high power led reverse lamp build (Rev 1)

[Roger505]

ya ive had those drivers from dx fry my leds too , not something I want to do with a 12 dollar xml lol. there must be some other drivers out there but I can't seem to find any really.

[Mike S]

That's an incredible amount of light. I'd be tempted to wire them to a switch so whenever a blinding PnP kit is riding your bumper, light 'em up!

[soundman98]

lol, we both finished a xm-l project on the same day..

my brother was just asking me about that... i might have to rig up a low-hz pwm for that just to be a little more annoying. though, it might send a blinded moron into a crowd of people.... at the moment, no plans for it, but later on, we'll see. i think this is the first time since driving that i might have to be worried about getting ticketed while backing up...


i finally got them installed today, night output shots will come later, but backing it up into the garage, i could see the output, so nightime ought to be fun:

[VegasF6]

Don't back over your soldering iron!

[Mike S]

Sweet, I thought you were going with the stock lens for some reason. Seeing the stars actually looks really cool. It turned out great!

The switch probably isn't a good idea, but sometimes you just want to give those guys a taste of their own medicine. lol

[soundman98]

^i am a little scared at how much i would use it(chicago seems to be pnp country after all), so it's not worth the risk.

Don't back over your soldering iron!

lol, i was sure to pick everything up before pulling the car back in. that's one of those build-it-yourself kit irons with a 35w iron instead of the 25w it came with... it's served me pretty good, though backing up over it would be a good reason to get a real iron...


and the night shots are in!

it looks like i will need to add a delay to the relay, as the lights turn on for a second while switching gears-- it is enough to blind me off the rearview mirrors, so it can't be good to anyone else.

just for fun, these shots were taken at the same settings(the light level was adjusted on the old lights, so the new lights are more washed out):




is it even a fair comparison?!?

and the other pics:

i tired to capture the greens/yellows that where shown on the ground, my camera was just overwhelmed by the rest of the output:









and a general output shot--the first was using the automatic settings, the second used manual settings to try to get the greens/yellows on the fence:

[VegasF6]

Man that came out really great. Even better than I thought it might. The fringing really doesn't detract from it at all in my opinion. I wouldn't have thought of a delay either, but I can see how you would want it. Are you just going to purchase a relay with built in delay circuit, or build your own? Should be pretty simple if you decide to.

I am just a little curious what it would look like to add some sort of medium wide optics to one led on each side, but I don't suppose there is any reason to do that. In the second picture, how far would you estimate it is from the rear of your car to the garage? Between 20 and 30 feet?

[mr.xkr]

It looks like a rear high beam

I'm in proyect to do a LED high beam, thanks to your thread removed the modes on the 3A drivers.

[exist]

That's incredible.. I might have to take a shot at doing some led reverse lights - especially good on the trail in pitch black.. Having some brighter reverse lights would have probably helped prevent some sweet damage I did to my bed ..... This forum is awesome for all the little projects I'd love to take on, but terrible at the same time as my brain has started to boil with everything I'm learning.

[soundman98]

^ lol. then you ought to order the parts now. that way, once you decide to do it, you have the parts on hand.. for something like this, the heatsink implementation took a while to get it to fit my needs, as did the enclosure design..


just remember, never go for perfection, just get it close. that is always my biggest problem-- you'll get it close and "just need to tweak one last thing" and mess up the project to the point of needing to start over...

It looks like a rear high beam

I'm in proyect to do a LED high beam, thanks to your thread removed the modes on the 3A drivers.

almost. i really think these are brighter at 30ft then my mini d2s's...
glad to hear the how-to helped you!

Man that came out really great. Even better than I thought it might. The fringing really doesn't detract from it at all in my opinion. I wouldn't have thought of a delay either, but I can see how you would want it. Are you just going to purchase a relay with built in delay circuit, or build your own? Should be pretty simple if you decide to.

i am still deciding. the 528t that i usually recommend for something like this is about $17, but is based on the really common 555 timer chip and includes parts i don't need, right now i am leaning towards building my own, just need to do some research and locate some schematics for it..

I am just a little curious what it would look like to add some sort of medium wide optics to one led on each side, but I don't suppose there is any reason to do that. In the second picture, how far would you estimate it is from the rear of your car to the garage? Between 20 and 30 feet?

yes, that is about 25ft from car to garage.

there had been some debate on adding lenses to one led on each side in blurred talons thread on this(link in first post), and looking at my xp-g lensed pics, it would help with long distance throw, but backup lights don't really need throw--yes, it would be cool, but i have never needed to care what is 20-30ft away, just what is within 5-10ft away from the car(that electrical pole is one major obstacle that i always need to see)