LED Taillights, Custom Made for the 914 Options

[Mike Bellis]

The more I see LEDs on vehicles the more I'm convinced I will need some type of reflector to channel the light. Here's one I found online that looks like it would work.

Wholesale LED Reflector

Try a piece of clear acrylic. Sand blast one side. It should diffuse the light enough.

[Spoke]

I started testing the next batch of LED samples looking for some more efficient LEDs. Also doing red, amber, and white LEDs.

To get higher lumens, got to go to LEDs with higher current capability. The one in this post is a red LED with test lumen of 71lm @ 350mA and max 170lm @ 1Amp.

These suckers are BRIGHT! I quickly realized when testing these that viewing them with my eyes is dangerous. I was running 150ma through 5 of them and I would estimate that they are about as bright as my current filament brake light bulb. I plan to use 20 of these.

So for this testing, I have to be careful not to look at them at any angle. I put my hand on them and I swear I can see my bones. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

Cree Red LED

Here's a pic about 6 feet away from the LEDs at about a 90 degree angle with no lights on.



Red LEDs viewed through the brake lens. Being only 5 LEDs. With 20 LEDs I will have no issue with brightness. After about 10 minutes at this intensity, the temperature of the LEDs is barely above ambient.

[montoya 73 2.0]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumb3d.gif) so far!!!

[euro911]

What will the total current draw be for a complete set (both tail lights)?

What is the total current draw of OEM incandescent bulbs (both tail lights)?

[mrbubblehead]

Oh hell ya spoke. I think those are the best so far. Looks like you found the answer. Now just get em into production. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/first.gif)

[Cairo94507]

Making nice progress. I really like the way this going.

[banger]

After looking at your board, you might want to move the DC/DC converters to the top of the board. This will make it much easier to manufacture if you decide to have the board stuffing done by machine. Also if you buy LED's by the reel, the price is much cheaper. I have a PCB manufacturing line at my office, if you need to have boards stuffed some time.

[a914622]

ok so i got around to getting some pics of the volvo 3rd brake set up. The first pic is crappy but the bright part is magnify piece in place the not so bright are just the leds.


second is a side shot



And then the diffuser lens lifted so you can see it



So maybe brighter leds are not the answer? Are there any "focuser" lenses out there that could be added to the board end of things?

The other car tail light leds i was looking at had a cup around the led. It was the old flashlight idea. Small light but the reflective dia is bigger/brighter.


just giving input.

jcl

[Spoke]

ok so i got around to getting some pics of the volvo 3rd brake set up. The first pic is crappy but the bright part is magnify piece in place the not so bright are just the leds.


second is a side shot


And then the diffuser lens lifted so you can see it


So maybe brighter leds are not the answer? Are there any "focuser" lenses out there that could be added to the board end of things?

The other car tail light leds i was looking at had a cup around the led. It was the old flashlight idea. Small light but the reflective dia is bigger/brighter.


just giving input.

jcl

Thanks for the visuals. The lenses are an important part of the LED lights. I think pretty much all LED lights have some type of lens or reflector to focus or diffuse the light as needed for the application.

[mrholland2]

I'd be interested in a Euro tail light spec set.

Next, can someone do something to modify the fog lights to add a halo driving light? I'd be interested in that.

I'm relocating to the South Bay so I'll be driving the 914 alot more and want it visible day or night!!

Sean

[Spoke]

What will the total current draw be for a complete set (both tail lights)?

What is the total current draw of OEM incandescent bulbs (both tail lights)?

For the tail lights, the plan is 20 LED at about 50ma each. This works out to about 0.25A draw.

With brake lights on, the 20 LED will do about 200ma each or about 0.9A

The 1157 tail light is about 7W or 0.5A draw. The brake light is 21W or about 1.6A

[Spoke]

After looking at your board, you might want to move the DC/DC converters to the top of the board. This will make it much easier to manufacture if you decide to have the board stuffing done by machine. Also if you buy LED's by the reel, the price is much cheaper. I have a PCB manufacturing line at my office, if you need to have boards stuffed some time.

Thanks for the offer. We'll see where this goes.

The dc/dc converters won't fit on the top of the board because of the way the LEDs are lined up. I thought about that at first and came to the conclusion that they must be on the back of the board.

[Spoke]

I'm looking for an economical supply for lenses. Here's one I found for individual LEDs. I will have to get a few samples to test them out.

As with the LEDs, these in particular are not cheap at $2 per LED. 50 LED per taillight assembly starts to add up. The LEDs also are looking to be about $2 each. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

I should be able to find similar lenses through Asian wholesale supply companies.

15mm LED Lens

[Cairo94507]

I never expected these to be inexpensive. I am in for a set and appreciate all of the work you are doing to make these the high quality parts that our cars deserve.

[Chris H.]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) I'm in for a set as well regardless. There's nothing worse than seeing a car bearing down on you in the rear view mirror an wondering if the driver sees your brake lights.

[Spoke]

I've ordered some sample reflectors from Future Electronics. They have good prices and seem to have stock in hand.

I stayed with a tight beam angle 12 to 18 degrees assuming the light needs to be focused behind the car as much as possible.

I should have these in a few days then I'll do some testing to see which works best.

General Luminaire



Polymer Optics



Carclo Optics

[Cairo94507]

Great and thanks for the update.

[racerbvd]

I'm looking for an economical supply for lenses. Here's one I found for individual LEDs. I will have to get a few samples to test them out.

As with the LEDs, these in particular are not cheap at $2 per LED. 50 LED per taillight assembly starts to add up. The LEDs also are looking to be about $2 each. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

I should be able to find similar lenses through Asian wholesale supply companies.

15mm LED Lens

I might have a contact for you on lenses.

[Spoke]

Got the lens samples in this week. 2 of the samples seem to work well.

The only issue I see at this point is the beam angle (12 and 18 degrees) may be a little too tight. These collect the light very well but produce more of a focused beam than a distributed light. I will need to put these behind the 914 lens to see the diffusion added by the 914 lens.

This first one is the Polymer Optics lens. This has a 12 degree beam angle.

I have only 3 samples shown here. This is with 200ma current through the red LEDs. At 200ma, the LEDs remain cool as ever. I've run these for 15 minutes at a time and they are just above ambient temp.

Here

This is the pattern on the ceiling about 6 feet above my desk. The light is quite bright but as is observed, very focused. This is 3 LEDs, I'm planning to have 20 LEDs for the brake/running lights.

[Spoke]

Next up are the Carclo lens with 18 degree beam angle.

The lenses are tiny items only 10mm across and are very efficient at focusing the light energy from the LEDs.




Just a comparison of the light with and without a lens. This is with 4ma of current.



This is the pattern on the ceiling with 3 LEDs running 200ma. The beam is a bit more dispersed as compared to the Polymer Optics lens. I'm liking these ones more but I still not sure if the beam is too focused.