LEDs For Front Turnsignal Bucket |
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LEDs For Front Turnsignal Bucket |
Spoke |
Mar 30 2014, 09:35 PM
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#1
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Jerry Group: Members Posts: 7,052 Joined: 29-October 04 From: Allentown, PA Member No.: 3,031 Region Association: None |
On the radar are LED boards for the front turnsignal bucket. LEDs would be pointing directly to the front of the car to focus optical energy forward.
There are 3 versions I can think of: 1) US lens: All amber LEDs; all on low for running lights; on high for turnsignals. 2) Euro lens: White LEDs on the lower section; on for running lights; amber for turnsignals. White LEDs would turn off when turnsignals are on. 3) Clear lens: White running LEDs on the outside of the lens; Amber LEDs in the center for turnsignals. White LEDs would turn off when turnsignals are on. Which versions would folks want? I think I would like the clear lens. The oval running lights would be unique. Mock up of turnsignal LED PCB. PCB for clear lens. PCB for Euro lens. |
Spoke |
Jun 26 2014, 09:16 PM
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#2
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Jerry Group: Members Posts: 7,052 Joined: 29-October 04 From: Allentown, PA Member No.: 3,031 Region Association: None |
Had some down time on the rear LED boards while my buddy's 3d printer was repaired and the flow of plastic clips dried up so I worked the layout of the front LED boards.
Seems more interest in the Euro front bucket so I'm starting with that version. It would be ideal to make a universal board do US and Euro format unfortunately the white running light LEDs have a higher voltage drop than the amber thus 3 white LEDs are in series versus 4 amber LEDs per string. Therefore it's difficult to make a Euro board into a US board. Here's some 3d drawings of the board so far. The board has 48 amber turnsignal LEDs and 21 white running light LEDs. There will be a configuration option with the Euro lights: The amber turnsignal LEDs can be configured to be dimly on for running lights or off for running lights. Here's what the board looks like now when viewed from the front of the 914. Here's a side view of the board. As SirAndy pointed out with the rear lights, the dispersion angle is tight with these LEDs so they must be pointing in the direction that light is intended; that is directly in front of the car. Mounting them perpendicular to the board will not do as the light will be pointed into the sky at about a 45 degree angle. This pic shows a close-up of the one difficulty with the LED angle that I'm trying to solve. Unlike this pic of the board, the leads will be bent and perpendicular though the board. Somehow the LED has to be soldered about 3/16 of an inch off the board then leads bent so the LED is at about a 45 degree angle. That's one issue. The second is once the leads are bent, how to take the stress of securing the LED off of the soft solder on the leads. Eventually the vehicle vibration through the LED bodies will wear out the solder and the solder will fail. Somehow the body of the LED must be secured to the board by other mechanical means. Right now I'm thinking about conformal coating or caulking of some sort. Any ideas on soldering the LEDs 3/16" off the board or securing the body to the board are welcome. |
mobymutt |
Aug 4 2014, 08:14 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 553 Joined: 16-December 13 From: Kingston, Ontario, Canada Member No.: 16,770 Region Association: Canada |
That's one issue. The second is once the leads are bent, how to take the stress of securing the LED off of the soft solder on the leads. Eventually the vehicle vibration through the LED bodies will wear out the solder and the solder will fail. Somehow the body of the LED must be secured to the board by other mechanical means. Right now I'm thinking about conformal coating or caulking of some sort. Any ideas on soldering the LEDs 3/16" off the board or securing the body to the board are welcome. I know nothing about circuit board design, but that won't stop me from chiming in on this. BTW, I think both these lights and the LED tail lights are awesome, they are on my Christmas list. First, I am not convinced that the vibrational stress on the soldered connections will really be all that different on the long bent leads vs the standard ones. That being said, I understand your concern, better to be safe than sorry! What if you make a 3D printed support that follows the profile of the circuit board, but is stair-shaped in cross section -- this support piece would go between the LEDs and the circuit board, and provide secure support for the bulbs. Perhaps you could integrate the bucket mounting features into it as well. I can model something up if you think this idea has any merit, just PM me. |
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