led taillight project... How to with pics

Ok... So last month i decided I wanted to try and add leds to my taillights. So i ordered prewired 10mm leds from china. I ordered 100 of them in red. With chrome led holders. paid 52.00 shipped. I then ordered a dual function wire harness for about 8 bucks shipped. Allows you to use regular leds as running and brake lights. Then i paid 13.00 for two trailer wire harnesses. So once everything came in I got started. First I put the tails in the oven at 250 for 10 mins, the trick is to put them lens down on a cookie sheet with a damp towel on the cookie sheet so the lens dosent melt. Once I got them apart I was able to see what i had to work with... SO i made a templete out of poster board of the inside of the taillight and traced it onto some thin sheet metal. I then cut it out with metal sheers to the shape and test fitted it. Once i did this and got it right i figured out what pattern of lights i wanted to do. I wanted to fit as many as possible. The jdm tail is divided into two side so in drew a line on the sheet metal when the split was and used this line as a guide. Make sure to remember the measurements from the center line so both sides match. The first side is eaiser, its a little tougher making them match perfect, soi take your time. i measured the lights one inch apart side to side and top to bottom(what a pain in the ass to make both sides match...) So once done i used a 1/2 drill bit and drilled out each of the 82 holes and make sure you take your time, you want the lbulbs to line up. Once the was completed i installed each bulb holder. Then one by one insalled each prewired led. I used wire stripers and wired them in a series, then sodered them. I then drilled a small hole under one of the vents on the back of the taillight to run the two wires thru and put sealer in the hole. I then put the bezel in place and taped it on the edges with metal a/c duct tape so it would not be seen. I then reinstalled the taillight lens, i did this with a heatgun and reheating the glue and glueing back together. Then to the positive wire from the leds i wired the dual function harness. Now the way i wired it to the car was using a trailer wire harness for each side. This way i can remove the taillight if needed to replace turn signal and reverse light. So i cut one brake light holder/harness from each side and wired it to the trailer wire harness and wired the other side to the tailight and pluged it in. Also make sure you put the old unused light socket in the back of the taillamps so they are still sealed. Then just bolt back in place and admire your work..


trailer wire harness
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...12-08_0851.jpg
the metal cut to fit
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3.../Photo0062.jpg
led holders in metal and tes fitted.
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3.../Photo0056.jpg
leds wired into the metal, sodared and taped up
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3.../Photo0061.jpg
Test fited with leds in holders and wired up lighted up using a 9 volt battery
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3.../Photo0060.jpg
now lighted up with the lens on with the 9volt battery
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3.../Photo0059.jpg
running lights on car
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...07-08_2306.jpg
brake lights (night)
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...11-08_2010.jpg
(day)
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...12-08_0926.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...12-08_0925.jpg
here is how it looks done before the install
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3.../Photo0057.jpg
after the install
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...12-08_0924.jpg

do you know if i can wire everything the same like you did, but on a 7g?

also nice work

should be able to. it will wire like that to any 1157 or other scoket, you just cut it off and wire it in.. the trailer harness is unversial

do you have a link to where you got the led lights from?

ok you need two of these. One for each taillamp. (These do not work well enough) pm me and i can make you a harness..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...ksid=p3907.m32

ok the seller from the aucton bellow has the leds and holders, just email him and tell him how many you want, the more you get the better the price. I got 100 leds and 100 holders. I paid 52.99. Tell him thats the price you would like. In my tails i have 41 in each. So 100 seems like alot. But its not.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:X:RTQ:US:1123

then goto autozone and get two trailer wire harnesses. Then you will be good.

oh and the metal i used was a no tresspassing sign from walmart, just thick enough and easy to cut. I bought two. 97 cents each.

*thumbs up*

wow, nice job.

nice tut man, thats some serious nice and hard work there.

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Originally Posted by Sillyasianz

*thumbs up*

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Originally Posted by galant305

wow, nice job.

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Originally Posted by 99 galant

nice tut man, thats some serious nice and hard work there.

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thanks guys... it was nerve racking... i did not want to mess up my jdm's

great job, but I suggest you break the tutorial into steps with pix next to some of the steps. Makes it easier to read and follow. Instead of one huge paragraph with pix at the bottom.

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Originally Posted by guynlidia2006

Then one by one insalled each prewired led. I used wire stripers and wired them in a series, then sodered them.

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why would u get prewired leds and then wire them up i series?? if one of the leds were to fail, then you'd lose all of your lights. if you wired them up in parallel then if one of the leds would die, you'd still have the rest of the leds working.

well one wasent working and all worked but that one... i just swapped it out before i resealed it. so its not gonna be like x-mas lights.. when one is bloiwn all go out... so then i guess the correct term would be i ran them parallel.

They're in parallel

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Originally Posted by Jeffylou87

They're in parallel

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lol thanks... see it was so easy a caveman coiuld do it..

Oh and its solder :)

i dig it 8)

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Originally Posted by ricky_db

i dig it 8)

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thank you sir... if anyone wants me to make them a set just hit me up..

hey man nice job on the LEDs they look great

can you make a set for a 7g??:D

I love what you did. I wonder if you could do a circle pattern too?

any pattern you want... i just wanted it to be in the pattern i did... it made sense to me... but i was thinking of doing circles, maybe trying to make it look like the passat... but if i did circles in the second gens the reflector would distort it.. maybe it would work on the reg tails..

What about tri-diamonds? Would that be too rice?

haha

do u do jobs ill pay you too do a pair for mee.,.,. yust let me know how much will it cost me

wow, thats sexy, i like it!!

i redid the resistors so my running lights are brightor..and more uniformed... the inside lights look brights but thats the angle
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...07-08_2306.jpg

nice

Damn, very nice work, I may just try that on one of my rides....

Galant_RearBumper.jpg 01 Galant with Body Kit picture by MarineBuck

That tail light is the sex! Nice work la. I gotta try this

Wow that's very impressive I would love to try this eventually.

Looks nice

I'll have to get some pics of mine now that they are mounted back on the G.. these are just the boards before I put them in the housings

Tails
http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/...galant/039.jpg

Brakes
http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/...galant/038.jpg

that's awesome! Are they going into TYC's?

I like this...

The OP still frequent on here?

thats nasty!! good work

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Originally Posted by twisted_galant

I'll have to get some pics of mine now that they are mounted back on the G.. these are just the boards before I put them in the housings

Tails
http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/...galant/039.jpg

Brakes
http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/...galant/038.jpg

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Truly Twisted!!!

Looks great!!

they are in a set of carbon fiber tycs


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.385935,-79.805968