When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
The design is fairly basic if you just follow the traces. You can think of the lighter green areas as one big wire connecting everything in that area. By realizing that, I figured out that the area that I highlighted was the only area that connected the parking lamp circuit to the inner LEDs, so disrupting any part of that would disconnect the inner LEDs from the halos while leaving the halos intact.
At the area where the wires come in from the plug, a set of two diodes per wire allow you to reverse the polarity while still allowing it to work, since LEDs can only conduct in one direction. There is no need to touch or modify this area.
Back when I modded mine I didn't make a drawing of the circuit and then I resealed and installed them. That's why I was asking you if by any chance you took the time to make a diagram of the original circuit with component values, etc.
I know that in its more basic way it has to be something like this, including a rectifying bridge to allow the LEDs to work no matter the polarity of the plug:
I see. Well, in the case of the parking light circuit, it goes through a diode and a resistor after the rectifier before going to the rest of the inner LED circuit. That resistor is 150 ohms. The inner LEDs circuit goes in groups of 4, so 4 LEDs per resistor. Those I believe use 27 ohm resistors, hence the 150 mA current. Which I also think is way too high as far as longevity is concerned, but I don't see too many complaints about burnt out taillights so who knows.
OP didn't ask for opinions, but anytime someone post a mod, they usually want opinions, and hope all are favorable.
Most , if not all are favorable, except the one in this post.
To be honest, they look like ****.
They do absolutely nothing for the Vette.
Vette's were not designed for sequential lights.
The only cars that look decent with them are the older models with full tail lights like the 66 Tbird
Matter of fact, it seems like you went to a whole lot of trouble, and didn't do enough research before tackling this project.
Had you gone online and searched for sequential setups, "cougars unlimited" has a setup that takes the place of all relays, and has a plug and play unit that you plug your existing wires into.
True, it's a ford product, but 12 volts is 12 volts, regardless of what vehicle it is.
If necessary you could splice your wires into the unit and be done with it.
Again, what you did, obviously took some thought, and time, but in my opinion it was a waste of both.
Now, if you had six tail lights close together, and the main part of the lights were sequential, then you would have something, but the tiny little sequentials you have don't make it worthy of all the effort.
That is just my opinion
Yeah, everyone has opinions, and some are not appreciated like the last one.
Perhaps you can show us in the Corvette Bible, the rule that states sequential tail lights are not to be found on Vettes, or maybe the other one that says “thou shalt not mod without approval from other vette owners with no imagination”. There’s more to this mod than how it looks to one person. Have a little respect at least for his craftsmanship, since you obviously have no imagination.
Yeah, everyone has opinions, and some are not appreciated like the last one.
Perhaps you can show us in the Corvette Bible, the rule that states sequential tail lights are not to be found on Vettes, or maybe the other one that says “thou shalt not mod without approval from other vette owners with no imagination”. There’s more to this mod than how it looks to one person. Have a little respect at least for his craftsmanship, since you obviously have no imagination.
You would have to know me to understand I call them as I see them.
Tough nookie if you, or anyone else doesn't agree with my opinion.
True, the dude went to a lot to create the lights, and I stated that in my post above, but that doesn't take away from the fact they look shitty in my opinion.
If someone created a mod that looks good, and extremely functional, I would certainly let that person know, just as I would tell someone else their mod is crappy if indeed it is.
Yeah, everyone has opinions, and some are not appreciated like the last one.
Perhaps you can show us in the Corvette Bible, the rule that states sequential tail lights are not to be found on Vettes, or maybe the other one that says “thou shalt not mod without approval from other vette owners with no imagination”. There’s more to this mod than how it looks to one person. Have a little respect at least for his craftsmanship, since you obviously have no imagination.
Originally Posted by Tsumi
There is a reason he is on my ignore list... lol.
OH, I'm shaking in my boots.
I am on someone's ignore list.
Bob.
You would have to know me to understand I call them as I see them.
Tough nookie if you, or anyone else doesn't agree with my opinion.
Always amazed how some people like to excuse boorish disrespectful behavior by hiding behind “I call them like I see them”. I hope you remember that the next time someone uses the same terms with something you spent many hours trying to perfect.
I like the idea, but the amber function is just too dim (especially with the brake lights) to be easily seen. Amber turn signal/hazard lights are supposed to be at least equally as bright as the brake lights.
that being said, it might be an interesting project to try this with red LEDs.
I like the idea, but the amber function is just too dim (especially with the brake lights) to be easily seen. Amber turn signal/hazard lights are supposed to be at least equally as bright as the brake lights.
that being said, it might be an interesting project to try this with red LEDs.
Yeah, the red lens filters out a lot of the brightness unfortunately. The red LEDs are also almost obscenely bright to begin with.
I will probably try again at some point in the future with one of those aliexpress chips. One of them claims a working current of 50-120 mA, though the 3500-5500 mcd rating isn't any better than the chips I'm currently using. The chips I'm using have the same light output rating for both red and yellow, so the yellow would need to be much higher output to match the red brightness.
I might try driving the yellow portion at 150 mA and see what happens. So far I have only attempted 40 and 80. Might also throw the green part into the mix.
I see. Well, in the case of the parking light circuit, it goes through a diode and a resistor after the rectifier before going to the rest of the inner LED circuit. That resistor is 150 ohms. The inner LEDs circuit goes in groups of 4, so 4 LEDs per resistor. Those I believe use 27 ohm resistors, hence the 150 mA current. Which I also think is way too high as far as longevity is concerned, but I don't see too many complaints about burnt out taillights so who knows.
That's valuable info. Thank you !
Just a couple of questions, though, how do they handle the central area to responde to both "parking" and "braking/turn/hazard" simulating the OEM dual filament bulb? Do they use dual-LED units with each half separately driven (one more aggressively than the other, to make the "braking/turn/hazard" brighter than the "parking")?
On the other hand, as you mentioned, 150mA seems extremely high!
Just a couple of questions, though, how do they handle the central area to responde to both "parking" and "braking/turn/hazard" simulating the OEM dual filament bulb? Do the use dual-LED units with each half separately driven (one more aggressively than the other, to make the "braking/turn/hazard" brighter than the "parking")?
On the other hand, as you mentioned, 150mA seems extremely high!
Thanks again for your help
Made a schematic. The single 150 ohm resistor supplies power for all of the LED circuits, so it's not a 150 ohm resistor per set of 4 LEDs. That's why removing that single 150 ohm resistor breaks the parking lamp circuit for the inner LEDs.
Edit:
Just did some calculations, and not sure if they were done correctly, but when the parking lamp is on, the center LEDs are driven at a whopping 3.7 mA.
I like the idea, but the amber function is just too dim (especially with the brake lights) to be easily seen. Amber turn signal/hazard lights are supposed to be at least equally as bright as the brake lights.
that being said, it might be an interesting project to try this with red LEDs.
As I’m sure you have found, George, these things are a work in progress for quite awhile. I’m an avid tinkerer, and love to figure these things out, but I don’t have the electrical background to get into the mv and m/a discussion!
Made a schematic. The single 150 ohm resistor supplies power for all of the LED circuits, so it's not a 150 ohm resistor per set of 4 LEDs. That's why removing that single 150 ohm resistor breaks the parking lamp circuit for the inner LEDs.
Edit:
Just did some calculations, and not sure if they were done correctly, but when the parking lamp is on, the center LEDs are driven at a whopping 3.7 mA.
Thanks for the schematic. It certainly answers my previous questions
Then the 4 LEDs that light the halo are probably in series and with a single independent driving resistor that feeds from the parking light rectifying bridge, right?
As I’m sure you have found, George, these things are a work in progress for quite awhile. I’m an avid tinkerer, and love to figure these things out, but I don’t have the electrical background to get into the mv and m/a discussion!
It really is more of a parts availability type thing and physics limitation. Putting an amber LED behind a red lens is going to reduce its output, and there aren't really any high output red/yellow superflux LEDs available. High output single color, yes, but the idea of a blank bottom row while just braking doesn't sit well with me, lol.
I'll try to get some videos at a distance at proper height to get a better view of how they look.
Originally Posted by GCG
Thanks for the schematic. It certainly answers my previous questions
Then the 4 LEDs that light the halo are probably in series and with a single independent driving resistor that feeds from the parking light rectifying bridge, right?
That would be correct. Unfortunately I did not measure the resistor value for the halo portion, but I would suspect that it is being overdriven just like the other LEDs.
...The inner LEDs circuit goes in groups of 4, so 4 LEDs per resistor. Those I believe use 27 ohm resistors, hence the 150 mA current. Which I also think is way too high as far as longevity is concerned, but I don't see too many complaints about burnt out taillights so who knows.
Originally Posted by Tsumi
...Just did some calculations, and not sure if they were done correctly, but when the parking lamp is on, the center LEDs are driven at a whopping 3.7 mA.
I put together a schematic, as per the details you provided me, showing all components except the shunt resistor mounted in the back of the housings.
Besides the 2 resistor values you gave me, the only other component I'm sure is used is the diode for the rectifying bridges and the one used to avoid back feeding the halo when "braking/turn/hazard" is ON. It is a Schottky 1N5819.
I calculated the driving currents for both, "parking" and "braking/turn/hazard" as you did, and although I ended up with a just a few mA of difference, the values I got are definitely in the same ballpark as yours.
It surprised me as well to get just a few mA for one scenario and over a hundred for the other It would be interesting to find out which Super Flux units they're using, so we could check their specs
Yeah, my calculations were very quick and dirty calculations. I was disregarding the diodes and just using 2 volts for the LEDs, when the actual voltage drop is about 2.2-2.4 volts as tested by my multimeter.
I'm about 99% sure that these are just your standard Superflux LEDs, which means they are designed to be driven at 20 mA. The fact that the LEDs I got put out the same brightness means their designs are similar, if not the same. I'm about 90% sure that dropping the current on these down to 25-30 mA would result in approximately the same brightness, as LEDs plateau and can actually dim at high currents. There's also the fact that LED brightness is not a linear relationship with current. Just don't want to go through the trouble of replacing all of those resistors.
I bought LED taillights for a different car that used superflux LEDs, and they were being overdriven at approximately 70 mA, with the parking circuit driving them in the few mA range. It seems to be a common theme to overdrive these superflux LEDs.
On a different note, I have gotten in contact with Oznium, and they have told me they can build custom superflux LEDs for me. I have requested a 4-chip superflux LED, with 3 yellow chips and 1 red. Theoretically that would triple the yellow output. The main issue would be the price. Oznium sells 4-chip superflux LEDs for $2 each ($1.80 with a quantity discount), and I would have to buy 100 minimum. That would likely set me back $300 or more, not sure if I want to spend that much. My current LEDs cost me only $10 for 25. Also trying to get in contact with some chinese suppliers on DHGate and Aliexpress to see if they do custom orders.
...I'm about 99% sure that these are just your standard Superflux LEDs, which means they are designed to be driven at 20 mA...
...I bought LED taillights for a different car that used superflux LEDs, and they were being overdriven at approximately 70 mA, with the parking circuit driving them in the few mA range. It seems to be a common theme to overdrive these superflux LEDs...
I agree with you and it seems, indeed, that it is a common practice to overdrive them, but take a look at these specs from a regular red Super Flux LED.
They provide Electro-Optical characteristics for 20mA and 70mA, but at the same time they say the Absolute Maximum Rating for its DC Forward Current is 70mA while the Pulse Forward Current is 120mA, but with a pulse width maximum of just 10ms and a maximum duty ratio of 1/10 !!!
It seems that driving these LEDs at a sustained current of 130mA would be disastrous!
I attached a revised version of my calculations, considering that the V(F) is slightly smaller when driven with small currents, but this is just academic. The driving current just changed from my previous 2.8mA to 3.9mA
Tsumi, I’m being incredibly lazy, but which wire on the tail lights is the turn signal wire? I have a basic sequential kit and I get confused by the diagrams.
01-01-2018, 03:32 PM
It would be interesting to find out which Super Flux units they're using, so we could check their specs 
