Modding Dodge Ram Tail Lights to LED

I have a good number of years of playing with electronics especially LED's, so I am now converting my truck over to LED's. I have already done the front signals by adding a 2x6 trailer light into the housing and two Whelen 700 series 5mm mounted between the bed & tailgate.

Now for my questions to you guys I have cut up a old tail light housing and designed a board to which I'm looking for some help, originally I had the bulb & a strobe tube. With the proper output I think i can do away with the strobe and use a LED flasher. The board will sit at a 45 degree angle to the housing which is a 90 degree bend. Or do you guys think I shuld redo the boards to sit parallel to the lenses ?

Using the current boards I can fit either 144 5mm Led's in each side or 132 Superflux per side. While that probably not needed I figured for the max number. Depending where I get them from & price that might be adjusted. Recommendations for where to get them ?

Am I wrong to think that using a brighter LED with a narrower beam will be ok due to the number involved. Along the lines that a 20K mcd with a 25 degree beam will light the lenses so I get the whole lens to glow rather then beams of focused light ?

I found HB Brand which had good prices in LED's
www.buy-leds-online.com is there US distributor.

Included are photos of the housing.

I would suggest sticking with red LEDs even though they'll be shining through a red diffuser. Without red leds your tails can look pinkish compared to other vehicles. Also You don't need a lot of leds to get attention. More than 32ish per tail is serious overkill and moving into hazardous/dangerous territory. You'll be blinding the people stopped behind you at night.

I can't speak as to having your led board on an angle as I've only had mine directed towards the rear. But LEDs are very directional and the plastic diffusers aren't designed to for that type of light pattern.

Bogie,

I did a conversion on my bike using Wide angle 'Superflux' Red LED's.

My boards are mounted parallel to my lenses.

In 'running light' configuration I have 18 LED's lit per lense.

When 'braking' there are 36 LED's lit per lense.

The photo's were taken in full daylight. I think they're plenty bright enough and can be seen well from all angles.

Running Lights


Braking Lights


Tim.

I make this mod to a friend in a YAMAHA R1



I use 6 Luxeon K2 reds 4 in the center for parking light in 300ma and 700ma for brake, each in corners are turn lights with parking light option too..


Check the video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUTEfV2H03s

Well I am going to try it with 5mm LED's first as a buddy can get me them free, If I am unhappy with that outcome I'll try the Superflux. Althou my first choice was to use 4 Red Cree's mounted to a Aluminum housing with the strobe in the middle. In my idea this would fill the housing with light rather then the pinpoints of light LED's cause. The look I am after is that of a Lincoln Mark VIII or the new Dodge Challenger Taillights.

There are significant safety issues with what you're talking about (strobes aren't OK unless you're an emergency vehicle, for example), but that's your ticket to get, so I'll let you deal with that on your own. Brake lights need to put out between 80 and 300 candela straight back between 5° left and 5° right, at least 40 candela between 10° left and right, at least 70cd straight back between 5° up and 5° down, and there are other intensity requirements at other points in the beam. And the ratio between the bright brake mode and the dim tail mode needs to be at least 5:1 at the primary points and at least 3:1 at the secondary points. All of these requirements are to make sure the lights do their job and convey their message clearly in all ambient light conditions to those you're sharing the road with. Just looking at homemade lights and saying "Yep, they look bright enough to me" doesn't cut it, especially not with insurance adjustors, judges or juries. Something to think about.

Rip the standard bed off and put a flatbed on it. Use any of the readily available 4" round or 6" oval LED lights. If they come from a reputable manufacturer (I prefer Peterson Manufacturing) and are mounted according to the law then you'll be completely legal as far as lighting is concerned.

:buddies:

Edit: This post was tongue-in-cheek. Mostly.

Well the parts showed up I just need to desolder the LED's then re mount. As for them being bright enough the units I received are used all over the country and are easily seen in daylight. the only way the bed gets replaced is for a Stepside so I can run stacks.

I was thinking of doing led taillights on my dodge too, here is a pic of my current leds in the back

http://www.putfile.com/pic/2533954


That challenger is sweet, my friends father just ordered one

Ok I have the boards made up I'm running sets of 6 for a total of 11 rows comes out to 132 5mm LED's which is quite bright. The board is a single power unit meaning its only on or off as of now.

My question is in regards to PWM I'm trying to figure out how to have 3 levels of brightness direct power for daytime brake lights.
Night mode where constant power is on the running light side I want to switch the out put to a reduced brake light any ideas guys ? I never used PWM yet so I'm still learning as to what it can do, and I'll post pics of the array tomorrow.

Here is the lay out and built board and IT is bright. The current project is to set up PWM so that I have 3 levels of brightness available. As if feeding straight 12V+ will be great for daytime use but I want to have the running mode control a separate level of brightness for brake lights when dark.

Anyone have any ideas ?

Bogie said:

The only way the bed gets replaced is for a Stepside so I can run stacks.

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It's your truck, obviously my opinion means diddly spit and I don't have to understand it........but why would you pay MORE money to get LESS truck?

:buddies:

Diesel_Bomber said:

It's your truck, obviously my opinion means diddly spit and I don't have to understand it........but why would you pay MORE money to get LESS truck?

:buddies:

Click to expand...

It will still fit a sheet of pylwood or hold a yard of rock but putting stuff in the bed is already tough with 9" of Lift & 37" Swampers

Here is the last time I swapped the bed