LED Corner Reflectors
12-10-2005, 02:25 PM
#1
LED Corner Reflectors
Lots of people swap out the orange corner reflectors with the clear ones available from a few places. I did too a few months ago but wanted to get them to light up. Similar to the way I did my interior door reflectors Link I purchased three LED's and a matching resistor and built a small array which I wrapped in heat shrink and electrical tape. Once I got into the headlight area Link things were pretty easy.
First I pulled out the clear reflectors and used the old stock orange ones for a drill guide. I drilled out the three nipples that are molded into the reflector with a drill bit of a matching diameter to the LED's.
With the holes popped through the orange reflectors I lined them up carefully over the tops of the clear ones. Note that there are differences between the left and right reflector so make sure you're using the right template reflector with the right target one.
Once the holes are drilled through I took the LED's and popped them into the holes, bent wires and soldiered them up like I did with the door interior reflectors (see link #1 above). Note that I have the output wires running off in the wrong direction for this the driver's side reflector.
I used three feet worth of 16 guage speaker wire I had laying around for the lead wires. Once in place I trimmed the wires to lenght. A bit of super glue dropped around the base of each LED locked it in place. I used a wire anchor to hold the wire assemble to the reflector. Note the red pen denoting which way is up on the reflector
I ran the wires up along side the hood release cable and to the stock parking light bulb's wires. You could also use the turn indicator's wires if you wanted them to blink with the turn signals with no change to the circuit.
Here's a close up on the wires. The 3M slice connectors make good tight connections. I wrap these things in electrical tape afterwards tightly to prevent them from unsnapping or creating a rattle.
It's still many hours to sunset so here's one taken in the deep shade of my garage. These things are bright bright bright and will be visible in full day light.
On my difficulty scale this one rates a two out of five mainly for the tiny solidering needed to get the LED's linked without melting them down.
"ZZ"
First I pulled out the clear reflectors and used the old stock orange ones for a drill guide. I drilled out the three nipples that are molded into the reflector with a drill bit of a matching diameter to the LED's.
With the holes popped through the orange reflectors I lined them up carefully over the tops of the clear ones. Note that there are differences between the left and right reflector so make sure you're using the right template reflector with the right target one.
Once the holes are drilled through I took the LED's and popped them into the holes, bent wires and soldiered them up like I did with the door interior reflectors (see link #1 above). Note that I have the output wires running off in the wrong direction for this the driver's side reflector.
I used three feet worth of 16 guage speaker wire I had laying around for the lead wires. Once in place I trimmed the wires to lenght. A bit of super glue dropped around the base of each LED locked it in place. I used a wire anchor to hold the wire assemble to the reflector. Note the red pen denoting which way is up on the reflector
I ran the wires up along side the hood release cable and to the stock parking light bulb's wires. You could also use the turn indicator's wires if you wanted them to blink with the turn signals with no change to the circuit.
Here's a close up on the wires. The 3M slice connectors make good tight connections. I wrap these things in electrical tape afterwards tightly to prevent them from unsnapping or creating a rattle.
It's still many hours to sunset so here's one taken in the deep shade of my garage. These things are bright bright bright and will be visible in full day light.
On my difficulty scale this one rates a two out of five mainly for the tiny solidering needed to get the LED's linked without melting them down.
"ZZ"
Last edited by Paul350Z; 12-10-2005 at 02:27 PM.
12-10-2005, 02:29 PM
#2
Paul - nice write up. When i saw the first picture, i thought you just drilled 3 holes and stuck leds all the way through the clear corners! I was like "OMG NO!" But very nice job, tasteful.
EDIT: I know it would be a pain in the butt, but I would really recommend you go back and pour some liquid epoxy around each led. I know it seems like superglue would hold up just fine, but after making 5+ sets of led clear corners, trust me when I say it won't last as long as you think it would. It looks like you have all of the metal leads and solder covered by the heatshrink, which is good. Just take some epoxy and liberally spread around the leds and over a few places of the wire. Remember to roughen the plastic around the leds or wherever you are epoxying so you can achieve the best bond. It will stick to the smooth plastic, but you are still able to seperate the plastic and epoxy. Just add some of this stuff and those things will last longer than your car.
EDIT: I know it would be a pain in the butt, but I would really recommend you go back and pour some liquid epoxy around each led. I know it seems like superglue would hold up just fine, but after making 5+ sets of led clear corners, trust me when I say it won't last as long as you think it would. It looks like you have all of the metal leads and solder covered by the heatshrink, which is good. Just take some epoxy and liberally spread around the leds and over a few places of the wire. Remember to roughen the plastic around the leds or wherever you are epoxying so you can achieve the best bond. It will stick to the smooth plastic, but you are still able to seperate the plastic and epoxy. Just add some of this stuff and those things will last longer than your car.
Last edited by Acree; 12-10-2005 at 02:34 PM.
12-10-2005, 05:42 PM
#3
Here's one with the camera set to automatic taken real close to sunset. It's a whole bunch darker than this picture makes it look to be here.
And here's one that been taken with the camera set to -3 stops. These lights are bright!
And here's one that been taken with the camera set to -3 stops. These lights are bright!
Last edited by Paul350Z; 12-10-2005 at 07:40 PM.
03-04-2006, 05:49 AM
#5
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nice job!
Would you do these for other people for a price?
Let's say we ship you the reflectors and you charge us for the LED/labor, how much would you ask for?
Would you do these for other people for a price?
Let's say we ship you the reflectors and you charge us for the LED/labor, how much would you ask for?
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