LED Taillamp project underway

[Whelan]

I purchased an OEM lamp with wires and bulbs for $45 shipped from Ebay, couldn't beat that deal. This will be my guinnea pig to play with my Dremel on.I am planning on creating the first LED taillamp for the 03-08 Matrix (more specifically the 05-08 clear lens style like mine. I am not planning on doing retrofits unless people really bug me for it. My 3 goals in the project are this:1) Get the brake lamp to be LED for marker and brakes2) Have the turn signal be LED3) If I feel ambitious, setting up the 3 red stripes on the side with LEDs as well. Who knows?My idea stems from the fact that the lens itself is very circular in shape except for the bottom sliver where it flattens out. But that is a minimal concern. Concern #2 is the reflector in the middle of the brake lens. Do I do a pattern with flexible LEDs around the edge or use a truck style circular LED?Stock Matrix lamp you can see the areas I am talking about with the reflector and such.I would most likely go with the clear starburst style from SBLEDs as it would be a better pattern than the others offered. Not to mention the dual intensity and all other components are built-into the lens.And for the turn signal, since my car has a clear area with amber bulb, I would use the clear styled LED panel with amber flash to keep it clean. Given that the lens is not clear and has striping you would not notice the lens that much.Now as crazy as this sounds it would not be overly expensive as the LEDs are not pricey from the source. I would have to do some wiring which is not hard and maybe adding in resistors from the supplier SBLEDs to keep the flash rate normal on the turn signal. Either way it seems pretty feasible and with some patience and time could be a good project and VERY VERY UNIQUE.A Search on many sites for Matrix LED turns up nothing in terms of LED lamps, not even a custom job. So we shall see what comes up and how this goes. It should take a little time but I'll keep you updated here. So hit me up, thoughts? opinions? I need to measure the inside of the lens and get an idea of what could fit and see if anything different is around for lamps too. But for the most part, this is my idea.

[Wolfman213]

I'm planning on doing the same things for the Vibe! However, i'm going to go custom AFA the leds are concerned and try and configure a microprocessor to do some different things with the led pattern. I'm def going to keep an eye out on your project though. I know since the taillights are dif we would end up running into different sets of issues, but still interesting to see what comes of it! Good luck and keep us posted!!!

[Whelan]

My reasons for going this route instead of a more customized approach have to be the fact that I am not a guru with LEDs and electrical but I know my way around enough. These are 12V pre-made lenses and that makes install/fitment a lot easier with some hard wiring (crimps, sleeves), and epoxy to get it to stay. Aside from that I will most likely be the first person I know and def. in my state at least (maybe the tri-state), to take on something like this instead of some aftermarket APC style lenses. I like my stock lamps and my goal is to keep the car stock, but I wanted to add this to make it more appealing, match my LED 3rd brake lamp and be different and noticeable. I'll be sure to keep you posted. I'm saving my posting on MO for these once they are done to give them a WOW factor, unless it leaks out which I am sure it will at some point. LOL

[Wolfman213]

I'm def not a guru either, I just want something challenging to do and thing it would be pretty fun. Plus, just like you said, with no one else doing a true led setup, it will be very unique!!Glad we get to watch the step by step prior to MO!!

[northvibe]

i just had a microcontroller wet dream the other night about my SS tail lights...ughh I wish I had time..gl whelan and post pics!

[Whelan]

After searching I found these. Clear with amber arrows that are sequential for my turns. Its a possibility that would cost $100 for a pair as opposed to maybe 30-50 for standards. Would they even be noticeable in my lamp, probably not.

[Whelan]

Update 10/2/09 I removed the lens on the lamp I got from Ebay. Big step forward. http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=38886

[A Psycho Martyr]

any updates?

[tpollauf]

Quote, originally posted by A Psycho Martyr »any updates?Whelan. I'm with you on this one I plan on doing ALMOST the exact thing to my 2009 Vibe GT tail lights. I may bite the bullet and purchase a spare set from GMparts direct ( a few hundred $$$) and dismantle them. Total enclosure will likely house between 60-100 LED's per fixture! This will obviously comprise of the brake, park, & backup lights! I'm not crazy about the clear lens setup that they did to the 09 & 10 Vibes (like the 03-08 better) and may color in areas of the lens for specific indication. Also I'm going to remove the Amber color and stick with red for turn indicator. Separate LED side markers ... Definitely YES Like I said this will likely be a fall/winter project when I'm stuck indoors. With nice weather I'm outdoors as much as possible and not in the shop unless I have to be there! SuperBrightLEDs.com is one of my suppliers also. Answering your question from PsychoMartyr in another post ......... I had an idea that maybe instead of yellow turn signals My brake lights could act as turn signals as well. I see it ALL the time on other cars. The same bulb for both. How could I get this to work with mine?If using LED's it would be very simple. Place a resistor in series with a bank of LED's and a simple relay to do the switching between brake & park lights. In the case of my 3rd brake light setup, I have 60 led's total wired up with 10 sets of 6. Each set of 6, in series, needs 13.2-14.0 volts for maximum lumens without damaging the LED's. Then I simply place a 4.7kohm resistor in front of each bank (1/4 watt handles 12 LED's) and have a relay switch between park & brake) It drops the voltage down to around 11 volts which "dims" the LED's to a normal "park light" glow. When I get it done, I'll post pics & all documentation

[vibolista]

Glad to see some of you messing around with LEDs. I'm still waiting for my LED 3rd brake light to arrive and am starting to wonder if it's ever coming after 2 months, so far. I have seen some fairly well done LED light applications fabricated by car owners, that even work well. So far, the only thing I've tried is add bright amber LEDs in my motorcycle's front turn signal pods to turn them into marker/running lights. I didn't replace the single filament blinker bulb, only added the led to keep the reflector lit. To do that I placed the LED at the bottom corner of the reflector and faced it up at the top of the reflector. This produced an even and usably bright light on the lens with no hot spot. And the turn signal still works fine. So the same thing goes for me, I'm going to try to replace as many of the Vibes tail filament light bulbs in my Vibe with LEDs.