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LED Parkers

Henros

By Henros,
in General Automotive Discussion

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Henros Enthusiast

Henros

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Hey guys,

Thanks for the replies. They're not off the shelf replacements, I made them myself. Each "bulb" is made up of six 5mm white LEDs, in 2 strings of 3. I added a dropping resistor (68 ohm) for current limiting and a diode (IN4004) for reverse polarity and transient high voltage protection. The whole package was soldered onto a very small PCB and plugged into the original socket. The only downside is that LEDs have a much narrower light cone, so that the light doesn't look as spread out as the original bulb, but the colour is a lot nicer.

Cheers.

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sewid Grand Master

sewid

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Posted
Originally posted by Henros

Hey guys,

Thanks for the replies. They're not off the shelf replacements, I made them myself. Each "bulb" is made up of six 5mm white LEDs, in 2 strings of 3. I added a dropping resistor (68 ohm) for current limiting and a diode (IN4004) for reverse polarity and transient high voltage protection. The whole package was soldered onto a very small PCB and plugged into the original socket. The only downside is that LEDs have a much narrower light cone, so that the light doesn't look as spread out as the original bulb, but the colour is a lot nicer.

Cheers.

To diffuse the light output of 5mm LED's you can sand down the "lens" portion of the top of the LED.

Try it out and see if it improves the light spread.

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Henros Enthusiast

Henros

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Here it goes guys, my first step by step guide

1. Remove the parkers from the car by disconnecting the wiring and twisting the sockets anticlockwise 90 degrees. This step is sure to be accompanied by much swearing the cutting yourself due to the awkward position and lack of clearance. Persistence is the key and may the force be with you.

2. Remove the 5W wedge lamp and measure the diameter of the socket opening (round end). I can't remeber the exact measurement but it should be around 13 to 14 mm. Cut either a blank PCB (printed circuit board) or a prototype strip board into a circle with the same diameter. You need 2 of those. The PCB approach is neater but needs etching to produce the pattern. The prototype board has pre-existing copper tracks but you're gonna have to work out the wiring pattern according to the circuit diagram yourself, but that shoudn't be hard. You can even use an insulating material without and copper tracks and just solder the component legs directly to each other. The role of the circular board, whatever you decide to use, is to provide a physical and electrical mounting platform for the electronic components. I will describe the PCB approach here.

3. The circuit diagram is given below (see LEDParkerCircuit.gif). As you can see, the LEDs are connected in a series-parallel configuration to minimise electrical dissipation. The resistor provides current limiting and the diode provides protection against reverse polarity and transient high voltages. I have used a resistor value which will drive the LEDs at 20 mA when the engine is on (13.8V). If you want to increase the brightness, you can reduce the value a bit, but I wouldn't go any lower than 51 ohms (which is 30 mA at 13.8V).

4. The PCB pattern was designed according to the circuit diagram, see diagram (LEDParkerPCB.jpg). Replicate the pattern with a permanent marker and let dry. Once dry, the PCB can be etched in either a iron III chloride or ammonium persulphate solution. The solutions are made by desolving appropriate amounts of the chemical powder in water. Read the instructions accompanying the chemicals. The ammonium persulphate solution need to be warm to work, so use hot water.

5. After etching, rinse the PCB in fresh water and clean off the permanent marker with metho or mineral turps. Rinse in water again. Drill holes in the PCB as shown in the diagram below (LEDParkerPCBDrilled.jpg).

6. Insert LEDs onto the board from the non-copper side and solder in place as shown in the diagram (LEDParkerPCBLayout.jpg). The resistor and diode are solder only at one end on the copper side. They also fuction as electrical contacts. See

diagram (LEDParkerPCBSoldered.jpg). Note that I have used 2 resistor in parallel, that's because I didn't have any 68 ohm resistors at the time.

7. Bend the leg on the other side of the resistor and diode and apply liberal amounts of solder to they fit snuggly in the socket contacts.

8. Plug the LED module into the socket and test it on the car. If the LEDs do not light up, reverse the pins and try again. Once you'll satisfied, secure the PCB to the top of the socket with a little bit of superglue. This is to make sure that it doesn't get shaken loose by vibrations. The finished product is shown in LEDParkerAssembly.jpg

9. Reinstall the parkers and wiring. Enjoy your new blueish white parkers!

Disclaimer: I take no responsiblity for anything that happens to you or your car should you give this a try.

Cheers.

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