LED tail lights for my flair side

[Uncle Skip]

Why?
Well, when I rewired the truck, I didn't use the center tap wire for letting the brake lights over ride the turn signals and made a circuit for each function.
1. brake light
2. tail light
3. brake light

So, I needed a housing with three light sources and the old style bulbs took up to much space to make it look right.
I was at an electronics store down near NASA not to long ago and saw some neat little bright white LED's. After comparing the intensity with the original bulbs (these are way brighter) I decided this was the way to go.
Simple is always better and these LED's only draw 300 ma. so I can use small wire to hook them up and use the neat secret wire conduit that goes from the housing to the bed side I stole at Pate for $10.00 American that I'll show you later.

My test housing was damaged because someone had backed into it, bent it and made it not useable so I cut it up so I could trace a template for a division plate to separate the light chambers.


Next, I cut the housing in half at the line where the lens has a division step.


The brake light will be on top so I used the top of the damaged housing to make my template for the separator. This is the key component for mounting the LED's.


This is the card stock pattern. Tested it in place to check the fit of the spacer.



This is the finished aluminum separator cut from the card stock template and installed to check the fit. Looks pretty good. (Notice I just drove the original light socket out with a small hammer and piece of wood.)


Here's a couple of pictures of the LED's with a couple of bucks to give you an idea of size. The smaller square unit is the brightest one and will be used as a brake light in the top of the housing. The turn signal and running lamps will be side by side on the bottom.


And finally you can see the aluminum veritcal pieces that the LED's will mount to. The blue tape peals off and gives a very bright white background for good reflection of the lights.
Everything is coming back apart so I can prime and paint the housings before I put the units in permanently but I think you get the general idea.


If you'd like to try this, I'd be happy to send you a copy of the little panel I built.
It ain't rocket science.

Let me know what you think.

[rickairmedic]

I am looking forward to the full " mustang gas tank style " writeup on this Unc . I already play with LED's making home made brass keyring flashlights . I am sure these will be quite a bit more involved than my little flashlights that use a single LED bulb and 2 watch batteries for power .



Rick

[BiffWilley]

Great idea man! I'll be anxious to see how this goes! You just can't deny how bright and efficient LED's are. Plus they have become so much more reasonable in price.

I'll be following and hopefully someday soon I will get brave enough to venture into the wiring world.

Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work man!
Biff

[charliemccraney]

Before you get too much farther, see if you can test them with the lens in place. One problem with LEDs is that they project light directly in front of them and if not arranged carefully will not illuminate things like a bulb. I think that while they may be bright when viewed head on, they aren't going to be very effective like that.

I think they may need to be deeper in the housing, and possibly even slightly convex.

[Gritsngumbo]

There goes Skip showing off again. Most folks would use a quarter, but he has dollar bills in his pocket
Srusly, looking good.

[Uncle Skip]

I finished the little mounting brackets today and got the housings primed ready for paint.
Then, I mocked them up and tested the lights with the lenses on and they ARE bright.
I think this little project is going to work out pretty good.
I need to take some pictures but I got geeked about testing the lights and forgot.
After doing this I see absolutely no reason you couldn't make a mounting plate for the housing and put the LED's in a style side too.

[Uncle Skip]

Pre-mounting the stainless conduit and fittings for the tail light wires before paint.
I bought these conduits at Pate for ten bucks. They're for headlight wires on 32 Fords and the like.
I'm afraid to look up and see what they cost new, and seriously folks, I don't know what I did before the invention of step drills.

Light housing pre-mounted to get the location.


Locating the holes in the bed sides.


Here's the conduit assembly. I have to shorten it so it doesn't hang out and look crappy.

[Wollfe]

so how are you getting around the reflectors built into the top of the lenses are casting your own ??

last time i tried a led behind a reflector it did not work.

[Uncle Skip]

Wolfe, I don't see any reflectors. There are diffuser patterns in the back side of the lens to spread out the light.
I tried the LED's behind the lens and it works really well.
Still waiting on a decent day to paint, but I did get the conduit shortened to the correct length.
Can't wait to mount it all up as a finished product.

[rickairmedic]

Cant wait to see Nadine leave the garage again under her own power .


Rick

[Truckrat]

Your just a wealth of "How To" information buddy! Been wondering how that light project had been coming along. Good job! TR

[Wollfe]

Skip great job on the lights

My lenses must have been from a different manufacture because the top part of the last 3 sets of shield lenses i have had, have had the reflector square pattern on the top part instead of the Fresnel lens type diffuse it has on the bottom (light went through top but was not visible @ 50' in daylight). was just wondering how you got around that.

[Toyz]

Same thing on the Stylesides. The damn reflector is an efficient block. I haven't found any butterfly type replacement bulbs (which would help with the viewing angle), to fit the narrow housing, leaving side by side mounting. That really cuts the viewing angle. There IS a dramatic drop-off in brightness even at ten degrees despite most being advertised for a 50 degree viewing angle.
Easiest solution at this point appears to be the 1157 replacement multi-function LED. If one wanted to separate functions, the '67 style lens with backup lamp could easily be used with a red 1156 LED wired into brake or turn circuit, or, change the socket to a dual element and use the white lens for brake and turn as OEM, with running lamps in original position. I'm running an export tri-color lens setup from Skip, so I've separated the turn signals onto the amber lens, with the brake and running lamps on an 1157 LED bulb.
Keep in mind that if you ever want to pull a trailer, you may want to retain the multi-function wiring to avoid utilizing a converter for trailer lighting. You could still utilize two multi-function bulbs per side with a pair of two-wire jumpers.
After experimenting with a single LED park/turn set-up at the front, I have gone to a 12-inch x 1 inch multi-LED housing just inside the headlamps at the bottom of my '65 grille.
A little too wordy as usual ; pictures probably would help I ran out of time.
Paul

[charliemccraney]

There IS a dramatic drop-off in brightness even at ten degrees despite most being advertised for a 50 degree viewing angle.

The viewing angle is the angle from directly in front of the LED, at which the brightness is 50%. So with a 50 degree viewing angle, 25 degrees to the right is 1/2 as bright and 25 degrees to the left is 1/2 as bright.

[Toyz]

Thanks, Charlie, never know what you may learn around here!
My only comment is that it appears that 50% drop-off first seems to happen at, oh, about 5 degrees in my setup!
That was my reasoning in originally considering the butterfly bulbs. I was hoping the crossed angles would translate into a wider area of brightness.
Paul

[Uncle Skip]

Got 'em painted today. They need to cure for a couple of days and then I'll put them together.
Bright white with polished stainless brackets.
I have a vision..... trust me.

[eddieschopshop]

looking good..

[Uncle Skip]

The braided wire conduit fitting is to small for the hole in the tail light housing. I had to find something to fill the void so I got 4 1/2" O-rings. Two on each side.
They fit perfectly and as a little lagnappe, they seal up (water proof) the connection at the same time..
I'll post pictures of the process when I finish it up this weekend.
Now I have to order new lenses. My old cracked originals look orange and the new ones are advertised as red.
Is there really a difference?
I'm color blind.
Hep me.....

[Uncle Skip]

Here are the pictures. Note the two O-rings on each conduit. I put the nut on from the inside and its all sealed up weather tight.
After some experimentation on the LED placement this is how they ended up. Now for some new lenses.
The single LED will be the park light.

[Uncle Skip]

Just experimented drilling the hole for my blue dots on one of my already cracked lenses and it worked like a charm.
The drill press gives me so much more control than a regular hand drill, and the step drill (Uni-bit) worked like a champ.
In fact, I drilled right thru a long crack and it was like I was cutting a hole in virgin plastic.
I did make a pilot hole first and then slowly opened up the hole for the blue dot. I don't see any problems with this step of the operation.
When I get then new lenses and blue dots I'll post a picture.
Will be using Tenax 7R glue on the assembly.