[Quick Brick]

Re: (t6tim)

t6tim, get a cam with a good close-up macro already, would ya ... and a tripod, I'm freakin blind from tryin to focus on that last pic

.

 

[slowrey]

T6Tim if you have a little flower icon on your digital camera, that is the macro button.

 

[Quick Brick]

Re: (slowrey)

Sean, that's just mean ... I was trying to be helpful

.

 

[slowrey]

Oh I wasn't trying to be mean. A lot of people don't realize that the flower button on the PS Digital cameras is a macro button. Figured it might be better than searching through the manual!

 

[Sjappi]

Re: (slowrey)

I have tried doing this and the big issue seems to be opening up the taillight to put the leds in there. The two pieces (clear and black) aren't glued together but they seem melted together. When opening them up you always get some cracking where the bond was. Someone should be able to manufacture new clear lenses because the old ones are practically useless once removed.

 

[t6tim]

Re: (Sjappi)

Sorry about that second pic guys. Tomorrow, I'll post much better ones.

That second one made me dizzy looking at it on here!

Quote, originally posted by Sjappi »

I have tried doing this and the big issue seems to be opening up the taillight to put the leds in there. The two pieces (clear and black) aren't glued together but they seem melted together. When opening them up you always get some cracking where the bond was. Someone should be able to manufacture new clear lenses because the old ones are practically useless once removed.

I looked yesterday, and my led strip can be easily removed by taking out two screws.

Tim

 

[Sjappi]

Re: (t6tim)

I was talking about an S60. How are you going to put the strip in the S60 unit?

Quote, originally posted by t6tim »

Sorry about that second pic guys. Tomorrow, I'll post much better ones. That second one made me dizzy looking at it on here! I looked yesterday, and my led strip can be easily removed by taking out two screws. Tim

 

[Quick Brick]

Re: (Sjappi)

I think t6tim is on the right track here (thanx for the pics, seriously

) . The idea would be to dremel into the back of an S60 housing without seperating the lens from the reflector. As someone mentioned, they are vibration welded together, and acrylic is very brittle. Seperating the 2 parts and furthermore, joining them back together effectively may prove to be too much of a challenge.

While you would need to cut open the back of the reflector with the dremel scenario, putting it all together and making it look factory through a clear lens like we have, would be delicate. With some silver or chome paint and maybe a little foil, I bet this would be the best way to make a first attempt at this mod.

 

[Cicada]

they should make clear tail light housings for the R.

i still need euro headlights :|

 

[Quick Brick]

Re: (Cicada)

It IS clear in the sense that there are no optics on the lens (that is what I meant). All the optics (light directing properties) are built into the reflector. As clear headlight lens techology was developed in the early 90's, it was known as "reflector optics"

. They removed all the unsightly lines and resultant interior angle cuts and used the reflector to focus the light instead. As a result, you can see right into our taillight housings through the lens, so any mod you made to the housings would have to be really clean.

 

[t6tim]

Re: (Quick Brick)

Ok, I now have no alcohol in my system, so as promised, here's some pics from my 04 S80.

First is the rear of the housing. The led strip is the lower rectangle. The green circles indicate where the two wires go from the strip to the back of the light housing.

Next is a close up view of the connector port (I temp unplugged it) that the two wires from the led strip plug into. Note the black housing is stamped "hella".

Next is a pic of the "bulb" side of the above pic. The green circle is the area where the led plug plugs in on the reverse side.

Finally, another pic of the led's in action.

I guess you would need to buy the led strip, cut off the plug on the other end (if needed) and tap into the brake light circuit. Easier said than done. Does the black housing in the "R" have this same brake light plug on the back?

Tim

 

[pie_ya]

Re: (t6tim)

Much obliged for the pictures, Tim!! I really like how they look. I can count a 2x11 strip of LEDs in the light-up pic.

I wonder if this strip could be purchased separately (not so I can incorporate it into my taillights, just to see how they are connected, etc.). I also don't see any resistors anywhere. How does the computer know that the LEDs are not out as compared to a bulb filament burning out? You can basically trick the computer into believing the LEDs are working...otherwise you get a bulb failure.

I sent lumileds a quick email. I am curious if this can be pulled off.

Again, thanks for the pictures, Tim.

 

[volvofla]

Re: (pie_ya)

You can purchase the resistors off:

http://www.superbrightleds.com...xt=50

To be honest I tried the direct LED bulb replacement on my old S60 and its just too dim in the day time and can be a safety hazard.