LED Brake Lights

[boxcarracer]

Originally Posted by boxcarracer

A huge thank you to Jerry for his patience and expertise in my project. Buttoned the custom taillights up last night; now it's time to work on the final touches to make everything come together.
The video really doesn't do them justice, but here it is (it also helped me realize I have a burnt license plate lamp):
https://youtu.be/TAHINSq2OAE

More pics of my completed light project thanks to Jerry.

[69porsche]

Spoke,
I would be interested in purchasing a set of taillights that have already been modified to reduce the running light by 33% or more...to give it a more distinct contrast between the tail lights and brake lights. Thanks
Gordon

Originally Posted by spoke

Gordon,

There's 3 identical resistors providing the current limit for the running lights. R2, R3, and R4. In the pic they're the smaller blue resistors. They're in parallel so removing any one of the 3 will reduce the running light current by 33%.

Unsoldering the resistors is best done with 2 solder guns/irons. Because there's a soldered pad on each side of the resistor, one solder gun/iron isn't large enough to span across the resistor to heat both pads to release the resistor.

With 2 solder irons, touch each pad with an iron and wait for the solder to liquefy. Once liquefied, just push the resistor to the side. Clean up any splattered solder with one of the irons.

The resistor can be replaced in the reverse order and adding a bit of solder to fill each pad.

[acme911]

Hi Spoke,
Just pulled the trigger at your website for RS brake, RS signals, side, Fronts amb/wht and relay. These will compliment the LED headlights I just fabbed very nicely.
I tried some of the other led replacement bulbs. While they were an improvement over the old filament type I felt that I wanted something more powerful.
Really looking forward to installing. Having just gotten my car back on the road I believe your lights will be an added measure of insurance for accident avoidance. And they just look way cool!

Thanks

[RDM]

Spoke,

Have you considered making a 3rd high-mounted brake light? Something suitable for coupes and Targas, with a housing that keeps the light out of the cabin, maybe?
We're discussing it here:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1006971-third-brake-light-anyone-made-housing-2.html#post10172029

[boxcarracer]

Here are some pics from our Sunday drive that bring justice to spoke's kits (since I suck at taking pics myself):

[spoke]

Originally Posted by 69porsche

Spoke,
I would be interested in purchasing a set of taillights that have already been modified to reduce the running light by 33% or more...to give it a more distinct contrast between the tail lights and brake lights. Thanks
Gordon

Gordon,

I have 2 sets of 911 brakes for you to try out. One has only 1 resistor and the other set has 2 resistors. The normal board has 3 resistors all of which are in parallel so removing any of the 3 resistors will reduce the running light intensity.

Try out both versions and keep the version you like best. It's yours for free for doing this testing for me. Send back the other set when you are finished.

Resistors R2, R3, and R4 are in parallel to set the running light current. It can be observed that R3 is missing on one set and R2 and R4 are missing on the other.

[spoke]

Originally Posted by RDM

Spoke,

Have you considered making a 3rd high-mounted brake light? Something suitable for coupes and Targas, with a housing that keeps the light out of the cabin, maybe?
We're discussing it here:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1006971-third-brake-light-anyone-made-housing-2.html#post10172029

I posted on the above thread. I haven't done much with LEDs in integrated plastic housings although I'll look into what can be done.

[Arne2]

Originally Posted by spoke

Gordon,

I have 2 sets of 911 brakes for you to try out. One has only 1 resistor and the other set has 2 resistors. The normal board has 3 resistors all of which are in parallel so removing any of the 3 resistors will reduce the running light intensity.

Try out both versions and keep the version you like best. It's yours for free for doing this testing for me. Send back the other set when you are finished.

Resistors R2, R3, and R4 are in parallel to set the running light current. It can be observed that R3 is missing on one set and R2 and R4 are missing on the other.

FWIW, I did this to the brake boards I bought some time ago. I started with removing just one resistor per board, but ended up removing 2 per board to get the brightness differential I was looking for.

[RDM]

Well, if you are doing lights for a Ferrari, nothing is outside your purview, right?

[69porsche]

Originally Posted by Arne2

FWIW, I did this to the brake boards I bought some time ago. I started with removing just one resistor per board, but ended up removing 2 per board to get the brightness differential I was looking for.

Arne-Thanks, I got the idea from you way back when I saw your post about getting a much distinct contrast.

Jerry-Thanks for doing this, I will keep you posted!
Gordon

[spoke]

Originally Posted by RDM

Well, if you are doing lights for a Ferrari, nothing is outside your purview, right?

I've designed brake/turnsignal/reverse lights for Triumph TR6's and Spitfires as well. Also did a PCB for lighting model houses for the model railroad club that I belong to.

[spoke]

Originally Posted by RocketWrench

I'm no expert, but this is my car imported from the US.

UK cars need whats called a 'side repeater' which is usually mounted on the wing, the wing mirror or wraps around the front bumper so the indicator can be seen from 90 degrees. This might be because we have a lot of roundabouts (traffic circles) over here, but I have seen other imported cars with after market indicators drilled straight through the wings above the front wheels in order to satisfy an MOT inspection (DOT in the US).

I might be wrong, but I think the shifting of the light to the edge of the bumper was a quick, clean fix to this regulatory requirement.

I'm happy to be corrected if anyone knows better, and I'm looking forward to my LEDs arriving!

The 911 front sidemarker that I make is actually a full fledged turnsignal. I don't know of anyone who has added the extra wire to have the sidemarker LED board flash brightly as a turnsignal. I'd really like to see how the sidemarker doubles as a turnsignal.


I offered to RocketWrench and I'll offer to 1 or 2 others that I'll give a free set of sidemarker LED boards if you have a set of front turnsignals and agree to add the extra wire to make the sidemarkers flash brightly with the front turnsignals and comment about it to me or on this thread.

Anyone interested?

[CBRacerX]

Originally Posted by spoke

The 911 front sidemarker that I make is actually a full fledged turnsignal. I don't know of anyone who has added the extra wire to have the sidemarker LED board flash brightly as a turnsignal. I'd really like to see how the sidemarker doubles as a turnsignal.


I offered to RocketWrench and I'll offer to 1 or 2 others that I'll give a free set of sidemarker LED boards if you have a set of front turnsignals and agree to add the extra wire to make the sidemarkers flash brightly with the front turnsignals and comment about it to me or on this thread.

Anyone interested?

Yes! I have your leds in the rear lights on my 1980 and love ‘em. PM me the details.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by spoke

The 911 front sidemarker that I make is actually a full fledged turnsignal. I don't know of anyone who has added the extra wire to have the sidemarker LED board flash brightly as a turnsignal. I'd really like to see how the sidemarker doubles as a turnsignal.


I offered to RocketWrench and I'll offer to 1 or 2 others that I'll give a free set of sidemarker LED boards if you have a set of front turnsignals and agree to add the extra wire to make the sidemarkers flash brightly with the front turnsignals and comment about it to me or on this thread.

Anyone interested?

I'm interested.

[Otter74]

Installed a full set a few weeks ago. Results are great, as expected, though my front right corner isn't working correctly for some reason that I will diagnose soon.

[spoke]

Originally Posted by Otter74

Installed a full set a few weeks ago. Results are great, as expected, though my front right corner isn't working correctly for some reason that I will diagnose soon.

It's possible that the wires to the bulb connector have been reversed. Incandescent light bulbs don't care if the current flows one way or the other. LEDs must have the positive wire going to the center button.

The socket is held on with one screw allowing access to the 2 wires. Swap the wires and likely the board will light up.

Contact me if you have any questions.

BTW, nice looking 911.

[Otter74]

Aja, thanks! I'll check that.

Originally Posted by spoke

It's possible that the wires to the bulb connector have been reversed. Incandescent light bulbs don't care if the current flows one way or the other. LEDs must have the positive wire going to the center button.

The socket is held on with one screw allowing access to the 2 wires. Swap the wires and likely the board will light up.

Contact me if you have any questions.

BTW, nice looking 911.

[spoke]

Originally Posted by CBRacerX

Yes! I have your leds in the rear lights on my 1980 and love ‘em. PM me the details.

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

I'm interested.

Great! I'll get started on 2 pairs of sidemarkers. What you will have to do is add an extra wire to the sidemarker for the turnsignal power.

The turnsignal wire is obviously available in the turnsignal bucket but might be easier to work with in the headlight bucket where all the turnsignal, sidemarker, and headlight wires converge. This would require removing the headlight to gain access to the wires.

I could make a Y-pigtail to add the wire to the turnsignal to help this along. Included as well will be a single connector like shown below to be added to the Y-pigtail to connect the board to the turnsignal wire.




Here's a Y-pigtail I made to connect my LED headlights to the running light power for DRL. The Y-pigtail for this work would have a longer wire to be fished out of the headlight bucket and over to the sidemarker. Then the crimp on button connector can be added to get turnsignal power to the boards.

If you're still in after seeing what's involved, we'll be good to go.



This picture shows the turnsignal, running light, and headlight wires located behind the headlight. The 2-wires at the bottom go to the sidemarker.

[spoke]

Originally Posted by CBRacerX

Yes! I have your leds in the rear lights on my 1980 and love ‘em. PM me the details.

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

I'm interested.

I have sidemarker boards in hand now. I think I want to try the wiring on my car before sending them to you. Although the sidemarker and front turnsignal fixtures are adjacent to each other, I'm not sure how to wire the turnsignal wire from one to the other w/o drilling a hole or doing some cutting. I'm really against any permanent mods to the vehicle for lighting.

I'll have to pull a headlight out to look at the wiring again to see how to add a pigtail for the turnsignal power to get it to the sidemarker. With the Nor'easter hitting us now it looks like the 930 isn't coming out of the garage any time soon.

[spoke]

Here's a couple more examples of how LEDs aren't as long lasting as we're all told they are.

This first example is a Prius whose left brake LEDs have some sort of power issue. The running lights on this car are off as when the driver released the brakes, there were no lights on the rear of the car so these are only the brake lights.

Looks like all the LEDs were lit but were lit very gently. Likely the power source for these is a constant current supply which has some type of issue. I don't think this will pass inspection and I doubt anyone except the dealer would be able to remedy this.



This truck's lights are all having issues staying lit. Only the leftmost LED fixture is all lit up. Looks like there are 10 LEDs in each fixture. Unless these have a smily/frowny face feature, I'd say they're not holding up well to the truck's daily routines.



If you thought that retirement might mean your LED lights will last longer, think again. This blurry picture from The Villages in Florida sees the left LED brake/turnsignal light on this cart with 2 LEDs out.