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Not quite sure how/why I started looking into this the other day, but I REALLY like the concept of Infinity Mirror Taillights.
There have been some neat variants for the C6 produced in the last few years, and I'm jealous! There haven't been any mass-produced options for the C5 that I've found.
That said, these are the C5 Infinity Mirror Taillight examples I've come across:
Apparently you can actually buy this one! I was quoted $1800 which is way too much for me. Unsure of the lead time.
They said the animation is totally customizable via an app which is pretty neat.
I'm not a big fan of the squared sides but that's just personal preference.
Am I missing any other C5 Infinity Mirror Taillight examples?
Delving further down the rabbit hole I learned how simple the Infinity Mirror effect is. Just 2 two-way mirrors with a light source between them.
Got me thinking... I have a spare halo (non-laser) taillight with damaged lens and I wonder if it could be retrofitted to have an infinity mirror effect...
Last edited by MetalMan2; Aug 28, 2023 at 11:55 PM.
3 month bump... I am back here resuming this project thanks in part to the kind words in a private message sent by user @Slo.c5 .
Had to prioritize other things since my last post, but also was getting discouraged by the extreme amount of soldering time required for the halo LEDs. It looks like I never photographed those halo LED strips previously (while unlit), so here they are:
I picked back up this project the other day and decided to start taking a different approach... I've dabbled in PCB design via EasyEDA.com a bit on 2 other projects I've posted here.
However, several months ago I didn't immediately notice a way to get the elliptical PCB shape I would need for these halo LEDs (on EasyEDA software).
BUT THEN TODAY!!! I learned EasyEDA can import a DXF for the PCB's outline, which is a 2D CAD design file format.
So from my Solidworks (3D) CAD model I exported a DXF of what I'd want the halo PCB shape to be, then imported that into EasyEDA.
Long story short, I designed a halo LED PCB. Even managed to squeeze 37 LEDs onto it vs the 32 from my hand-soldered version.
And I ordered 25 boards, enough for 3 cars worth of taillights (2 per taillight). Also these boards will have the LEDs and capacitors already soldered on! This is WAAAYYYY easier than my previous approach, and probably a comparable (or even cheaper) cost. It also could mean other people getting their hands on these taillights much more readily... $124 total for all of them means $41/car cost on the halo LEDs.
Anyways, this is a rendering of the PCB with LEDS/capacitors and the bottom side:
I'm really interested in this as well. Went down a rabbit hole looking into it. Would love to be able to make my own. It doesn't look too hard but I've seen some that had an issue with brightness. Maybe you could use a halo led for the actual brake light? but all the premade ones you can buy are all too round for our bumpers. IDK. But I do know, I don't like the look of all the aftermarket lights that are available for these cars.
I'd love a set, but nobody actually produces them yet that I know of. I don't think the $1,800 units are actually being produced yet either, but I could be wrong. Like you, and me, most people hit a wall at the price tag haha. He is working on several other parts though (wide body kit with front bumper almost read for production, roof lip for FRCs should be 98% ready to go, etc).
The main obstacle I've seen people talk about on the lights is adequate brightness during the daytime. Considering there are already sets in production for other cars, there HAS to be a solution for that. I'm super interested and hope someone can get it done with a reasonable price tag. Just plain old red is all I want, I don't need a rainbow show or anything.
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Definitely different, but too gimmicky for me. Besides, unless you always run the lights on red out on the street, I could see problems with the local LEOs.
They look like they reflect very badly and don't produce enough light. The price tag is also way too much for what they are. Also, I think they would end up looking tacky as hell once you actually install them in a car.
Appreciate the effort, but a little too much for my taste. For me the best aftermarket mod is the one that doesn't scream aftermarket, but rather improves on the OEM design and performance.
I'm really interested in this as well. Went down a rabbit hole looking into it. Would love to be able to make my own. It doesn't look too hard but I've seen some that had an issue with brightness. Maybe you could use a halo led for the actual brake light? but all the premade ones you can buy are all too round for our bumpers. IDK. But I do know, I don't like the look of all the aftermarket lights that are available for these cars.
My initial approach is to see if I could simply modify my spare halo taillight - this of course already has the LED halo feature. Another option with this taillight would be to add LEDs behind the middle reflector to use as a brake light. Primarily I'd just like to produce the infinity mirror effect first
Originally Posted by heggsc5
I'd love a set, but nobody actually produces them yet that I know of. I don't think the $1,800 units are actually being produced yet either, but I could be wrong. Like you, and me, most people hit a wall at the price tag haha. He is working on several other parts though (wide body kit with front bumper almost read for production, roof lip for FRCs should be 98% ready to go, etc).
I assumed since they quoted $1,800 they'd be willing to take my money - and produce a set. Would be silly otherwise!
Originally Posted by heggsc5
The main obstacle I've seen people talk about on the lights is adequate brightness during the daytime. Considering there are already sets in production for other cars, there HAS to be a solution for that. I'm super interested and hope someone can get it done with a reasonable price tag. Just plain old red is all I want, I don't need a rainbow show or anything.
Totally agree. Probably a lot of what this comes down to is choosing and/or making a set of LEDs that have appropriate brightness and orientation.
Originally Posted by MSG C5
Appreciate the effort, but a little too much for my taste. For me the best aftermarket mod is the one that doesn't scream aftermarket, but rather improves on the OEM design and performance.
Improving on the OEM design/performance of taillights doesn't really make much sense - just add brighter bulbs? I've had modded halo LED taillights for several years on my C5 and have been happy enough with them. The newer laser option is pretty neat as well but I'm not keen to drop another $300+ on taillights (short of making my own custom set).
I assumed since they quoted $1,800 they'd be willing to take my money - and produce a set. Would be silly otherwise!
Totally agree. Probably a lot of what this comes down to is choosing and/or making a set of LEDs that have appropriate brightness and orientation.
I'd like to think so too lol. I've talked to the guy a lot about other things and the FB group buyout drama a few weeks ago, I would trust him enough to make an order if the design was a little different and price tag was a lot less.
I want to say the major issue is the use of mirrors in the tail light. I could be wrong, but I think because they generally have a mirrored appearance during the day, they basically reflect ambient light which is brighter than the LEDs inside. Or at least bright enough to make them hard to see. Maybe something like a "black chrome" type of mirror would help. This is definitely outside of my scope of expertise lol, so consider that just blindly spit balling.
For the record, I don't really like the 2 actually-produced prototype C5 infinity mirror taillights listed in my first post. Frankly on a C5 I'm not quite sure what I would like but those aren't it. There are lots of examples from other cars out there which are much more attractive.
Started delving into LED options for the infinity mirror. So far have these in-hand to experiment with:
to verify their functionality and get inspiration for the visual effects that can be achieved.
Those LEDs are full RGB meaning any color can be outputted, and you can control each LED (or group of LEDS) individually in terms of color and brightness. This would be useful to dial in the color based on the color of the taillight lens, and/or of course do multi-color effects with a clear lens.
Thinking it would be neat (and not too tacky) to make the infinity mirror effect sequential for turn signals. Should be easy enough to achieve with a little Arduino programming.
Was hoping to have a little more progress by now on modifying my spare halo taillight... it's not looking like it will be "easy" to modify but I'll keep pursuing that avenue since I already have it.
Also started looking into C5 clear taillight housing options. Now, I KNOW this headlight design is hideous but I'm looking at it from the cost and also how it appears to have a nice clear lens: https://www.ebay.com/itm/314489095401 The intent would be to pretty much just use the clear lenses and junk the rest.
I'm contemplating other options for the taillight housing. Wondering about starting with just lenses (maybe like the clear ones above) and making all new housings via 3D printing. Maybe even push the lens out more (similar to flush mounting taillights) to gain more depth behind the lens.
Another option could be a magnetic taillight "faceplate" where the main taillight housing is screwed into the bumper, and the faceplate / lens snaps into place with magnets. Doing this means the lens wouldn't have any screw holes since screw holes to disrupt the infinity mirror shape (ike the 2 other C5 examples). The big downside to this route is the need for a completely custom lens - I don't like the flat lens shown in the 2 C5 examples so I'd probably make a custom lens (have done DIY vacuum forming that could work for this) that has curvature built in like other taillight options.
I want to say the major issue is the use of mirrors in the tail light. I could be wrong, but I think because they generally have a mirrored appearance during the day, they basically reflect ambient light which is brighter than the LEDs inside. Or at least bright enough to make them hard to see. Maybe something like a "black chrome" type of mirror would help. This is definitely outside of my scope of expertise lol, so consider that just blindly spit balling.
Most examples of infinity mirror taillights I've seen use a 100% mirror at the rear position (to reflect LED light forward) and a 2-way mirror (partially reflective) at the front position. My guess is the 2-way mirror won't be very reflective from how we view it and ought to help to block out ambient light from reaching the rear position mirror. But I'm sure some ambient light would still make it through and reflect back...
The neat thing about the DIY aspect is the opportunity to explore different options. My current plan is 100% reflective rear mirror (likely mirrored acrylic), and the front clear acrylic will have a partially mirrored tint film applied. Have this 60% VLT (visible light transmission) film on-hand: https://www.decorativefilm.com/ultrablock-silver-6060
My initial approach is to see if I could simply modify my spare halo taillight - this of course already has the LED halo feature. Another option with this taillight would be to add LEDs behind the middle reflector to use as a brake light. Primarily I'd just like to produce the infinity mirror effect first
I assumed since they quoted $1,800 they'd be willing to take my money - and produce a set. Would be silly otherwise!
Totally agree. Probably a lot of what this comes down to is choosing and/or making a set of LEDs that have appropriate brightness and orientation.
Improving on the OEM design/performance of taillights doesn't really make much sense - just add brighter bulbs? I've had modded halo LED taillights for several years on my C5 and have been happy enough with them. The newer laser option is pretty neat as well but I'm not keen to drop another $300+ on taillights (short of making my own custom set).
It makes sense to me as the OEM lenses are pretty dated and like the other OEM halogen exterior bulbs, can definitely be improved for better visibility and functionality. As the original owner of my 2004 convertible, I first opted for the Euro Lenses, then went to the LED halos, and now I'm running the VetteLights smoked LEDs with the laser option. I don't think the proposed Infiniti-like tail lights really move ahead of the current options. At least not for $1800.
It makes sense to me as the OEM lenses are pretty dated and like the other OEM halogen exterior bulbs, can definitely be improved for better visibility and functionality. As the original owner of my 2004 convertible, I first opted for the Euro Lenses, then went to the LED halos, and now I'm running the VetteLights smoked LEDs with the laser option. I don't think the proposed Infiniti-like tail lights really move ahead of the current options. At least not for $1800.
We are absolutely in agreement that the 2 existing infinity taillights options aren't good especially considering the price tag. My hope is to come up with something [subjectively] better than those for my car that others can DIY as well.
Been gradually making progress toward a prototype infinity taillight. Haven't taken pictures of anything yet...
For starters, I'm continually researching and evaluating LED strip options. So far they are all RGB addressable types because I REALLY want to be able to add in some neat sequential effects. However, these RGB addressable LED strip options tend to not be very bright. Some more info on these:
This is the 24V version of the 12V one I posted previously. The 12V one is inadequately bright IMO, but supposedly the 24V version might be brighter. This is a potential option for the infinity mirror illumination. Only downside with this WS2811 style is that each addressable segment is about 2" so the effects it could produce would be less cool.
Bought this one, hoping it would be a good choice for halo lighting because of how the light is diffused. It's got 96 LEDs per meter (29 LEDs/foot or one LED every 13/32") and each LED is addressable. Sadly the brightness was underwhelming and probably inadequately visible during the daytime.
Also considering a custom halo solution... solder a bunch of 5050 WS2812B LED chips onto a custom halo-shaped PCB. Would still need to figure out how to appropriately diffuse the light so individual LEDs aren't as noticeable.
This kinda leads me to my next topic. The image below is from pictures posted by Full Beans of his C5 taillight development.
I'd love to know how he generated that LED halo; staring at those pictures hasn't helped!
Another interesting thing is he didn't include the taillight mounting holes. Can't help but wonder if it's because of a different method of attaching the taillight like I discussed a bit previously, or simply that he didn't incorporate them yet.
Lastly, on my spare halo taillight I separated the red lens from the body using a heat gun and careful prying. Took a little bit to figure out and would be much faster the next time.
Anyways, I've measured the lens and somewhat modeled it in CAD. Fun fact: the C5 taillight shape is a perfect ellipse (makes modelling it a lot easier). This CAD model will help toward making a new housing that will at least contain the infinity mirror, and possibly the halo depending on which route I take (replace halo entirely or keep existing halo arrangement).
Last edited by MetalMan2; Sep 22, 2023 at 01:47 AM.
That is crazy how he made that led halo. I don't see a seam anywhere on it. Would using heat on a premade cob light ring destroy it? Or would you be able to change it's shape? The CAD model you are designing would you be open to letting others use it? if so what price? I dabble in 3d printing and my skills in modeling software is beginner at best.
That is crazy how he made that led halo. I don't see a seam anywhere on it. Would using heat on a premade cob light ring destroy it? Or would you be able to change it's shape?
My guess is that there's a circuit board or similar filled with LEDs (whether COB or SMD is anyone's guess), but we can't see because of there's a diffuser over top. I've been doing research on 3D printing LED diffusers and have some ideas to try. In my case I'm likely limited on choices because I want the LEDs to be addressable.
The COB LED strips I've gotten can't be heat-shaped because of the circuit boards.
Originally Posted by Brandon_reid
The CAD model you are designing would you be open to letting others use it? if so what price? I dabble in 3d printing and my skills in modeling software is beginner at best.
Don't want to get too far ahead and make any such decisions yet
You will always see people taking a picture of these in low light because end of day, they are mirrors. In low light or darkness they work great BUT the C5 bumper angles and the way the taillights aim, you will see that they will look like garbage. In addition, if you're in sunlight with sun hitting the "mirrors" the car behind you won't see a thing as it relates to a brake light. They are good for parking lot and night cruise, but definitely risky from a legality and safety perspective. There are potential workarounds, but the end of day I'm building something more legal, more unique and less circus mirror gimmicky.
Infinity Mirror Taillights discussion
