Front Parking Lights Revisited

it's all good. . .

I'm more taken aback by the actual cost of the selected LEDs, than anything else. And it doesn't help that I'm not really much of an electronics/electrical guy to begin w/, though I do like to tinker/dabble w/ other stuff. I've used 2-3 different LED bulbs in the location, none seemed 'dim' to me, even w/ the H.I.D.'s on at night. But, of-course relative to the high-powered LED used by the O.P., my WLED6, 5LED-refractor, and SUPERLED bulbs would be obviously out-shown noticeably. . .

The alternatives I presented were merely opportunity-cost offerings (as-in what other lighting mods' can be done for the same monies), obviously not direct replacements for this interesting & anticipated mod'.

Come up w/ a price soon... :D



EDIT: $100'ish/pair, thanks! :cool:
 
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This is definately not a low cost alternative, but it was something I just wanted to try. I tried many of the 194 base leds and although they had a nice color and matched my hid headlights, they just didnt project enough light when I park in my garage. Of course I can turn on the headlights, or stick something on the ground, or hanging tennis ball, but that is not as fun as putting something new on your car.
CREE LEDs operate at a fixed 3.6 volts but wide range of current - 300-1000mA. A simple current limiting resistor could possibly used with these types of leds, but because of the varying voltage of the vehicle's charging system, current would change as well. The LED would probably not last long.
The largest downfall to these LEDs is the cost. A CREE LED costs 8-10x as much as a standard high brightness led, plus a current driver module is needed to drive these safely.
 
that would be perfect- do you have a pic or approx size? the shortcut has specs only.
i am even thinking in 350ma range- 100 lumen led (5 bucks). thats still very bright.
 
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Here is a company who is selling them. I can't find on the site how to buy them. I like the AMC7140 EVM, it's nice and compact.:

AMC7140P.gif


AMC7140DEMO.gif




http://www.micro-bridge.com/AMC7140.asp


swerve said:
that would be perfect- do you have a pic or approx size? the shortcut has specs only.
i am even thinking in 350ma range- 100 lumen led (5 bucks). thats still very bright.
Click to expand...
 
Those drivers should work OK, but they appear to be best suited for multiple array leds. Plus they will have to be heatsinked and input filtered, and waterproof packaged.
The micropuck will not work as it is designed for low voltage inputs.
 
I love this idea, however I'm very concerned about this heat-sink issue.

People have mentioned the heat-sink design, however there's no mention as to where the heat will go.

I'm not convinced that the stock lens housing is large enough to dissipate that heat especially in that small side area. It seems to be a very tiny enclosure and the housing would eventually melt due to heat buildup. .

Am I wrong about this?
 
the led's do not produce heat like the bulbs which radiate it out with the light- from what i understand the led's heat up the board they are mounted on and since the heatsink will be on the outside of the housing, thats where the heat will go.

fastraxx- how hot does the assembly get? without the heatsink, if there was a piece of plastic touching it- will it melt?
 
There is very little forward heat generated from these leds. The led is mounted on a combination pc board/aluminum heatsink where heat is dissipated from the led substrate to the board. The pc board is mounted to a larger heatsink for additional heat dissipation.
The maximum temperature that the led can reach is about 150 C. Injection moulded plastic (not polyethelene, or abs) melting points can be anywhere from 130C to 250C.
If the heatsinks surface were to reach 150C or higher, the base temp (back of the led itself) would be way over 150C, which would probably kill the led, or the solder would melt and the led would fall off the board.
 
I have seen these in person and it looks awesome.

I am in for sure Jon so when you are ready let me know.....I'll drive down to your place hehe..:biggrin:


Fastrax is very big in the tuner world just to let you guys know, we have a great resource here on Prime when it comes to Turbos and cars.
 
if you guys are really interested then you need to start making a 'list'- i am getting a quote soon so if you don't speak up, you will not get the mod (at least not with a nice heatsink/retainer).

so:
1....
2...
3...
 
1. Jett for a pair to match my pair of 6000k HIDs from WhiteNSXs.
2. Doraemon
3. MJK
4.
 
Nice mod! I popped in a set of LED bulbs from superbrightleds.com years ago and forgot about them.

Oh shit! I just went to their website to see if they were still around and they are and they have instrument panel neo-wedge bulbs now along with a lot of other goodies. http://superbrightleds.com/instrument.html

Now I have a reason to pull the cluster to replace the low fuel warning bulb! I can replace all of them with LEDs. Very cool! I think I'm getting wood. :biggrin:
 
well, project is in limbo- i can't find suitable connectors and without those it will not be a plug-n-play scenario negating the benefit of other manufactured parts (heat sink). if anyone can find a plug that will work please let me know.
 
quite honestly i am not well versed in the bulb #'s lingo- we need a connector that will fit the oem harness itself, not the bulb, which after soldering it into our led setup would facilitate a plu-n-play scenario.
 
I actually think it's 194. But anyways I think this is what you need. It's an LED with an in-line resistor meant to be used in 12V applications. I had the plastic housings custom made a few years ago for a different application. Notice that the bottom of the housing looks like a 194 bulb. Well that's because it's meant for a direct fit into the socket. Everything is friction-held in place. Ignore the electronics part as you wouldn't be using that. You're interested in the male plastic part only which I confirmed fits into the parking light socket of an NSX. Take out the LED and the resistor, feed your 2 wires (solid, not stranded, at a decently sized guage) and wrap the bare wires around the end as pictured. Fill in the top with adhesive to make sure the wires don't come out and you should be good to go.

LED1_A.jpg


I can supply at least 100 of these connectors. PM me for pricing if you're interested and I can mail you a sample to test-fit.
 
If it's a 194 bulb base you need, they here you go:

194socket.jpg


It's an empty bulb base. Just stick 2 wires in them and wrap them around the base. Simple as that. They go for about $0.29 each.

Look toward the bottom of the page for "194 168 W5W 2825 (White) T10 Wedge Base Empty Socket":

http://autolumination.com/194.htm

pingu81 said:
Take out the LED and the resistor, feed your 2 wires (solid, not stranded, at a decently sized guage) and wrap the bare wires around the end as pictured.
Click to expand...

You don't really need solid wire to run through the bases. Just run some solder through the multi-stranded wire.....now it's solid :)
 
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thanks guys, appreciate the input- you are on the right path guys but ultimately i would prefer to find a 'pigtail'- obviously if i don't find one then we will have to mod something.

the bulb base looks the simplest so far.
 

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