'79 Marquis Taillight Mod Update

[ledzilla]

It's been quite a while since last I had an update on my taillight mod. Spent a lot of time diagnosing 3D printer issues, a lot of other weird stuff taking up my time. But I was finally able to put together a functional mock up. I uploaded a video to YouTube and linked it. It's hard to tell in the video when going between taillights and brake lights, but in person there's a very noticeable difference.

https://youtu.be/z2ie7zaMn98

[friskyfrankie]

Cool! Tell us exactly how you did it.

[gadget73]

looks pretty good. Definitely more unique than the usual "led bulb in the stock location" deal

[sly]

Nice!

[ledzilla]

Cool! Tell us exactly how you did it.

Right now it's only a mock up, everything is just taped to the inside of the lens, and there still needs to be some trimming of the LED strips. But this is all being done using flexible red LED strips with a diffuser that accepts three different power signals to the driver. Takes in a taillight voltage that powers them at 50%, a brake light voltage that powers at 100%, and a turn signal voltage that overdrives them at 200% for two seconds.

I used four strips to operate as tail/brake lights, each circuit right now run through a switch. Then I used five short strips connected to a sequential turn signal controller that supports 2-5 lights in the sequence. And of course I didn't realize that I connected the turn signal lights in reverse order until after I shared it.

I'm still working on designing panels that will be mounted on the inside of the lens which will hold all of the LED strips. I hit a couple of stumbling blocks both in the incorrect measurements I took of the inside of the lens and in some trouble I was having with my 3D printer trying to print test sections.

But for now, I have a bloody mess of wires all over the place connecting nine LED strips, each with 2 or 3 wires, to switches, a sequential signal module, electronic flasher relay, and a big 12V battery. It looks very confusing. But, in the end, the final wiring should be nice and clean.

[friskyfrankie]

Would LOVE to see the final "product" at work! Thanks for the details, by the way.

[87gtVIC]

Nice work indeed. Going to be really nice.

[ledzilla]

This is going to be an interesting bit of wiring to keep clean. This isn't even everything that I intend just for a single taillight. I don't have the side marker put together yet. Need to make some measurements inside the trunk of the Marquis to see how much space I have to work with in terms of building a panel/box to hold the driver modules, relays, sequential module, terminal blocks, etc. Going to make sure everything is clearly labeled, though.

[ledzilla]

Designed and printed a mount for the LED driver modules. It's an nice, snug fit. I designed it to secure to a board/panel with size 8 screws, and it has a slot around it for running a zip tie to keep the module in place. The dips within the boxed area on each end are to allow room for the module wires which run from the underside at each end.

[87gtVIC]

Nice. A coworker has dove really deep into the 3d printing stuff. He has made some amazing things. It is a great tool to have once one knows hows to use it. Nice job.