Anybody know how hard it is to build LED taillights?

[$100T2]

I have an idea in mind for the ol' FB involving LED taillights. No, not ricer shitty style, it should actually be nice looking. How hard is it?

[-xlr8planet-]

you mean a whole panel of leds? is not that hard.

if you have soldering skills can be done

[$100T2]

Yeah, a panel. Can anyone do a write up, or should I figure it out and do one?

[-xlr8planet-]

Not on an FB, but if you want I can find the write up a friend did on a hot rod tail lights

[$100T2]

That would be a great start. Thanks!

[-xlr8planet-]

I will try to find my friend tomorrow.

He works in a car audio shop. I just have to remember to take my cam with me :D

[warwickben]

if you get this to work post a guide man.

also i know its not what you want but i replaced my tail lights with led bulbs. got the from a auto store.simple swap job. i didnt do the turn signals because i heard it can cause problems. they are really brit but you cant tell there led's.

i remember seeing a car that got truck light from a 18 wheeler. and made a panle so he could bolt them on his sa/fb.
i used to do warranty returns at my step dads work,they never go bad just get broken from loading docks. they have like 48 led's can be bought in red yellow and clear. made the car look like a skyline. they look like the repu tail lights.

ill try to find a pic

[blwnrtr93]

I remember seeing a page I had to have google translate into english from japanese that was a mod of the FD tailights. I bookmarked the page but when I went back to it, it was gone. It showed how to make the board for the LEDs and wire everything up.

[-xlr8planet-]

Look, these guys are local to me

and their product cost around 10U$S each. Sounds dirty cheap

http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-34288690-foco-a-diodos-led-para-camiones-y-semi-remolques-_JM

[warwickben]

cant read spanish sorry

[-xlr8planet-]

basicaly says they sell the 17 leds board, ready to be wired to your tails. They work with 12v and they also sell the yellow for the turn signal and the white for reverse.

I think they meaure 61mm by 61mm

[warwickben]

sounds cool how should work but have to over come the led problem with blinkers ect. now i need to find a place to buy them in the usa

[-xlr8planet-]

blinkers? why?

the bulb has nothing to do with the fact that they blink. The box that makes them blink is under the dash I believe.

Due to the cost of labor, probably getting them on the states will be more expensive

[railgun]

Depends on the flasher you have. In the case of the FB, it's thermal. You need to give it the proper load else it will 1) give you the fast blink like a light is out or 2) stay on all the time. It is the blub that matters. You'd end up putting a resistor in line to get your load up to what it needs to be.

Tell me what your line of thinking is. Have a set of FD tails that I wanted to do the same thing with. Very tasteful and keep in line with the 99 round theme. Perhaps it can be something we can start across all generations. Have kind of a common LED theme to RX-7s

[-xlr8planet-]

For an fd, I would use a round board with 21 leds these guys have

[$100T2]

I want to do something like this for the new tails. I like the body colored strip in the middle to break the lights up a bit, and I think they will blend well with my wide fenders.

[jtbshaw]

I've been buying my LEDs from www.autolumination.com for years. Chris Bacon is the owner and has excellent and fast shipping. Communication is great also. I've eye'd the LED boards that he has listed on the site now. I had actually thought about doing this a few months ago. I just haven't had the time to devote to it. Check out Chris's site and see if there is something that you can use. His prices are very affordable.

[RX-7 Chris]

I've been thinking of doing the same thing. I would like to see what some of you come up with.

[warwickben]

ive been trying to find the person i made friends with on my space. the guy had a wide body sa. he removed his tail light lenses and fab up a sheet of metal to screw in place of it. then he used the round led truck lights you see on 18 wheelers. they where flush mounted and looked sic .
they lights kinda looked like a skyline ect. i was thinking of doing this once i figure out how to wire it since i can get the lights from my step dad's work dirt dirt cheap.
47 led
http://www.truck-lite.com/wcsstore/tl/catalog/images/grap/sttl/new/91272R-lr.jpg 24 led
http://www.truck-lite.com/wcsstore/tl/catalog/images/grap/sttl/new/4050-lr.jpg
:o16:

[$100T2]

I think I'm going to buy some cheapo LED lights, take 'em apart and figure out how to wire 'em and make my own thing.

[warwickben]

do you want to be able to tell there led, like dots in the lenses . if not most advance and auto zone sell led bulbs that will plug right in to the stock sockets.
iam using those. there brighter then a normal bulb's and don't have to worry about them over heating.

[$100T2]

No, like I said, I want to do something completely custom.

[warwickben]

sorry i forgot the pic you posted before my bad. also are you going to try to make it up to mass .

[JShiz]

do you want to be able to tell there led, like dots in the lenses . if not most advance and auto zone sell led bulbs that will plug right in to the stock sockets.
iam using those. there brighter then a normal bulb's and don't have to worry about them over heating.

Do you have to use a resistor or anything?

[$100T2]

sorry i forgot the pic you posted before my bad. also are you going to try to make it up to mass .

Yep. I have to talk to my buddy with the big pickup to see if he'll go with me, otherwise we'll have to get it into my Expedition somehow.

[warwickben]

i didnt replace the blinkers yet because i had to figure out what type of resistor to use. if you cant find the bulbs locally try this http://www.superbrightleds.com/led_prods.htm

you just need to find out what bulb modles you need. these are much briter then the ones i have but they look great. me and my buddy used them on the rs turbo capri i we own.

[railgun]

Here are a couple things I found searching for this topic. May help you in your endeavor.

http://www.pcblibraries.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2064&PID=6109#6109

http://www.robotroom.com/LEDRingLight2.html

[nobodymv]

Try this site for more info:

http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=146659&highlight=led+tailights%5D

You may also want to try this:

http://www.rx7club.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=57580