Custom LED tailights

FrankLS

FrankLS

Well-Known LVC Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2008
Messages
459
Reaction score
4
Location
Tucson
Ok guys so ive been planning on converting my talights to LED's. Ive always thought the rear of the LS wasnt up to par with the front. So I plan on maybe helping the rear with some custom made LED tailights. Im not talking about changing to LED bulbs and soldering a resistor, but to actually break the tailights apart and using breadboard, fill the tailights with 5, 8 or 10mm led's.

When I first joined LVC I read this thread and have always wanted to do this. There is a lot of good info in this thread but honeslty, I dont think the task got accomplished.

http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/showthread.php?t=24479&highlight=led+tailights

Ive been lucky this year. Went from part time to full time with a raise and a sweet job so now is the time. I will also be starting school in a week so progress will be slow but should hopefully be able to acheive this within a few months.

I did a bit of work today so will update with some pictures later today. Im sure that with advice and help (especially electrical), I can get her done!
 
you plan on a pattern or more of just strips? i'd love to see a scetch on what your planning
 
Someone did a pretty good one recently. The problem they ran into and I think andrizzle as well, was that the inside of the lense isnt good for led lighting, something like that. Interesting project either way, post pics with progress.
 
Ive been working on this on and off for a little while too. I had gotten the wiring all done at one point but lost the notes I had written down, so ill have to do it again. I remember it being pretty staight forward though. Good luck, keep us posted.
 
The wiring and the LEDs is not the difficult part, like Alax said - it is the lense on the LS. It is wavy and makes an LED pattern look stupid. Until someone modifies the actual taillight's covers, I have low expectations for this project.
 
Thanks for the interest guys. Im glad you guys mention that the wiring will be no problem because that will be the area that i will need help in.

I just put this picture together right now. I used to think that my tailights were seperated into 3 sections like the gen 1 because gen 1's are the only LS's i pretty much see around here. I know im an idiot but gen 2 tailights are seperated into two sections. What i plan to do is keep the blinker, brake and driving lights in the sections they currently are.

CIMG0160-2Medium.jpg


As the diagram shows. I will use amber led's to light up the top section which will take care of the blinkers. As i am fairly new to led wiring, I will not mess with varying voltage on the led's in the second section to get a difference in brightness for the brake lights. I plan on setting the led's in rows and every other row will light up with the running lights and the others for the brake lights.

Andrizzle. I dont beleive that the wavy lense will be much of a problem. My tailights are smooth on the outside and wavy on the inside. I plan on placing these leds right next to eachother so therefore providing a more or less solid lighting. If anything I can use a light diffusing sheet just under the tailight to provide that effect.

On a lot of the "tuner" websites, when they convert to led's, they sometimes just sand down the wavy features and buff the area right up, which is another possibility. If a wavy tailight lens was going to stop me, I would of never started this project. Thats actually a very stange response from someone who is taking on such a task as vinyl wrapping his car. Looks great btw.
 
So I'm guessing you're cutting the lens off of the housing?(good luck)

I don't see how you're going to sand down those waves without completely wrecking the clearness of the whole light. Putting something to diffuse the light is kinda defeating the purpose of the LEDs, at least the look I was going for.

I wanted a clean line of LEDs, not just LED light output.
 
Ok so I knew i would be making a few mistakes as it is with every project and my first mistake i have made.

I obtained a set of used tailights from M4Rk here on LVC. I wasnt too sure how to break them apart (I should of asked), so I decided to bake them. At first at very low temp and I noticed that the sealant seamed a bit softer, so a bit more heat and then this happened...

CIMG0164Medium.jpg


CIMG0165Medium.jpg


Dremel it is :rolleyes:

Ill be working on the other one until i replace the wrecked one.
 
The only good way to remove the waves would be to cut them out of the original lenses, mold the holes flush with the lense, then make a mold of the entire lense with clear resin. Making a completely new lense. Although I think it would be quite difficult to make a lense that looked perfect.
 
Here you can clearly see what Andrizzle is talking about. The waves make it look distorted. (However, The board in this pic didnt fit properly yet, so it curves a little on the right side.)
View attachment 66750
 
Yeah i understand his concern. I beleive that if the LED's were to be side by side therefore creating a more or less solid light, the wavy features of the lense will not distort it as much. I do see how that would affect the look he was going for.

I may try the sanding and buffing/polishing on the lens from the warped one. Just to see if it is possible but i beleive it is. I dont know how far sanding a warped lense will take me :).

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/app...ior/384280-talon-led-tail-light-retrofit.html

A few seconds of searching. This thread talks about just that. Maybe not the best represention of this process, but a good thread is out there somewhere.
 
Thats probably because his arm wore out before he was done. It looks like taking on a project as such, would take a lot of time and work.

Have you thought about maybe moving the led board up close to the lens. Following the curve of the lens and parellel to the "waves. I beleive that will look better but not perfect.
 
Andrizzle said:
I don't see how you're going to sand down those waves without completely wrecking the clearness of the whole light.
Click to expand...

I could be wrong here but.... Sanding is part of the headlight restoration process, so why would it damage them as long as he restores them after achieving the desired surface?
 
I dont think moving the board would help. You could (only in the Gen 1's I think) line the LED's up inside the curve. I remember Fastlls saying he had done that with his LED's. Its not the curve of the lens, but the bumps on it that distort the light.
 
trickett90 said:
I could be wrong here but.... Sanding is part of the headlight restoration process, so why would it damage them as long as he restores them after achieving the desired surface?
Click to expand...

As long as you take the time to sand the lens back down with a high grit, then polish and buff, you should acheive a clear glass look.
 
I think that method will look better on a Gen 2 lens.

CIMG0004Medium.jpg


Although it would not look as good as a clear lens.
 
You can make your own lense, that not impossible.If you're new to mold making though, its not going to be cheap to learn and make it perfect in one try. I find it fun to do, I am currently trying to make gen1 clear reflectors, just casted one out. I bought 3 different clear resins to see if I could get a bubble free lense, but it is looking like its very hard without a pressure pot. Might buy one anyways since I actually like doing this stuff.


You can also just pay someone to make you one, which wont be cheap, that actually does that for a living. They would have pressure pots to give you a bubble free lense, which is the hard part I'm running into. It might cost you 200-300 for both lenses, which will probably scare you from going that route.
 
Oh that sucks about the melted lenses :( But good luck on this project, I'm looking forward to more updates.

When I had my Dodge Stratus there was one guy making custom tail lights by heating and forming plastic (Lexan or some polycarbonate I think) to make clear lenses. http://www.2gss.net/index.php?/topic/12125-dewphys-custom-clear-tail-lights/ The borders didn't look as good as stock, but a less transparent red might look better. Maybe you could do something like that instead of trying to smooth out the stock lenses.
 
Yea I thought of cutting a red piece of plastic and trying to melt/morph it into the shape of the LS light. Then basically adhere it onto the original housing/remaining plastic.

I was then going to sand the seams smooth and cover it with vinyl, to cover up the seams. Then have the clear red part with a true LED pattern going on behind it. However, that is way too much work for right now.

Still working on wrapping my car!
 
Didnt get much done today. I went ahead and started cutting the breadboard. I havent cut it to length yet as I have a few options as to its shape.

CIMG0163Medium.jpg


I could either leave the breadboard straight inside the housing, or heat it up and give it the same curvature as the tailight. Im leaning towards a curve shape. I beleive that in this way the leds may be visible from more angles.

Another idea ive been tossing in my mind. I was originally planning on placing the breadboard as far back in the tailight as i could, but ridges at either end of the housing dont allow me to do so. I want to be able to fill the area with led's but the tailight becomes more narrow as you move further in.

Another decision Ill have to make. Either place the breadboard further in the headlight which will decrease the breadboard size (so room for led's) or grind down some of those ridges just enough to be able to place the breadboard further in allowing more led are and will not have a clearance issue with the lens.

CIMG0003Medium.jpg


CIMG0005Medium.jpg


CIMG00091Medium.jpg


I beleive cutting the ridges will be the best option although it will break through the back of the housing slightly which i will have to somehow seal to water proof. Let me know what you guys think.

Making my own lens is a possibility. I like Andrizzles idea, seams like it should be a "bit" easier than making a new lens completley. Either way, both options will require a lot of work. For right now i will see how this will look using the stock lens as some of you have tried.
 
owlman said:
Oh that sucks about the melted lenses :( But good luck on this project, I'm looking forward to more updates.

When I had my Dodge Stratus there was one guy making custom tail lights by heating and forming plastic (Lexan or some polycarbonate I think) to make clear lenses. http://www.2gss.net/index.php?/topic/12125-dewphys-custom-clear-tail-lights/ The borders didn't look as good as stock, but a less transparent red might look better. Maybe you could do something like that instead of trying to smooth out the stock lenses.
Click to expand...

good find! Another option although I would of had to cut the lens differently to accomplish this as a lip would be needed (or possibly constructed) to attach the new lens to it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 27 (members: 0, guests: 27)
Back
Top