• Protip: Profile posts are public! Use Conversations to message other members privately. Everyone can see the content of a profile post.

Turn Signal LED DRLs

Joined
28 August 2007
Messages
173
Location
Destin, FL
I had to to take my bumper off anyway, so I figured it would be a good time to do my LED DRL project. I have seen others do this with good success and it looked like fun. NSX purists may not want to see this...

I started out by taking the turn signals out of the front bumper. I boiled some water, filled up my sink and put the signal case in. After sitting for a minute or two I gently used a flat head screwdriver to pry off the clear lens. Sorry, no pics. Then you just have to reach in there and squeeze the amber housing and the actual blinker housing should come right out.

20120825_084753.jpg


Next I used a dremel to grind down the divider between the blinker section and the parking lights. I also used the dremel to sand down the extra glue around the edge of the housing. You can see the area that I removed.

20120825_082942-1.jpg


I removed this section so I can put LEDs over the entire length of the housing. I wanted my LEDs to be bright and easily visible during the day, so I opted for some 3W power LEDs. These LEDs can get very hot, so I bought some individual heat sinks for each LED. I used some Hi-Temp silicon to glue the back of each individual heat sink to make a panel.

20120825_072326.jpg


Because I only glued the back seam, it allows me to bend the heat sink panel when dry so I can fit the shape of the housing exactly.

20120825_072605.jpg


I put some thermal compound between each LED and heatsink, hoping this would transfer the heat more efficiently. I used a little epoxy to fix the LED to the heatsink.

20120825_072341.jpg


I bought some LED lenses that fit over the top of each LED, which make each LED look larger then it really is. I have not decided if I will use these for sure or not, but they are removable so its all good.

20120825_082912.jpg


Fortunately the heatsink fits nicely in the turn signal housing, almost exactly in fact. Below are some mock up pics with the housing and bumper.

20120825_082820.jpg


20120825_082802.jpg


20120825_072650.jpg


20120825_082703.jpg


Of course I am not done wiring them yet, I should have time to finish this week. I am going to drive each LED individually with their own constant current source. I tested one LED out and it was very very bright. Hopefully these LEDs are not too bright for the road. Anyway, more to come later...
 
you should paint the heatsinks silver or metal color it would hide them better when they are in the lens housing
instead of the honda civic rear tail light kinda look:rolleyes:

I Like this mod this is a great idea.

my question is how did you wire them all up in series or parallel

nice work

me being a computer consultant I have a ton of those exact heatsinks LOL
 
Last edited:
you should paint the heatsinks silver or metal color it would hide them better when they are in the lens housing
instead of the honda civic rear tail light kinda look:rolleyes:

I Like this mod this is a great idea.

my question is how did you wire them all up in series or parallel

nice work

me being a computer consultant I have a ton of those exact heatsinks LOL

I was thinking this also but since the car is black, he just may get by with them black. Whats your plan for turn signals?
 
You can adjust the current to reduce the brightness if needed. What drivers are you using? With the correct driver you can add a variable resistor for adjustment and some have it built in.


Mike
 
You can adjust the current to reduce the brightness if needed. What drivers are you using? With the correct driver you can add a variable resistor for adjustment and some have it built in.


Mike
Agreed. The only real downside to the 'build it yourselfer" is they do need to dim somewhat with the lights on like OEM.
 
Thanks for the interest everyone. I am using individual constant current drivers with approximately 700mA going to each LED, which is a fair amount of current. My bench 12VDC power supply broke, so used the car battery to test one of the LEDs with the heat sink, and it killed my battery quicker than I thought, so I will have to turn the engine on to test for now.

So to answer your question Shawn, each LED (with individual driver connected) is wired in parallel to the 12V supply (this should come in handy if I get fancy with the blinking). You are right, I could spray it silver for an OEM look. But I think I am going to go with the murdered out look. I was going to spray the inside of the housing black. Maybe I will try both ways to see which looks best.

Good news, the heat sink really does its job and keeps the LED cool, I almost burned my finger off by touching it before installing the heatsink.

David- I believe the turn signal/blinking could be accomplished easily with a Single Pole Double Throw (SPDT) relay. Basically the DRLs would be on all the time unless the relay coil is charged by the turn signal voltage (from the car), which would cause an open circuit for the LEDs. I will probably go this route to begin with. But I chose to have individual drivers so I could wire them to a microcontroller and do a sequential blink ;)

If I need to adjust the intensity I will just use PWM, but we will see. I should have some prelim powered on pics this week.
 
Are they constant current drivers? Remember that the NSX system provides about 14.6 volts when the car is running which will increase your mA, output and heat if they aren't.


Mike
 
They are constant current drivers for sure. I am working on this little by little. Here are some pics of the LEDs on.
20120828_170342.jpg


20120828_170251.jpg


Here is a shot of the LEDs sitting behind the clear turn signal lens.
20120828_155917.jpg


Next step is installing the LEDs in the housing.
 
A quick test fit to check the beam before sealing the housing.
20120829_095740.jpg

20120829_101352.jpg


Since the LEDs follow the contour of the housing lens, part of the beam is directed towards the side. It looks good during the day, but I will probably have to dim it for night driving since they are pretty bright.
 
Looks great. Yeah looks like they are pretty bright, probably would have been fine at 350mA. Takes a big difference in current to make a noticable difference to the eye.

Mike
 
great job! looking forward to the finish product. I think this LED DRL mod is the hot ticket for the pre2002 cars. love it!
 
Pretty much done with phase 1... Yes, they blink, just need to get a few 50W capable resistors to stop the hyperblink. The second phase would be the sequential blinkers. In that case the blink would be controlled by the microcontroller anyway. I ended up spraying the inside of the housing black, and I like the look.
20120903_143227.jpg

20120903_143237.jpg


We had some fun taking the action shots I promised. My wife was the stunt driver for part of it.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AK0jQoGbth0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Last edited:
blinking white LEDs for turn signals threw me off there for a little on the video. Dont get me wrong, they looked great, though if it were orange, would be "proper" and better.

They look great as DRLs :cool:

now wheres those buttons..

url

url
 
Back
Top