Project 01 - LED DRLs

SanPhire · Post by **SanPhire** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 12:03 am

Whadya reckon of this then? 8 super-bright white LEDs running instead of those old fashioned filament bulbie things.

The new lights at night
And with the fogs on

Had a lot of fun installing these - including a red-hot scalpel and lots of cyanoacrylite.

The back of the board
The front of the board plus mounting
Testing them

They don't switch intensity and don't show up in daylight - need to get hold of some Luxeon Star LEDs and build them again so that they are bright enough for that - but they look crispy in the dark as they is

The LEDs back project into the original daylight reflector and then through the original Hella E-Approved lens. I haven't discovered if this makes them legal, but I rest easy knowing they at least aren't dazling other road users and there are no bright-spots in the beam.

Finally I put a nice fat capacitor into the circuit, when you kill the ignition, they fade out over around 60 seconds - which does nothing functional - but I think it looks pretty cool. The darkened square you can see is the circuit board with the LEDs on the other side. I could have had it let light through to maintain the square look of the lights - but wanted something a little distinctive so silvered it on both sides.

Website · Post by **coyote1980** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 6:43 am

Nice job!

I had been thinking about LED-bulbs but couldn't find any 21W / 4W replacement LED-bulbs and didn't want to start soldering.

If you're going to make a 2nd version, wouldn't it be possible to obtain a set of lesser bright LES's to be able to switch between 21W and 4W just like Volvos normal dalyight-system?

SanPhire · Post by **SanPhire** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 2:27 pm

Yup - or have say 4 leds on for side-lights and more for day running lights.
The circuit I shoved together could have done this - but I found that 8 super-bright LEDs where still not quite bright enough

RS Part No 267-1783
2000mcd ultra-brights - a few of them should do the trick for the next time out

I came across the LED 21/4 replacement bulbs awhile back - they were selling them off cheap in Halfords. They didn't look like a great solution as they consisted of a cluster of leds facing forwards. No light would reflect back and you'd have a very bright, very narrow beam being projected forward - as is the way of the LED. Personally I wanted to avoid this so I left them in the bargain bin and got to work.

Gimle · Post by **Gimle** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:56 am

Looks very nice!

tobi480turbo · Post by **tobi480turbo** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 6:41 pm

Nice Job !

looks very cute

Cheers

Tobi