high power led reverse lamp build (Rev 1)

[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)

[soundman98]

ok attempting to do some research on a delay, and this technical circuit stuff is kicking my butt... part of it is that i need to just start playing with it, because reading about it does me no good..

here's the 2 circuits i am looking at:
http://www.electronics-project-desig...aycircuit.html
http://www.electronicecircuits.com/e...-delay-circuit


the first problem is that i don't know off-hand is if my reverse lights are negatively triggered or one of the rare positive triggered models. so i guess i need to test for that..

and the second problem, all these diagrams seem to indicate that they need a pin to reset the circuit. i need something that delays the relay from triggering for about 15-30seconds, and self-resets, ready for the next time.

so i am printing off the parts lists now, and will head on over to radioshack for some parts and start bread boarding and see how either of these designs turn out..

i have all the wiring available at the relay-- a constant power, and the switched source from the stock reverse harness(currently, this triggers a relay that powers the reverse lights)..

[Mike S]

The night shots really show it off! Do you think elliptical optics would be useful? Just to focus some of that high angle light down towards the ground.

[soundman98]

yes, to some degree, but then the asthetics come back into play--most optics come off the led by what, maybe 5-10mm? i've got the clearance, but don't have much to make it look clean..

[VegasF6]

Soundman, all you are trying to acclomplish is a delay of a few milliseconds to avoid the back up lights coming on while you shift through the gears right? Not some sort of latching circuit or anything? Take a look at this very basic circuit.
http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/...y-circuit.html

[soundman98]

that is exactly what i needed! thanks!

[Blurred Talon]

Outcome is awesome, great work!

[VegasF6]

I am not so sure that circuit I posted will work actually, it seems like it would only delay off. Take a look at this one too, the one titled "power on time delay relay." Uses 7 components, but should be real easy.
http://www.bowdenshobbycircuits.info....htm#delay.gif
Only trick will be calculating the values for the cap and resistor. I suppose trial and error. Start with a smaller value cap, maybe a 10 or 22 uF and possibly replace the resistor with a small pot (or trimmer actually).

Let us know which circuit works if you try them both!

[soundman98]

thinking about this more today.. i still haven't measured my stock harness, but 98% of reverse lights on todays cars are negatively triggered, meaning that all these positive trigger methods might not work the same.. i can add another relay to flip it, but it just adds complexity..

that first link should work as it's primary use is to remove startup pop from amps that don't have a soft-start feature. and that is essentially what i need-- a soft-starting reverse light..

[jesustorres85]

thinking about this more today.. i still haven't measured my stock harness, but 98% of reverse lights on todays cars are negatively triggered, meaning that all these positive trigger methods might not work the same.. i can add another relay to flip it, but it just adds complexity..

that first link should work as it's primary use is to remove startup pop from amps that don't have a soft-start feature. and that is essentially what i need-- a soft-starting reverse light..

Why soft start? need? also what part of illinois you in?

[soundman98]

because the lights flash for a second while i am switching gears, and it bothers me, but not enough to do something about it right away...

i am about a hour south of chicago..