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Post by Wyn on Apr 29, 2011 13:30:39 GMT -5
Another part of the car I have been working on is the third brake light. The 3rd brake light goes right at the upper edge at the rear of the roof. But that need to be reinforced, so I used poster board to dam up a trough on the inside so I could pour in a mix of polyurethane resin with a mix of micro balloons and stripes of fiber glass as fill. After it had harden I drilled 30 5mm holes every ½” along the edge. Then redrilled the holes at .250” 1” deep. Leaving another 1/4 “ of the fill with the 5mm holes.  Fitting the plastic rods.  Plastic rods are cut to 1 1/10” The 1/10” is work space to be sanded down to be flush with roof surface.  Testing each plastic rods for light passage.  The LEDs are 30ma high intensity. I used a jig to hold each LED so each resistor could be soldered and each LED wired to the next. In the picture they look like they are lit, but it’s just the reflection of the flash from the camera.   They are bright. There are 3 strings of lights, each string draws 300ma, for a total of 900ma of current .  Wyn |
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stevevw
Full Member
Part VW part Porsche , all Bradley
Posts: 117
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Post by stevevw on Apr 29, 2011 15:01:38 GMT -5
Wow I was going to do one high in the rear window but this is soo much cooler .
Keep the great ideas going , cheers Steve
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Post by Dan MacMillan on Apr 29, 2011 15:58:04 GMT -5
Looks good, great idea. Why not wire all leds in parallel and use 1 resistor in series with the leds?
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Post by Wyn on Apr 29, 2011 16:59:21 GMT -5
You should never run more than one LED per resistor. All LED are 2.2 volt current controlled device. If more than one per resistor, one then could hog the current and burn out. Then the line can avalanche and all LEDs will burn out. 10ma for the regular LEDs and 30ma for the hi bright LEDs. Increase the resistance to lower the current and the brightness. Actually there is more to it. This assembly will be controlled by a stamp computer where each line can be controlled. They will strob right or left depending on which turn I'll be making. And for hazard one line will be off and the other two will shift back and forth. Oh, all three on for the brakes.  The computer will be monitoring the electrial system to determine the mode for the lights. Wyn |
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Post by Dan MacMillan on Apr 29, 2011 17:59:49 GMT -5
Thanks for the explanation. Learn something new everyday.
Will you be able to operate the signal lights like a scanner, one led at a time?
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Post by Wyn on Apr 29, 2011 18:54:09 GMT -5
Thanks for the explanation. Learn something new everyday. Will you be able to operate the signal lights like a scanner, one led at a time? No there are 10 LEDs on each string. every 3rd LED is on the same string. You turn the 1st string off. Then you turn the 2nd string off at the same time you turn the 1st string back on. Then turn the 3rd string off at the same time you and turn the 2nd string back on. You keep the rotation going and you will have the string of marching ants in the lights. Reverse the sequence and they will go the other way. Not hard at all. I have done this with a shift register. But with a computer you can a lot more things with it. Program different time delays, skip links, back dance 1 or 2 steps, random speed changes. |
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Post by Dan MacMillan on Apr 29, 2011 19:35:51 GMT -5
My son is playing a lot with stamp controllers and leds. He made a table that has 25 squares under a translucent glass cover. He has it going to music or preset sequence or random. Give me straight forward electrical any day. I am lost with these new stamp systems.
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Post by spyderdriver on Apr 29, 2011 21:52:40 GMT -5
very cool! im gona build one of these for my GT historyneverdies.blogspot.com/2010/12/digital-multimeter-for-your-car.htmlim then im gona get a sheet of 1/4 plexi and paint it white (so it reflects back in), and then engrave thru the paint, and put led in to light it up, then and just drill and put in strings of leds for gas, amps, volts, clock, etc... give it a TRON look. |
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Post by Wyn on Apr 30, 2011 19:40:10 GMT -5
Since we are at the rear window I thought I would add this ideal I have been working on also. It is a latch and lifting servo for the rear window. The small servo I found is electric with 15 pounds of force it has 4” of travel. It will travel ¾” per second. So the rear window will open in 5 seconds to the 4” of travel. The latch hardware should not be hard to make. The big problem I see with it, It will not work in most GTII’s with a type 1 engine. All of these engine the dog house or fan assembly fills in the area just under the rear window latch. I am using a type 3 engine so there is no dog house to get into the way.  Wyn |
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Post by Dan MacMillan on May 1, 2011 18:20:26 GMT -5
You could set up a 90 deg bellcrank. If done with a linear actuator you can omit the latch.
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Post by Wyn on May 1, 2011 23:44:37 GMT -5
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Post by Jeff Lande on May 3, 2011 13:55:24 GMT -5
Looks awesome... it's pretty much exactly what I was planning on doing with my turn signals front and rear. I've already ordered 3/4" lucite rod and a handful of 12mm 1Watt yellow LED's to stick in behind them. I plan on having the fronts on as DRL's and flash with the turn signals. Now I just have to work out in my head how I'm going to get the 4-way's to work with this setup.  I was just thinking about getting a rear wing of some sort with an embedded 3rd brake light. I've always thought the twoie needed a spoiler of some sort... |
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Post by Wyn on May 3, 2011 14:49:32 GMT -5
I was just thinking about getting a rear wing of some sort with an embedded 3rd brake light. I've always thought the twoie needed a spoiler of some sort... I agree with you the twoie needs a spoiler, but usually the 3rd brake light are below the spoiler and many trucker will not see them up close. That is why I put them at the highest point I could get to without going outside the body. Where are you going to mount the ¾” rods? I used the ¼” rods as they will be just above the rear window. Anything larger will be in the edge of the window and below it. Wyn |
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Post by Jeff Lande on May 4, 2011 7:14:10 GMT -5
The front DRL/signals would be along the front nose below the headlights (I have no front bumper... thinking about a little tube nerf bar [empi 3113] or something), then in back, a row of 5 below the tail lights. I have to take some measurements, but I was thinking about this spoiler: cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190522305516&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AITIt is a little tall (kinda like the old Dodge Daytona)... I think it fits width-wise, I have to figure out if the engine door will still open as-is, or if I have to re-engineer it to slide out the back. Plus, with the height, this would put the lights pretty much right back up to the height of the roof line. If I don't end up doing the spoiler, I will most likely borrow your idea since it will match what I'm doing with the turn signals pretty closely. That is, of course, if you don't mind... |
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Post by mwilson on May 10, 2011 0:35:00 GMT -5
Wyn,
On the Window latch and servo. I'm guessing you're making the latch assembly yourself. Maybe, you can make two and let me buy one? Is 15lbs enough lift? Either my window seems pretty heavy, or I'm getting old and weak!!
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Post by Wyn on May 12, 2011 22:21:32 GMT -5
Matt
With the air struts supporting the rear window it should be near 0 weight or the struts could not hold it up. So I don’t think 15 lbs is a problem.
As for making the latch assembly I would need to put that off for a while. I have been having more medical problems, the doctor has told me not to use any power equipment for a while. Last Friday I had a severe and painful muscle attack in my back and I went down. Tomorrow I’m going in to get 3 nerves in my low back worked on to try to remove this pain.
Wyn
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Post by Wyn on May 28, 2013 19:00:12 GMT -5
While working the roof I thought I'd light up the third brake lights.  Wyn |
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