<VV> WC: FC LED Taillight Retro

[corvair at mts.net]

For a guy that "knows next to nothing about things electrical" that's a pretty amazing project! Very nice!

Les

> 
> From: Western Canada CORSA <westerncanadacorsa at shaw.ca>
> Date: 2008/07/21 Mon AM 06:57:11 CDT
> To: corvairs at cybrus.net,  virtualvairs at corvair.org,  corvanatics at corvair.org
> CC: 'Laura Muise' <Laura.Muise at MoneyMart.ca>, 
>  'Bill Rush' <billrush at sympatico.ca>,  'George Bowden' <gtbowden at shaw.ca>, 
>  ghdoughty at yahoo.ca,  rosemt at kingston.net,  'Bob Slusher' <bobvair at comcast.net>, 
>  'Dave Wenzlick' <dave at rcaz.com>
> Subject: WC: FC LED Taillight Retro
> 
> I just finished a little project I've been wanted to do for several years
> now (4&1/2 to be precise) and it's at a point where I'm pretty sure the
> major bridges have been crossed, and I want to share.
>  
> This all started with the idea of doing four '66 backup lights using LEDs
> for brake&tail, signal and backup under one lens.  I found a nice gent named
> George at the local computer club who was generous enough to help out
> answering questions and making suggestions that got me pointed in the right
> direction.  But a new job came up and things got busy for the next few
> years.  During this time "da boyz" (Shawn & Mike) here in Victoria had
> figured out how to cast the FC taillights in clear; which got me thinking
> LEDs would be a perfect way to get backups in an FC without bolting on what
> usually comes out as a pretty ugly but functional answer to backup lights in
> an FC. (IMO)
>  
> Now I should preface this by saying that I know next to nothing about things
> electrical.  But I was lucky enough to grow up with a Dad that worked for
> Bell, and a Grandfather that was jack of all trades and master of most of
> them to boot.  But keep in mind as you read this that I have no background
> in this stuff, so maybe it'll inspire you to try something like this on your
> 'vair as well.
>  
> Here's the project in abreiviated form.
>  
> Oh yeah, I should also add that it's 4:30am on the Pacific coast as I type
> this.  I'm just too reved up to get to sleep, but perhaps not cognent enough
> to write concisely, so you'll have to forgive me if things come out kinda
> garbled.
>  
> The first thing I did when I decided to get back on this project was do some
> more poking around the net, and found a forum not unlike Virtual Vairs or
> the Corvair Centre, but dedicated to LED "retros".  "Yes", there is a whole
> community of folks that are fanatical about retrofitting any and all
> lighting in the cars with LEDs.  Some of the work they do is amazing.
> www.hidplanet.com/forums
>  
> After doing my reading on the forum I figured I'd do a little "proof of
> concept" and used a perf board to mount 6 white 100mA LEDs up in place of my
> stock inandecent dome light.
> Keep in mind when you look at some of these pics that the camera ramps down
> the light levels to make a balanced exposure.  Anyway, here's the dome light
> in action
> http://tinyurl.com/5kpnje
>  
> Lots more reading on the HID Planet forum, and I decided I'd go the route of
> using a Pulse Width Modulator (sounds like something out of Star Trek,
> doesn't it?)  What a PWM does is keep the voltage to the LED's at a constant
> level, but will flicker them on and off so fast that they appear dimmer to
> the human eye.  This is ideal if you're doing something like a 'vair
> taillight that has to be one level of brightness for your running/marker
> lights, and another altogether for braking/signalling.
>  
> So far so good.  I have proven to myself that I can correctly wire up LEDs
> to make them work, and I've soldered together my PWM, and it works too.
>  
> The next step was to design a Printed Circuit Board(PCB) to hold all the
> LEDs.  I could have done a larger version of the dome light using perf
> board, but there isn't a whole lot of room to work with under the FC
> taillight lens, and I figured I'd get a little more space using a PCB.
>  
> So I designed my PCB using a freeware program off the net and came up with
> something that looked like this. The yellow denotes the silkscreen "top"
> layer, the red is the bottom copper layer"
> http://tinyurl.com/5aksya
>  
> Now I had to transfer that desgn over to the copper boards.  Which was done
> by printing the positive image onto glossy colour paper using an inkjet.  It
> is then ironed onto the board, which transfers the toner to the copper,
> creating a mask.  It looks like this
> http://tinyurl.com/6avgzp
>  
> The next step is to give the board a bath in an etching acid which eats away
> all the unmasked copper, leaving you with this
> http://tinyurl.com/55cjv2
>  
> Then begins the drilling and the soldering.  When you're done, it looks like
> this
> http://tinyurl.com/6ysgvo
>  
> If you're lucky and you've put all the pieces in properly, it works like
> this
> http://tinyurl.com/5cwbmo
>  
> Remember, the camera is REALLY cranking down the light levels on that pic.
> This one gives you a slightly better idea for just how much brighter they
> are than stock
> http://tinyurl.com/5csnas
> <http://photos-873.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v208/196/68/528580873/n528
> 580873_1523567_5478.jpg> 
>  
> There are still more hurdles to cross.  The boards have to get mounted in
> the stock taillight buckets and get wired up, including how to do a backup
> switch to bring on the new b/u LEDs (remember it's an FC, no provision in my
> '61 tranny for a B/U switch).  AND, if I feel really ambitious, I just might
> extend those LEDs across to where Deluxe reflectors go.  How cool would that
> be?!<grin>
>  
> Anyway, it's closing in on 5:00am and now I think I'm tired enough that I
> can get to sleep.
>  
> Regards,
> Joel
> 
>