I bet the etching looks 100% better....we'll find out Monday when iu gets his screen back

 

Ugh, need to find someone local who's interested in doing the screen... show you guys how a REAL master works

 

Mac,

If you want, I could ship you my screen and kit and you can experiment on mine. I haven't reinstalled yet, I'm still waiting for rollbar covers. Let me know.

 

I think this is something that should be done ON the car. Frustrating, though, knowing I have a top notch product that I don't have the chance to install even a single one and take pics myself.

 

I agree with Mac, it would be hard to mount and then ship and not have the LEDs move, plus you would want to do this install on the car.

 

Ok guys tell me what you think.....

This is not the frosted emblem, I etched the logo into the screen myself.

The hotspots are exagerated alot by the photo's. I used an 8 megapixel camera on the lowest setting. In person the hotspots are barely noticable.

Brake Applied


Normal

 

I think I need to try and take photo's at a further distance next time. Will try to post some better ones later tonight

 

Looks GOOD Rob!!!! Great job man!!! The Z is lit up good. I would like to see some pics of your car!!!

Question for RJ, (IYO) do you think a 3rd/4th LED would help illuminate the dead spots in the corners of your glass?

I got my screen back yesterday with the ecthing and it helped. I still think the screen needs at least 3 LEDs to cover entire glass and the Z. With that said, Dan I would like to buy 2 more strips of LEDs (I need 2 strips - 4 LEDS, because during install one of the wires came apart. Bryan and I sottered it back on but now the green color is shorting in and out (all the other colors work just fine)). Dan, how much will it cost to buy 2 more strips of LEDs and when will you have time to make them (I know you're busy on other projects - which I'm sure will be as top-notch and kick a$$ as the windscreen )?

Thanks,
Mike W

 

Thanks,

As soon as I figure out how to reduce the size of the picture enough to fit on the board I will post some. For now I have posted some really HUGE pics on my "fool around" website.

www.rippedzone.no-ip.org/rippedzone

Like I said the pictures don't do it justice. I'm extremely happy how it came out with the two led's and the etching (it's really lit up nice), I think 3 or 4 might be a little overkill and a little too flashy. IMO

I had a similar problem with the Green and black wires I don't think it's a manufacturing defect but the cable is really brittle and you really shouldn't play (ie. taking in and out of the socket) as much as I/we did.

I asked Mac if he could send me just the connector with like 2 feet of cable pre-connected, I will add a secondary Male-Female connector that is a little more forgiving with playing with it. I'm not interested in replacing the entire LED strips at this point because it was a b!tch to get them just right and to where I was happy (and I CY'd the **** outta them)

Mike,
Not to be nosey but how much did they charge to etch the screen for you. I went to local crafts store and picked up two different types of etching kits the other day (one liquid based and one sand based). I sampled both and came to the conclusion that the sand based one had a more even fill pattern, the liquid looked kind of blotchy.

For $50.00 I think the sand kit was worth it and I could probably etch 5 or 6 more similar size designs out of one can.
Now my wife wants to etch something on her Sentra's rear windows. I think I found my next calling.......

Rob

 

Rob,

The etching cost me $20. Your etching looks really good!!! You could have people send you their screens and you could etch them (depending how many people buy the kit).

You make a good point about overkill, that may be the case (it's just hard to say for sure till having more LEDs on the screen). I checked out the pics of your car and it looks sweet - good work!!! Do you drive it all year round or put it away when that white stuff falls from the sky ?

Mike

 

It's nice to finally see a fully-lit logo with only 2 LEDs... I knew it was possible with my kit, just didn't realize people would have so much difficulty. Rob, do you think it was more an issue with LED angle or the material the logo was made out of?

Mike, I can send you two new strips, or go a little cheaper and send one new strip and a new wire and have you resolder it to the strip you have. Where did your wire break, at the connector or at the LED strip end? If it's at the LED end, I suggest cutting the wire back, stripping some more insulation, and soldering fresh to the LED boards. Can't say for cost yet as I only have extra control boxes left, no LED strips... have to make sure I have the materials sitting around (when my programmer went belly up, I never bought extra parts, seeing as how there was no need at the time).

Since I'm doing the crimps manually until the production units are ready, some of the initial crimps (which you guys have, being the initial buyers) may have over-stressed the wires. The couple of sets I'm using at here for prototyping have been manhandled with plenty of abuse with no ill effects so far. Of course, the LED strip to wire interface is also prone to breaking, so from now on I'll add a small drop of silicone in that area to relieve the stress.

 

Mac,
I think it was deffinately the original logo and the material it was made from, it didn't let the light properly show through. One I finished the etching I locked myself in the garage and covered all the windows to make it as dark as possible for almost two hours playing with the placement of the LED's.

My final assembly with new etching went something like this:

1. LED's placed about 1 1/2" off center of the logo/windscreen
2. Took a piece of the yellow foam from behind the Roll bar covers and cut different size wedges to get the angle to where I liked it.
3. Angled about 10 degrees pointing "out" towards the ends of the windscreen. (I think this is opposite as Mac described with vinyl logo)
4. Covered the LED's sides with black electrical tape once glued into place to keep as much light as possible pointing at glass. (No light loss from the poor cuts made in screen molding.)


Mike,
As soon as the wheather starts getting bad in Jersey, It goes into hibernation. Last year it was late October before we saw any white stuff.

 

Mac,

Yeah, I will just take 1 strip of LEDs and some extra wire. The wire broke at the LED strip end. No rush on that extra strip, just whenever you get some free time and materials.

Mike

 

Mike: The wire broke at the solder joint with the LED circuit board.

Dan:

After seeing Mike's screen from a distance on the road it looks like 2 very bright lights at the top of the screen, and is illuminated, but its not being spread around so I could see how angling would help...that being said it'd take come creativity to angle them correctly (as demonstrated above). I would suggest that you fashion some kind of mounting 'bracket' for each LED which would hold the LED and an angle; possibly adjustable, and allow the user to simply glue this bracket the the gasket. This would alleviate some of the uneasyness we felt in attempting to angle the LEDS the right way without allowing the glue to touch the circuit board itself (which we weren't sure if that was a no-no or not). Anyway I'd say IU doesn't necessarily need an extra strip right now; seems like the two of us need to play with the angling of the LEDs a bit and attempt to figure out a way to angle them. Maybe RJ can provide us a close up pic of his mounted LED to put us on the right track???

I'll let Mike actually speak for what he really needs...but I think if RJ gives us that close up shot of the led on the glass it'd help us get it right...

 

I agree with Bryan... the screen is bright enough, just not fully covered. So, Mac hold off on that extra strip of LEDs.

 

Being I didn't receive my new roll bar covers from the dealer I will trry to puul screen out again tonight and take some pictures of my mounting.

 

Here is a fast drawing I did in Autocad and pasted into a WORD document. I will try to take actual photo's tonight.

 

Thanks for the pics RJ. S2K and I will have to retry the install. We are going to try to put the LEDs out wider than yours and angle toward the Z (but once again, easier said than done). I really hope we can get that broken wire fixed without screwing up the LED circuit board. Plus, I am going to try to install the footwell LEDs this weekend as well.

On a side note, I installed a JWT Pop-charger today and LOVE it!!! The sound is AWESOME!!!!!

 

Feel free to resolder the LED board yourself, if you feel comfortable doing it. The wires are far enough away form the LED that you'd have to hold the iron on the pad for a good number of seconds before really heating up the LED.

Also, don't worry about getting glue on the PCB! Glue or silicone isn't going to hurt the PCB, and silicone isn't going to hurt the LED either (therefore I suggest clear silicone). Get the angle the way you like it, tape it down, and squirt some silicone between the screen and LED. Let it set up overnight and remove the tape.

 

I used CA (Cyanoacrylate) glue and some ZAP IT (quick set spray for CA glues). I glue the PCB (and my fingers) directly to the screens gasket and foam wedge that I made. You have to be really careful with CA and quick set because it's instant, TRUST ME I FOUND OUT THE HARD WAY. I don't think I have any finger prints left at this point.