Illuminated Skyline

[Al]

ok heres a hard question for you al, im not familiar with 33 2drs (ive a 4dr) or series numbers, neway i have painted the letters on my car and am wondering, on a 4dr or 2dr can u get the plastic around the letters to light up?

Can you post up a pic of the ass end of your car.

The hard task would be to get an even glow across the facia without seeing the LEDs. Not easy at all . Maybe if you were to put the LEDs around the outside edge, facing into the middle, not too sure

[munro'sgts-t]

umm sorry guys i dnt have a picture of how i laided the leds out but ill try and explain it hear goes. the section i cut out of the back was 400mm u will see the 2 lines in the black plastic that measure 400mm from one to the other. i then bought 2 x 200mm red leds from supercheap auto( you can get them at autobarn ect to) and i thoguth it was all going to be sweet lol till i meausured the leds n found they wear bout 230mm each lol wich meant if i just put them in a straight line there would have been a big gap between the leds in the middle so what i did was take then end of one led ( the blanked of end) and cut the clear cylender tube that the led and power board thingy that all the lights are solderd onto. i cut it just infront of the last led on the blanked off end with a small hacksaw then i removed the rubber plug that seals up the other end of the other led then just put a dob of silicon on the end of the exposed board and slid it into the open end of the other led hope this is all making sence. then what i did was used locktite 406 (superglue) to fix one end of the led to the bottom half of the black plastic you cut out earlyer. the reason you mount it on the bottom of this and not the middle is becase the bottom of the plastic actually lines up with the middel of the letters. then i put sum 406 under the join in the leds and also at the other end which overhangs the black plastic by about 2-3 cm then when i went to put it bak in all i did was put the onverhanging led end in 1st then just pushed the other end in an siliconed it all up. dnt forget to drill a hole at eather end of the backing to that the wiring can come bak threw i just drilled into the fixed peice ( the peice still attached to the clear side)

[Basti]

i get ya. nice work. hows the spread of the light from the LED tubes(?) look? is it even or can you kinda make out bright and dark spots?

ive just started building mine. managed to cut out the back plastic in one piece using my dremel. i'll post pics up of the bits when im done. wont be soon though as im kinda slow with this kinda stuff

[munro'sgts-t]

good work and it dnt matter how long it take the smile on your face when u turn tha tlight on for the 1st tiem at night will be worth it. and the light illuminates really well i think when you standing about 2-3m behind it after about 5m or so it starts to get a lil blury. i hav a pik on page 4 if u wanna no how it looks u can se th eleds in this pik bu tits jus tthe camera in real lif you cant see each led its to bright

[Basti]

exactly what i wanted to know dude. thanks. i thought the pic looked kinda blotchy but wanted to know if it was good in real life

[Basti]

update on my progress guys:

i went to jaycar today and had a chat to one of the attendants there. told him what i was doing and which leds i was gonna need. he said the 30,000 mcd ones would be the best. call me gullible but i agreed. told him i needed 16 (two b/n each letter). didn't notice till i got home and counted them that he gave me 32, and only charged for 10.

anyhoo his advice was to run them in parallel (see pic). he also threw in a big chunky looking resistor. he rekons i only need one and this can go anywhere in the wiring (+ive side). i wanna include it in the garnish but im worried its gonna get hot. is this a problem? its quite large, about 50x10x10mm. i dont want it melting anything

[TramanBaba]

not that resistor wont melt your board down. I am using it right now in my circuit(for a different purpose) and it shouldnt give you any probs

[ABuSD]

Al your garnish looks great!! I may have one for sale in a few weeks if it doesnt go with my line!!

Original factory option aqua green colour.

[DRD-00F]

update on my progress guys:

i went to jaycar today and had a chat to one of the attendants there. told him what i was doing and which leds i was gonna need. he said the 30,000 mcd ones would be the best. call me gullible but i agreed. told him i needed 16 (two b/n each letter). didn't notice till i got home and counted them that he gave me 32, and only charged for 10.

anyhoo his advice was to run them in parallel (see pic). he also threw in a big chunky looking resistor. he rekons i only need one and this can go anywhere in the wiring (+ive side). i wanna include it in the garnish but im worried its gonna get hot. is this a problem? its quite large, about 50x10x10mm. i dont want it melting anything

when i went to Jaycar, there was one girl there, and it was her first day... she said the normal guys gave themselves the day off... bastards...

let me know how it works out, cause thats a simpler circuit... i did mine the other way, i tested it just before when i was near the car, but i blew a fuse cause i was f**king around... gunna do it properly when i get home...

[3340TH]

Some of it's a little over the place for me. So here's how it goes.

I will hopefully be receiving my s1 garnish soon after battles with others on eBay etc.

Making the board...what is needed? Can i just parallel the leds with each other, (led in series with resistor) and have the parkers power through each side of the leds? (Als diagrams looked like it had diodes in it???)

how do u secure the board?

Painting...would the led shine through the paint? ppl have said to paint it black but if i put a coat of white and clear on the letters only will it shine through good, or shit? Only a thought.

How does the old one get removed??

Cheers.

[Basti]

dude if you have a read through this thread most of your answers will be easy to find. however if you wanna wait about a week (maybe two lol) i'll be done making mine. been taking lotsa pics and i'll be writing a how-to/diy tute thingamabob.

btw progress update: finished making the light panel and all electric prep.

to be done: mounting the leds in the garnish + painting

WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!

[DRD-00F]

dude if you have a read through this thread most of your answers will be easy to find. however if you wanna wait about a week (maybe two lol) i'll be done making mine. been taking lotsa pics and i'll be writing a how-to/diy tute thingamabob.

btw progress update: finished making the light panel and all electric prep.

to be done: mounting the leds in the garnish + painting

WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!

lol, i just did mine all in one day after work...

slight problem though which i have to fix... but it was the only piece of work i didnt do myself

[Basti]

haha like i said...im slow. lol. so you ready to reveal your technique yet?

[3340TH]

Got a low down today, was thinking of using basti's diagram, but if an led blows it throws more voltage across the other leds, hence they will go one be one. If that resistor plays up it will cut of supply to all.

so im gonna put a resistor in front of each led.

Was gonna try set up white leds in the middle of each letter and connect to a relay for when reversing only, neone know how this could be achieved.

[DRD-00F]

haha like i said...im slow. lol. so you ready to reveal your technique yet?

no, i dont show half finished work it looks nice, but it doesnt look how its supposed to look

should be fixed soon, there are 2 ways i can go about fixing it, im yet to decide which way spose which ever way comes first... *plays the waiting game*

Got a low down today, was thinking of using basti's diagram, but if an led blows it throws more voltage across the other leds, hence they will go one be one. If that resistor plays up it will cut of supply to all.

so im gonna put a resistor in front of each led.

Was gonna try set up white leds in the middle of each letter and connect to a relay for when reversing only, neone know how this could be achieved.

for the reverse, you have to have a seperate line of LEDs, on THEIR OWN POSITIVE LINE... the reverse lights are triggered by a positive line, and use the same ground as the brake ligths...

i suppose you could use one of the neg lines on the board... it wouldn't really matter... but it needs its own separete positive line...

[3340TH]

for the reverse, you have to have a seperate line of LEDs, on THEIR OWN POSITIVE LINE... the reverse lights are triggered by a positive line, and use the same ground as the brake ligths...

i suppose you could use one of the neg lines on the board... it wouldn't really matter... but it needs its own separete positive line...

I realize that it would have to be connected to the reverse lights but stopping the brake lights from turning on as well...i want the white lights to come on in reverse having the reds shut off till out of gear (reverse). I'm thinking the use of a relay but will have to study up as I'm not sure how they work.

[Al]

Julian, the "diodes" in my diagram are LEDs, just lazy and didn't put the light mark. A LED is a Diode .

[DRD-00F]

Im thinking about making these for people for about $320 a piece...

your choice of colours and what they do...

anyone interested?

[Craved]

sigh

[SAM916]

Im thinking about making these for people for about $320 a piece...

your choice of colours and what they do...

anyone interested?

yeh i'd be interested, would like to see what the next make comes out like tho with the black backing paint or whatever before the final coat. cheers mate.