Home made LED Tail light

[puthputh]

Hi guys.

Thought I would post photos of my home made tail light project that I did this weekend.

Here it is.....

Tail light only....



With brake on.....



Photo from below.....



Total cost $10 usd
Total time - 1 day

[Arnie]

Looks good, especially for that price.
Want to tell us what LED's you used, where you got them, how you wired them (ballasted in sets or individually) and whatever else would let us take advantage of your skill and experience?
Please :-)

Cheers,
Arnie

[andyoutandabout]

Nice addition. Wow.. you Kiwis have odd looking plates..

[Dan Filetti]

They look like the old Delaware plates...

Dan

[carsick]

I think like everything Kiwi he made the plate himself. I too would like a bit more info on the LED upgrade though!
Doug

[puthputh]

Well, first off, the plate is not home made, lol. It is the original plate from 1984. The newer plates a white with black letters and smaller and look much better....

As for the led tail light. Here is a step by step of what I did.

First off, removed the lens with heat (wife's hair dryer)

Second, removed the old bulbs and holders.

Got 2 of these on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.ca/5cm-x-7cm-Universal-FR4-FR-4-PCB-Printed-Circuit-Board-/280545468788?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

Then got a set of these off ebay
http://cgi.ebay.ca/50PCS-5mm-LED-Light-Emitting-Diode-10000-mcd-Resistors-/270583909673?pt=AU_B_I_Electrical_Test_Equipment

Just ask for resistors for 12 volt.

I fitted 20 leds per board 5 rows of 4.

Put 12 leds for the tail light and 8 for the brake light. Wired 1 resistor with each led so they wont burn out.

I then soldered the old 3 wires to the existing bulbs and plugged in, away it went.

Sorry I don't have pics but this may help. I got the idea from these pics.

[jwh]

i use these in mine, work really well and straight fit they were on buy one get one free when i got them, not as much fun as making your own
but 2 mins to fit!
http://www.consumabulbs.com/files/bdet.php?id=168