LED dash lights that actualy work

[inertia]

Well,

Chances are i'll be at the next vic cruise/meet. So if you're able to come to that I'll probably still have the blue 5ways installed, so u can see how they work.

[Toobs]

Witzl put luxeon led's behind his dash... he seems to think they worked quite well.
Just remember that you need to bolt the luxeons to a heatsink or similar otherwise they'll just burn out.

[BigWorm]

In regard to the little coloured condom thingys, I could never find the right sizes at the right price, & came up with a ghetto spec solution that worked a treat. Get yourself a green or red or whatever colour you want permanent marker, & just colour in the globe. It's never going to melt or burn out, & works just as well if not better than the condoms. Plus a $3-4 marker will last you for ever.

[horse]

if you can get transparent nail polish, that works well as well if its colour that you are after. pesonally i just take the sleeves off and have that yellow/white light. works for me

[Toobs]

Just use glass paint... you can get it from arty farty places that sell leadlight stuff.
If you (like me) wouldn't want to be seen dead in such a place then there is at least 1 Australian online shop in existance. http://www.designglass.com.au/
Price is a massive $3.50 a bottle.
(Note: See Online Shopping -> Copperfoil -> Chemicals & Paints)

[BigWorm]

Why go to such extravagant lengths? Permanent marker FTW. Easier, cheaper, and 100% less girly than nail polish or glass paint!

[The Witzl]

you DO NOT want to use 3Watt luxeons!! THey would be absolutely ridiculously bright in your dash!!!

Here's my modified RA28 instruments using 3 x 1watt luxeon LEDs.

BUT NOTE - this is not a simple "chuck12voltsonitandshellberightmate solution. YOu need a driver module and heatsinks for each LED.

this picture is before i correctly mounted the LEDs, was just testing to see brightness



here you can see how each LED was mounted




and here you can see the driver module required to give the correct voltage and current to the luxeons... available at jaycar in about 2 weeks. You can also see the heatsinks on the back of the LEDs, also available at Jaycar

[ViPeR_NiPPleX]

nice job of using the pga sticky back heatsinks... i always wondered what would be the easiest way to mount a heatsink to those luxeons! I hate playing with glue and thermal paste.

[The Witzl]

yeah the heatsinks are so easy to use, and cheap too - $3ea retail.

FYI - that driver module can power up 3 x 1W luxeons when run from 12V.... jacyar cat no. AA0582 - it'll be in shops in a couple of weeks

[ViPeR_NiPPleX]

is the driver just a PWM type current limiter?...

[PlacentaJuan]

i was looking at doing something like this, and read through the same problems you are thinking of, this internet site looks pretty good:

http://www.superbrightleds.com/mini-wedge.html

its american but the proces are still cheaper than the shit globes from autobahn.

have a look aroudn the site too they will tell you what model of globe you need to your model of car.

[Sam_Q]

nice work witzl, what do these boards cost?

[The Witzl]

they'll retail at $19.95ea.... there's a 1watt and a 3watt version.

The board is actually a variable voltage current limited power supply.... it senses the forward bias voltage of the LEDs on the output, and provides the correct supply voltage at the correct current. You just hook up your LEDs in series, and it does the rest.

[Sam_Q]

thanks for that, whats the limit on how many you can run in series? or is it dependant on the input voltage and the total cross-over voltage?

can it run 3 x 3W LEDs? how about an LED bank, say something like a group of 8 LEDs in parallel with 2 other groups, so (8) x 3.

[Trebor]

found these LED's on ebay which could possibly be modified and used instead of the 3 x 1watt luxeon LEDs, would be cheaper not sure on the brightness compared to the luxeon though.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/16-LED-interi...QQcmdZViewItem