.

rdwiv

George - I'm in if the strip can be cut down to to an inch or so.

GREENKAR

That would be the Lexus LS460 that my wife drives. :cool woohoo:

Jeff T.

I thought in the US red is reserved for stop/braking, so I'm not sure if it could be used.

TheRadioFlyer

The prototype (and the production version when it is available) will be 30cm long and can be cut every 3cm to reach the customer's desired length.

TheRadioFlyer

In North America, you can have red turn signals, it's just a little confusing compared to amber. Red is used almost exclusively on Ford GM and Dodge vehicles with turn signals in the mirrors.

jrp1588

So what's the ballpark price on this little gem? Seems like it's basically just an off the shelf led rope light, can't imagine much r&d went into it.

Irony

Nice. I would consider a purchase

Jeff T.

Goes to show I don't have a newer DD! Thanks Flyer!

TheRadioFlyer

Not much "R" but a fair amount of "D" The existing LED strips that are side emitting aren't that bright and have LEDs spaced about 1" apart. The result is a fairly cheesy look.

The LED strips we're working with have brighter and much tighter-packed LEDs but have yet to be made waterproof or adhesive backed. I'm working on getting that done now.

I don't anticipate the price being too astronomical but when I know I will post.

chasboy

They look great George. I like the idea of the actual strip being recessed so the light emitted seems to 'come from nowhere'.
Anyone remove a mirror before?

mrlmd

That's not going to be too bright to temporarily blind the driver at night?