LED door and side marker lights

[Tomcio]

Just a quick update on the status...
Door lights:
The ICs and LEDs have already arrived. I'm still waiting on the resistors. The PCBs have been ordered but it will be another two to three weeks before delivery. Once all the components are here I will need a few days to complete the assembly and then I will start taking orders for the kits.

Side markers:
The schematic has been completed and tested. I am currently working on the PCB design which has been changed significantly. I will receive a test sample with the door light boards to see how it works. For now the design includes 8 instead of 6 LEDs with 3 chips each for a total of 24 LED chips in each light. It was brought to my attention that the OEM bulb provides some lights to backlight the reflector sections. The new design addresses this with two LEDs on each side. There will be four LEDs directed straight out and two on each side to backlight the reflective sections. This should provide a much better effect.
Each light will consume 1.4 watts and will provide full brightness from about 9.5V all the way up to well over 30V.
For those using the side markers as turn signals - I will include a special connector to make the light work with reversing polarity. There is a side effect of using this connector though. It will raise the minimum full brightness voltage by about 1V. This means that 100% brightness will be achieved at about 10.5V and above. Nothing really to worry about because if you get to that voltage the dimming side markers will be the last thing you will worry about

I have added a status info on my site, so anyone awaiting news about this project can simply check the progress there. I will be updating the status as information becomes available. You can find the link in my signature below.

[Farrar]

Are these your handiwork?

$T2eC16JHJF0E9nmFQhPSBQ)z)9N)+Q~~60_12.JPG

[Shep]

Are these your handiwork?

$T2eC16JHJF0E9nmFQhPSBQ)z)9N)+Q~~60_12.JPG

I'd guess not due to January purchase dates and shipment from Hong Kong

[Farrar]

I'd guess not due to January purchase dates and shipment from Hong Kong

He could have outsourced the labour... :P

[Tomcio]

Nope, that's not me. I use different LEDs (3 chip each) and the current is controlled by an IC. These boards seem to have a simple resistor.
A resistor will control the current correctly at a single voltage point. I don't like that idea since voltage varies wildly in a car. Anything from 11 to 15 volts is acceptable with spikes to over 30V. A resistor is a "static" device and can't cope with changing voltage. That is why I decided to use ICs that control current from 9 to 37 volts.
I do not outsource the work. Only the ICs and LEDs are imported. The boards are made here in Poland and entire assembly is carried out by me.

[Domi]

Any update on the availability?
Thanks!

[Tomcio]

Domi,

I'm still waiting for the boards. They should be arriving pretty soon as they promised to complete the work at around this time.
I will let everyone know when I have some news. For the small updates you can visit my website where I've added a table with status for every step of the production. I have all the parts needed except for the boards. At this moment I have enough LEDs, regulators and resistors to assemble about 50 boards. By the time the boards arrive I should have all the parts for the first run of 25 sets of door lights. That is 25x6 = 150 boards!

I will post pictures once I have the boards. There were some changes and improvements made. This will be a final design, version 2.0.
I don't want to spoil the anticipation, so let me just say that the pictures you have seen were of board v. 1.0. There were a few changes after that. After v. 1.5 I decided to go to production with 2.0. All together there were about 10 versions from the first crude drawing to the final product. The improvement is significant! Just wait for the pictures and I'm sure you'll agree that it was worth the wait
Yeah, I know, I could have done it sooner/quicker but.... I'm a perfectionist. I want to make sure that when I'm done there will be no room for improvement.

[Domi]

All right, thank you for your answer.
Don't worry I'm not in a big hurry, take your time

[Tomcio]

Hello everyone,

This is just a quick update.
The new boards have arrived and I'm VERY pleased with how they came out. As I said before, it was worth the wait!
I'll post some pictures later on tonight.

Now, for the assembly. It is going to be a slow process as there are many small components that I will have to assemble by hand. It would be great to use a professional pick-and-place machine but the cost was way too high. So, I chose manual assembly. Cheaper but slower. And the fun begins....

Stand by for the pictures.

[Domi]

Thanks for the news