FRAMING JOHN DELOREAN - ON VOD www.framingjohndeloreanfilm.com
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 23

Thread: I want to cover the rear facia with RGB LEDs

  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date:  Apr 2013

    Location:  Seattle, WA

    Posts:    48

    My VIN:    887

    Club(s):   (PNDC)

    Cool I want to cover the rear facia with RGB LEDs

    I want to cover/replace the tail lights with a laser cut sheet of acrylic, bolted to the car via the tail light screws, and cover that sheet of acrylic with waterproof WS2812B RGB LED strips. Then another laser cut sheet of semi translucent dark gray acrylic to cover the array of LEDs. The LEDs will be hooked up to an Arduino, and the Arduino will get input from the factory wire harness. The tail lights will be completely customizable with software. Any pattern or design you can think of. I'm thinking that the entire rear of the car should light up red for brakes. Maybe I can move the license plate somewhere else?

    I've already ordered 19 meters of WS2812B RGB LED strips, and I'm working on a 2D CAD drawing of the rear end of the car for the laser cut parts. Anyone want to help?

    DeLorean Tail screenshot.jpg

  2. #2
    Member
    Join Date:  Jun 2013

    Posts:    45

    With that many LEDs your rear bumper could be a TV screen. You could do some cool animations too like making it a scrolling marquee.

    This sounds like a fun project but there are a couple of things you will want to be careful of:
    * The 12V from the car can be noisy and you will want to optically isolate the input from the brake to the arduino from the car.

    * The LEDs in ws2812 strings are chained together serially. If one chip burns out or if you get a break in the wires, all of the LEDs in the chain after the break will stop working. If the first LED in the chain stops, which is common with the ws2812b, then you will not have any brake lights. At the very least I would suggest using multiple arduinos with one arduino controlling each row of LEDs. That way if one LED chip burns out, you will still have brake lights.

    * These LEDs use a lot of power, up to 50ma each. If you have 19 meters with 60 LEDs/m that is 1140 LEDs which would draw up to 57 Amps! If you are using 144 LEDs/m you will be drawing 136 Amps. You will have to have multiple dc/dc converters and tie the power into multiple places along the LED strips.

    David

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date:  Jun 2011

    Posts:    4,807

    My VIN:    3937

    Quote Originally Posted by bdmiko View Post
    This sounds like a fun project but there are a couple of things you will want to be careful of:
    + blinding the guy behind you.


    Sept. 81, auto, black interior

  4. #4
    Senior Member Bitsyncmaster's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  Leonardtown, MD

    Posts:    9,000

    My VIN:    03572

    If you want a full dot matrix, you will need something else to make up the LEDs. You would need an array so the micro can drive one LED at a time.
    Dave M vin 03572
    http://dm-eng.weebly.com/

  5. #5
    Member
    Join Date:  Apr 2013

    Location:  Seattle, WA

    Posts:    48

    My VIN:    887

    Club(s):   (PNDC)

    Quote Originally Posted by Bitsyncmaster View Post
    If you want a full dot matrix, you will need something else to make up the LEDs. You would need an array so the micro can drive one LED at a time.
    The WS2812B LEDs can be chained together and addressed individually. You only need one data pin to control them all with a micro controller.

    Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

  6. #6
    Senior Member Bitsyncmaster's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  Leonardtown, MD

    Posts:    9,000

    My VIN:    03572

    Quote Originally Posted by jgarland79 View Post
    The WS2812B LEDs can be chained together and addressed individually. You only need one data pin to control them all with a micro controller.

    Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
    Yes, I have been informed how those LEDs work. It would eliminate the need to matrix LEDs. Guess I'm just to old school and have not played with these new LED strings.
    Dave M vin 03572
    http://dm-eng.weebly.com/

  7. #7
    Member
    Join Date:  Apr 2013

    Location:  Seattle, WA

    Posts:    48

    My VIN:    887

    Club(s):   (PNDC)

    I sell these glasses with those same LEDs. http://facebook.com/FutureShades

    Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

  8. #8
    Member
    Join Date:  Apr 2013

    Location:  Seattle, WA

    Posts:    48

    My VIN:    887

    Club(s):   (PNDC)

    CAD drawing

    I'm about to go get this part laser cut to test the fit.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1M...ew?usp=sharing

  9. #9
    Member
    Join Date:  Apr 2013

    Location:  Seattle, WA

    Posts:    48

    My VIN:    887

    Club(s):   (PNDC)


  10. #10
    Member
    Join Date:  Apr 2013

    Location:  Seattle, WA

    Posts:    48

    My VIN:    887

    Club(s):   (PNDC)

    After talking with the guys at the hacker space I went to last night, I've decided to use polycarbonate for the plastic parts. They have a large CNC router they can use to cut out my parts.

Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •