All LED Runing Lights...56k

[HondaBoy]

ok, well i've done all my lights with LEDs now. the red part of the tail lights was first, i just used 1157 LEDs in there. then was the 3rd brake light. then i put some orange 194s in the corners and clear ones in the foward facing ones. then i did the bumpers with orange trailer lights. two days ago i did the rear blinkers with those same orange trailer lights. they came out pretty well. not like a bunch of LEDs like BMW or Lexus might have. but they still look good. anyway here's the pix. i like how the blinkers go on and off very fast, not fading on and off like filament bulbs do. other than the headlights, driving lights and reverse lights i have all LEDs outside the car. my reverse lights are 50 watt halogens, i should have taken pix of those too. they are a lot brighter than normal 1156s. oh, i forgot, the red lights on the trunk arent LEDs yet. i'm working on an idea for that though.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/HondaBoySi87/934654b1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/HondaBoySi87/73b2aab0.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/HondaBoySi87/274d5c90.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/HondaBoySi87/097e8ffc.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/HondaBoySi87/09313995.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/HondaBoySi87/f6989872.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/HondaBoySi87/10dd6edd.jpg

[Busted_Blue]

cool. One thing that has put me off about LEDs are that the light output seems to be more concentrated in the bulb and doesn't illumniate as well as the regular halogens. I already see it in the pictures but they sure llook good when you let go of the brakes and they turn off. I like how the LEDs turn off like that compared to the halogens that really trickle down to off.

Is the light really concentrated when you look at it?

[w00tw00t111]

Hey my friend, That looks awesome!!! I've read bunches and bunches of info on LEDs and I just can't seem to figure out it all :(. I use them all the time with model cars and whatnot but never like 12v power sources or anything. Just seems so strange to me. If you wouldn't mind enlightening me with your knowledge or really good websites with car specific LED information. That would be great!

Busted Blue-Your right about normal LEDs but I know that they make different LEDs that have different light "radiation" with different viewing angles. The only problem with those is that they are normally not as bright b/c the light is going off in different directions. You just have to use more from what I understand.

[HondaBoy]

for the most part, yeah the light is pretty much concentrated in an area. that's why in most LED tail lights you'll noticed that there's a lot of them put together with somewhat of a magnafying lense in front of it to make the light spread. i'm not going to go through the trouble of that. as for knowing a lot about LEDs, i have a lot to learn. wiring them up is tricky, unless they are prewired. all the things i've installed are one unit with the resistors and crap already wired in a circuit for 12 volt systems. my luck in finding loose LEDs to buy hasnt been good, so that's why i've stuck with prefabed stuff. now if i can find LEDs in large quantities for a reasonable price i might be able to do some stuff with wiring things completely up myself. just the ones in the rear blinkers cost near $50, that was $11.99 per maker light. there were 4 used. i've been itchin to do it so the rediculous price didnt faze me.

[w00tw00t111]

Try eLed.com. That's what I use

[truetune]

heh, I just had that idea and thought to do that today to my car I was out side this morning and I saw a cadi and thought that would look awesome on a accord being there bright. Superbe job there man looks good. I think you should use some of that tail light paint everyone is using to really clean up the break lights for a super look. thats just my .02 My spolier has an LED break light in it and it work great looks good to.

[therafiman]

if u rub the glass bit of an led with fine sandpaper it diffuses the light in more directions (iv never tried it, but thats wot iv heard). nice lookin lights tho, might try the same with mine.

[HaShfIeNd]

heh.. yeah well for a quick mod you can easly stick in some break LED lights in your amber blinker... to get a nice red blinker (looks good in the evening and night) yeah.. during the day it obviously doesn't illuminate as well as a bulb.. but into the evening its much brighter, and works great.

you can get inverted cone LED's which will not be so direct lighting wise and have more of a glow i suspect...

as for LED's and the 12v battery source... the lights come with several LED's making them work fine (even though they do have lower resistance obviously because it will make your blinker faster) but if your looking to do some interior lighting w/ some LED's like i have in my gauge's you will need to use the correct resistor.. here is a picture of a u.v LED i put in my gauge to make my needles glow (black light) unfortunately the cheaper ones have a pretty bad purple cast, but the better ones are bad for you to look at directly.. anywho..

http://hashfiend.kicks-ass.net/UVLED.jpg
LED'S RULE!

heh.. i'm going to buy a lot of inverted cone red LED's... i'm going to stick them all around my 6x9 speakers and all around the back seat area.. then hook them up to my breaks so when i step on my breaks hopefully the whole back will light up and glow red lol... could be interesting.

*EDIT* don't guess! check your voltage w/ a meter before picking your resistor... my gauge lights were not a full 12v, actually only like 10.8 or something, so that will make a difference..

[MrBen]

Cool :D

Whenever there is a thread about lights I always know it's going to be HondaBoy :)

[Busted_Blue]

Cool :D

Whenever there is a thread about lights I always know it's going to be HondaBoy :)

:lol:

I can never tell how well it looks from pictures. I hate how pictures always don't do light mods any justice.

[HondaBoy]

yeah, when you take pictures of lighting, it usually doesnt come out right. maybe i can mess with the camera some to get it right. i havent taken the time to remember all the adjustments for it.