L.E.D. Tail Light conversion D.I.Y.

[FerrariKiller]

Have not been on here for a while .... just so busy with work. I recently had some time to play with some ideas on converting the tail light to LED.
I noted a few members on here have done/or are selling their own kit for $7-900. Well...it's just a bit to much for my budget so I went on a little R&D myself and found a much cheaper was to do it.
I found one seller on Ebay selling these 4" led tail/brake light for $10 a piece.
Total cost $60.
Total time...a 4-5 hours.
Tool required: any cheap soldering tool..got mine from Radioshack for $10
Heat gun...got mine from Harbor Freight for $12
Unfortunately..I forgot to take photos of the steps but basically I used the heat gun to melt the glue in order to disassemble the ligh housing. I leave out the reflector since there's llittle room for it. Then I cut a piece of hard cardboard with red paper backing (I bought mine from Joann craft store for $3) to the shape of the light.
I also disassemble the LED I bought and keep only the circuit board with the LED. Then the rest is just glue and some wiring and soldering.
The outer most light is the turn signal which flashes in concentric circles. The two inner lights are tail/brake light.
I thought the result looks pretty cool...and for only roughly $70...you can't beat that

 

[EAC]

Needs more links, sketches and pictures :biggrin:

 

[Ghayes23]

looks good. What does it look like during the day?

 

[synth19]

Please provide some close up pics, hard to determine if they are truly an upgrade from the pic you provided.

 

[EAC]

they don't appear symetrical..

 

[FerrariKiller]

EAC,
You have good eyes Yes the driver side center light is off to the right about half and inch. I did measured it but somehow it got crooked when I put it on. Just too lazy to re-open the housing to fix it.
Sorry for the crappy photo taken with my phone....will try to take better quality ones
It looks preety damn bright at night...somewhat blinding when the brake is on. ...also pretty bright in the day. Each of those round light has 64 high powered LED.

 

[EAC]

EAC,
You have good eyes Yes the driver side center light is off to the right about half and inch. I did measured it but somehow it got crooked when I put it on. Just too lazy to re-open the housing to fix it.
Sorry for the crappy photo taken with my phone....will try to take better quality ones
It looks preety damn bright at night...somewhat blinding when the brake is on. ...also pretty bright in the day. Each of those round light has 64 high powered LED.

Do you have a link to where you bought them?

 

[FerrariKiller]

Here are some better close-up photos. Enjoys
I bought them off this Ebay seller
http://stores.ebay.com/wholesale-led-truck-lights/_i.html?_fsub=533977012
There are several combinations...tail/brake light or tail/signal light w/flash or tail/signal light with strobe..etc
I basically remove the plastic casing from the light I bought and just used the circuit board with LEDs on it and re-soldered the leads. The thickness of the board and leds is about 1/4 of an inch which should fit perfectly inside the red lense after you remove the reflector.

I also replaced the back-up light with led I bought a while back and put one behind the center panel to illuminate the "NSX" logo :biggrin:

 

[Moses]

This was something I was going to do, but still haven't got around to it. The kits available on prime for sale look professional and well done. This is simple do and the leds have built in chips and resistors. Here are the ones that I recommend. You can find them at your local truck stop or dealer ex. Freightliner, Peterbuilt, etc.

You have a couple of well known brands, grote, trucklite, and maxxima.

http://maxxima.com/products/product_detail/39/M56100R 56 LED Red Stop/Tail/Turn Light/view/.html

http://maxxima.com/products/product...Rectangular Stop/Tail/Turn Light /view/.html

 

[condumbwerkz]

For $70 bucks, that is not bad at all! I am a little worried about the quality/craftsmanship of the unit, but then again, $70 bucks is chump change.

Also, I love your license plate frame I am so use to seeing them as, "My other car is a Porsche/Ferrari/Lamborghini/etc" and saw yours... good stuff!

 

[FerrariKiller]

Thanks! I have another frame that says "Hybrid....Burns rubber and gasoline" being that I also own a Honda Hybrid :biggrin:
I did the LED conversion a few months back. So far everything's working fine. The circuit board's workmanship seems fine..good solid solder joint...Just have to make sure you re-seal the light housing real good so water vapor doesn't get inside and cause corrosion.
And of course for $70 and 4-5 hours...you can't really beat that. You can either spend $700 buying a ready-to-install kit or you can spend a little time soldering up some joints and save a ton of $$$. Actually most of my time was spent opening up the factory light housing and cleaning the left over glue.

 

[EAC]

Do they make those in a basic round format? Without the design? Or, do they make it square?

 

[synth19]

After seeing some of the higher res pics, IMO looks kinda cheesy. But I guess I would have to see it in person.... Last thing I want to see is cheap mods on an NSX..... that look cheap.

 

[Moses]

Do they make those in a basic round format? Without the design? Or, do they make it square?

Did you click the links on my post?

 

[Moses]

After seeing some of the higher res pics, IMO looks kinda cheesy. But I guess I would have to see it in person.... Last thing I want to see is cheap mods on an NSX..... that look cheap.

It all depends on how much work you put into it to make it up to your standards.

 

[FerrariKiller]

synth19,
It looks good enough for me. Not everyone can afford to spend $7-900 for it...but if if you have high standard and suit yourself...and buy the expensive, professionally done kit.
EAC,
The seller i bought it from only have in round form. The link Moses provided have both round and rectangular forms...but it seems they have less LED per light.