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Lighted Sail Panel Screws

Troublemaker said:
How is that?  The resistor dims the LED's for use as running lights, and then they get full power for brakes/turn signals, correct?
You are correct.  And you can put the resistor on either side of the diode.  Makes no difference.
 
Lights are installed!!!!

I took out all of the sail panel screws, then drilled out the hole in each holder clip with a 5/16" drill bit, so the chrome LED holders will fit in snugly.  (They were very loose if I just put them in the holes, and to me it just didn't look right anyway...)

I ran the wire through the sail panel and through both holes for each LED from the inside to the outside.  The top hole just has one pair of wires, the 2nd through 4th holes have a "loop" for each wire, with the insulation stripped away at the very tip of each loop.

Then I soldered each LED to the wire sticking out from each hole, and covered with shrink wrap.  Ran the wires past the saddle bags and down to the trailer hitch.  I connected the "ground" wire to the black wire on the reverse bulb, so I only had one wire coming down from each side.

I put clear silicone around the threads on the chrome LED holders to keep water out.  The silicone still leaks out, so when it's dry, I will just go back and trim it to look better.

Connected the two resistor'd sides to the brown wire on the trailer hitch, and the right side to dark green, left side to yellow.

I may go back and connect another resistor, as the LED's don't get too much brighter when the blinkers go on, so I don't think they are dim enough yet.  Might just put another 330K resister inline with the current ones.

Didn't get pics, as it was FREEZING outside, so my fingers were numb enough as it is!  Will go out in a bit to take some night-time pictures of the end result...
 
OK guys, got several things done this weekend, including my Sail Panel LED's, a tailgate torsion bar, and a "toolbox" that clips into the window holder on the midgate  (I will be posting in the "interior mods" for that.)

I have always liked the sail panel LED's, and I knew I wanted my LED's to be as flush and streamlined as possible- so I was going to do the RadioShack type LED's mentioned earlier in the thread.  But, I've also always wished the Av had a cargo light over the bed panels.  Anyone with a bike rack/snowboard rack or cargo basket mounted on their panels knows exactly what i'm talking about.  You leave town after work on Friday, get to your destination in the dark, and have to fiddle around blind to unload your gear.  This is my RadioShack solution...   I can post part numbers later if anyone if interested. 

Basically, these are the radioshack 7000mcd white LED's wired to the lights in the cargo boxes. Each side of the truck has two separate pairs of lights-  I wired them in pairs so I could use the readily available 220ohm resistors from the Shack, and all the lights would be wired the same way...   using the LED calculators online, I found I couldn't wire four of these lights together directly...   it was either 2+2 per side, or 3+1.

These pictures were all taken at the same time of day, from the same angles.  I can take a close up of the LED's on my lunch break.
 

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(hmmm... tried to post a minute ago, got a timeout error...  hopefully this doesn't double post)

I took pictures of my new cargo LED's at lunch today.  Here they are, barely noticable!   :love:


:wave:
Dan
 

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What Oznium LED's work best? I was looking at the ones on this page http://www.oznium.com/prewired-superflux
I like the flush mount ones, as I have knocked off several over time and it gets to be a pain to keep replacing one when it gets crushed. Also someone was looking at doing a sequential setup? Has that happened? Wanna share the info as I would love to do something along them lines also ....
 
I was the one looking into the sequential setup...  but I can't get all the parts needed.  Radio Shack doesn't sell the "sequencer" component.  I'm trying to find another place to get them from, but it's been difficult.

The LED's I used were the 5mm ones at http://www.oznium.com/prewired-leds 
 
Ok, added some more, used the ones up the sail panels for running and brakes, and the ones across the back for running and turn signals.  Also ordered some white ones for reverse lights too...
 

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Do these look familiar?  Had a couple extra...
Complete with headlights tail light bar with ice...  Mommy wasn't happy that I the little one would rather add lights to her car than play inside.
 

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Thanks, couldn't find an av... that is what she really wanted tho.  I may just have to find a bowtie for the front and make some custom lights and sail panels, one day...
 
Troublemaker said:
I was the one looking into the sequential setup...   but I can't get all the parts needed.  Radio Shack doesn't sell the "sequencer" component.  I'm trying to find another place to get them from, but it's been difficult.

deja vu... sort of lol

i was stuck in traffic and seen a new mustang with sequential signal lights yesterday. thought, how cool would that be for my sail panel leds, checked the site and you guys are already on it.

anyway, Troublemaker do you have a link to the sequencer your building?
 
BooomerX said:
If you are a little bit of an electronics whiz:
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/AEC/LED-CHASER-KIT//1.html

good idea, but it only runs at 3-9 volts and its also designed for 10 leds to be lit in sequence, not 4 like we need. getting close though. (y)
 
Could you not use a resistor to knock the voltage down and run a jumper across the terminals you don't need? How will you power it so it will keep constant voltage to sequence? If you tap the signals won't the flasher screw up the  lighting sequence?
 
Teamyeeiaat said:
good idea, but it only runs at 3-9 volts and its also designed for 10 leds to be lit in sequence, not 4 like we need. getting close though. (y)

There's a "reset" pin somewhere on there that you can connect to ground to reset the sequence (start it over) after the first 4 LED's light up.  That's what I was considering, but I can't find the parts...
 
I'm not sure if this has been thought of/attempted before, but instead of having all these resistors and whatnot, has anyone ever thought of using just 2 LED's on each side of the sail's to be wired to the taillights, and the other 2 on each side to be wired to the brake/turn signals? (I don't know much about resistors and whatnot, hence why I'm asking)
 
BFDengine5 said:
I'm not sure if this has been thought of/attempted before, but instead of having all these resistors and whatnot, has anyone ever thought of using just 2 LED's on each side of the sail's to be wired to the taillights, and the other 2 on each side to be wired to the brake/turn signals? (I don't know much about resistors and whatnot, hence why I'm asking)
Interesting concept that I've never read before. You'd have to have two leads running down to the wiring in the tail lights or trailer harness whichever way you chose to do it. If you went to the tail lights you'd still need the diodes for the brake/turn lights because you'd have to tap into two different wires instead of just one down in the trailer plug.
 
BFDengine5 said:
I'm not sure if this has been thought of/attempted before, but instead of having all these resistors and whatnot, has anyone ever thought of using just 2 LED's on each side of the sail's to be wired to the taillights, and the other 2 on each side to be wired to the brake/turn signals? (I don't know much about resistors and whatnot, hence why I'm asking)

Theoretically, it could be done.  Of course then you would have separate LEDs for Brake, turn, and running lights.  You would also need 2X or 3X the amount of wire, both red and black.  (Couldn't ground back thru a common wire because of feed back, hence the diodes.)
 
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