Arduino powered taillight project.

[bttws]

http://i.imgur.com/k9Sbh4O.gif

Just a first working test of my prototype.
Uses 80 LEDs and an arduino uno to power it. I'm not happy with the code and wiring, its far too dim right now... but I wanted to at least get it running something.
I will be working on it as I get spare time this fall.
Just a early test, but I thought you guys might be interested.
I'll be sure to post anything I come up with

Depending on how all this turns out I may try to develop a plug and play taillight set or maybe a arduino powered snap in board to work with the stock lenses..... who knows what the future may bring.

Let me know what you think.
-Kevin

p.s. thank you Rich_NYS for the good price on the taillight!

[Bitsyncmaster]

Pretty cool. You must have cut off the stock reflector housing.

[robvanderveer]

Nicely done!

[ALEXAKOS]

Cool. Has a tail-knight rider effect of the surveillance model:p

[Josh]

very cool. I always wondered what the mustang style sequential tail lights would look like on a delorean.

[Domi]

Great job, almost look like the new rear tail light of the '77 & '79 Trans-Am :)

[OverlandMan]

I recall looking at Arduinos for another DeLorean-related project sometime last year. Looks cool!

[robvanderveer]

I recall looking at Arduinos for another DeLorean-related project sometime last year. Looks cool!
What project might that be may i ask?

[DMCMW Dave]

Depending on how all this turns out I may try to develop a plug and play taillight set or maybe a arduino powered snap in board to work with the stock lenses..... who knows what the future may bring.

Let me know what you think.
-Kevin

p.s. thank you Rich_NYS for the good price on the taillight!

What happens when you press the brake or go into reverse?

[bttws]

What happens when you press the brake or go into reverse?

Right now, nothing
I haven't got that far with the coding yet. This video is of my first working test of the hardware. I am basically teaching myself to code, and this is been a learning experience.
My goal is to allow easy customization of different animations via a SD card. A set of animations could be designed on a computer with a simple program and then loaded to the taillights with the SD card. You could make your own style for Brakes, turn, parking, startup/sundown, etc.

I have some new parts coming next week, those should give me better control of the LEDs and make more complex animations (and brighter.... that video has the LEDs at about 30% of their potential brightness, even less for the white ones)

the idea has been in my head for years and I have finally started working on it. Not sure how far it will go, I hope to have a car next year sometime, and maybe have a working prototype by DCS 2016
Here are some images I made a long time ago showing what I had in mind.

Sequental brake lights
http://i.imgur.com/aTsp1qS.gif
Sequential turn signal
http://i.imgur.com/dCy0reE.gif
Startup animation
http://i.imgur.com/YWmhMKh.gif

[robvanderveer]

The animations promise this to be an awesome product!

But I feel I must issue a word of warning. You will want your stoplights to go on AS FAST AS POSSIBLE to attract the attention of the idiots behind you. Security wise, I am very hesitant on changing anything on the car that would influence the basic functionality of the car using a mod. I don't want to be rear-ended because the Arduino driving my brake lights wasn't functioning properly. My insurance company wouldn't even think of paying up if they found out.

[john 05141]

Animated lights are not allowed in most parts in Europe.
I am certainly interested in a modern version as long as the animation can be bypassed.

I am looking foreward to see you answer Dave's Question; did you cut of the rear plastic part of the lens to install these?

Jan

[Dangermouse]

I do like the start-up animation :biggrin:

But I have to say that I am not a fan of the Mustangs sequential indicators. Like wheel spinners, it was cool the first few times I saw it, but it is just cheesy now. IMHO of course.

I think you should go crazy on whatever you can do for use in a car-show type setting, but be cautious about adding anything that may add to the distraction of a driver following you.

However a proportional brake light, somewhat like BMW do, would be interesting, one that perhaps lights two segments on each side, like OEM, during normal braking, but adds the third, or increases the brightness during emergency braking. Of course you would need some sort of pressure signal generator from the brake pedal.....

[jangell]

I think you should go crazy on whatever you can do for use in a car-show type setting, but be cautious about adding anything that may add to the distraction of a driver following you.

I've been toying with doing something similar -- I got so far as building my LED order, but got sidetracked by some other stuff. It's cool to see this project (and I'm also curious about if the lens housing thing was cut off to install them).

I am quite concerned about safety, so most of the things I was going to do were very quick animations. It was more of a learning exercise and because it would look kinda neat, and would be fairly subtle. Animation is good at drawing your eye if it's done correctly, too. I've often wondered if the slight fade up/down of incandescents is better than the popping on and off of LEDs in braking and turn signal applications for that reason, but I'm not really sure.

My plan was to preserve the original DMC taillight region purposes. So, my turn signal might quickly animate only the yellow bit from the center of the car towards the edge, then stay illuminated for the rest of the "blink" before the "off" animation runs. For the brake lights, they might start from the center of the light and very quickly animate out to the edges. If you brake hard, I'd also light up the tail light, and maybe have it flash or something like some high-end cars do (which I see is what you also suggested below).


However a proportional brake light, somewhat like BMW do, would be interesting, one that perhaps lights two segments on each side, like OEM, during normal braking, but adds the third, or increases the brightness during emergency braking. Of course you would need some sort of pressure signal generator from the brake pedal.....

Disclaimer: I have no real knowledge of car lighting safety engineering; I just think about these kinds of things more than I should:

Increasing brightness is tricky -- the problem is that you need something to compare it to, which is particularly tough to do in different lighting conditions. Also, if you look down the highway at night you'll notice that all car taillights are almost exactly the same brightness as all other cars, and all brake lights are all brighter than taillights by the same amount. I once saw someone who had put brake bulbs in their tail lights and it was really distracting because it looked like they were braking all the time.

So the first trick is getting your LED intensity to match the stock setup so that you don't confuse everyone else on the road. After that, it seems like either changing the intensity of, say, the edges of the of the lights or blinking all or part of the light is probably safer than adjusting the brightness depending on how hard you press the pedal.

As for detecting how hard you're pressing on the brake pedal, I think one or two more switches at different positions along the brake pedal's travel would give you the information you need to start flashing the lights. This assumes that "pressing really hard" means that the brake pedal is moving down further than "pressing kinda hard", which I'm pretty sure it is, since the brakes wouldn't work otherwise.

Even without the LEDs, I think you could probably rig up a "flash the center tail light" with an extra switch on the pedal and a simple circuit on the tail light wire. Seems like it could be an interesting project for someone, although since you're starting to delve into car safety I'm not sure anyone could sell it (I have no idea how that stuff works) -- it might be restricted to a DIY project.

-- Joe

[Dangermouse]

Also, if you look down the highway at night you'll notice that all car taillights are almost exactly the same brightness as all other cars, and all brake lights are all brighter than taillights by the same amount.

While this used to be true, apparently with the advent of LED tail-lights, the DOT appear to have thrown that particular section of their code out the window.

Look at the LED brake lights on a big Infiniti SUV - they are blinding, but possibly because they are at eye-height.

I suspect the code says something about limiting a tail light to 25W, and a brake light to 55W, which is irrelevant with an LED, and the code just hasn't caught up.

[jangell]

Back when I was playing around with this I googled for information on the lumens of a taillight bulbs, which seemed to be a good way to figure out how bright the LEDs need to be. Of course I don't remember what that was anymore. I figured I could divide the number of lumens by the number of LEDs, but I'm not sure it's a linear relationship (it probably isn't). Mostly I was going to buy LEDs that were too bright, then PWM them down to match incandescents.

I didn't know that some LED-based taillights in production cars are much brighter than conventional taillights. That's sort of annoying, actually, but at least it gives us some room for mods.

-- Joe

[Tomcio]

I don't know exactly what the DOT says but I got some EU specifications for the exterior lighting and was very surprised to see how they describe the rear light intensity. For the front they have exact numbers for lumens for the headlights and turn signals. The turns signals have different minimum values based on the distance from the headlight. Pretty complicated matter...
For the rear it's a completely different story. While the color of the light is given exactly as 610nm and up for the RED the brightness is more of a "looks good enough" kind of deal. The official specification says that the rear light has to be red and has to be visible at a distance of 400 meters in clear weather at night (it doesn't state by whom). The brake light needs to be distinctively brighter. There is a rule that say that the brake light should be 60 - 185 candela for EU and 80 - 300 for the US. Generally the LED tail lights use full brightness (constant supply at max LED current) for brake lights and 30% PWM for taillight operation.
As for the "panic brake" function do not even consider using switches on the brake pedal. This will not work! The pedal travel differs based on temperature, moisture in the fluid and other factors. This can be done in two ways:
1. Use a pressure sensor in the hydraulic system - complex, expensive and generally not a very good idea.
2. Use an accelerometer chip connected to the Arduino. Then write a code that reads the deceleration and activates "panic" function when a certain value is reached. This is fairly easy to do and would work great. Just make sure to interconnect both taillights so this function activates both lights at the same time.
There is a regulation in Europe for those "panic" brake lights and it reads:
UN Regulation 48 calls for the lamps providing the ESS (Emergency Stop Signal) to flash at 4 Hz when a passenger car decelerates at greater than 6 m/s2.

As for animations... very illegal in Europe. General European rules do not allow any kind of animation for the brake lights and to be honest I want all my brake lights to activate at the same time. People follow DeLoreans way to close and I want to give them a clear signal that it's time to hit the brakes as soon as possible. Animated brake lights might send a mixed message... what's that? That's cool what his lights are doing... wait, is he slowing down? Oh crap... CRASH! Turn signals... maybe, but brake lights are a big no-no for me.

[jangell]

That's great information about the light intensity, wavelength and panic light blink speed -- thanks! Weird that they aren't very specific about the rear light intensity, though. I should really hunt down the DOT specs sometime...

I definitely agree that brake lights need to be immediately recognizable (really, any indicator lights). I'm probably not clear about what I mean by "animation" for my project, but if I'm not confident that it would be safe I won't do it.

I also didn't think about brake pressure vs. pedal travel vs temperature/moisture being an issue for detecting panic stops. My thought was more that if you were panic-braking, you probably had your foot on the floor, at which point the specific pressure wasn't very important. I was wary of using an accelerometer because it was a secondary input (the behavior of the car braking) instead of a primary (telling the car to brake), but perhaps I'm overly concerned about that. Your mention of the 6 m/s^2 spec suggests that I am that an accelerometer is a way to go. Also, it would ensure the lights flash only when you're actually panic-stopping, and not just sitting at a stop light with the brake pedal down hard.

I likely would not want to rig up a pressure sensor -- as you said, that's probably pretty complex, and I'm not sure I want to inject new hardware into the system required to make my car stop.

-- Joe

[bttws]

So many responses... Thanks everyone. Once I get home and back to a keyboard make a longer post. I answer a quick question... Yes. I did cut the lenses off. (And it not come off without a fight.) I'll post some pictures when I get home.

[bttws]

Also my design does have a option for panic stops. I'll post about that too.

[bttws]

Hey all, first the pictures.... then I'll make another post.

The cut lens (I'm guessing most people have not seen the inside of these) There is a layer of glue connecting the 2 halves of the lens. I tried baking it in the oven to warm the glue, but I was afraid of melting it and Dremeled it instead. I am guessing that I can find a sweet spot with temp and time to get them apart without melting.
http://i.imgur.com/IbfRBPl.jpg

The LED array, I used hotglue and lexan sheets to make the separators. The used black paper keep the light from leaking (very basic for now)
http://i.imgur.com/zEcmIIZ.jpg

A closeup of the LEDs, They are high flux LEDs, the are sometime called automotive grade because the can handle higher voltages, are brighter, are more rugged, and most important, they have 2 extra leads per side. This leaves a backup in case of a solder joint failure.
http://i.imgur.com/ta6hkR1.jpg

The back, not the best solder job, but it works. that was before I got a better soldering iron. (yes those are plastic knifes)
http://i.imgur.com/yxxtONV.jpg

The arduino uno and circuits running it. Right now very simple, just 3 transistors and a few resisters.
http://i.imgur.com/OKAiveD.jpg

[bttws]

For starters, some light reading material, the us DOT regs on lighting....
http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/571.108

Thanks for all the suggestions.....

I have been thinking about this for a long time. I drive a truck so I have plenty of time to think about Ideas, I also look at car taillights all day. I hope to have a car next year. When I do, I plan on doing extensive modification to the interior. I want to add a Tesla S style full touch screen control and digital dash. I will be adding a ton of sensors, so some of the functions of the taillights would be specific to my car only. I would like to produce a product, so I would keep that in mind for people who do not wish to permanently cut/modify their cars. I would most likely buy new lenses form DMC Houston and hand build the electronics and hardware. With all the work involved, I would imagine they would not be cheap to make. How much would you pay for a set?

my full Ideas

Software
The goal is to right a easy to use customizer to compose a set of instructions to taillights can read. When done the program would send the files to a SD card. You would then put the card in the taillgihts and reset.
A few things I have in mind....
I want the program to be smart enough to know how bright different lights need to be, so it wouldn't let you make a file with no brake lights or something. I might be able to have the ardiuno check voltage outputs on the leds and revert to a some sort of default if something is wrong.

I want to have a set actions that you create sequences for. The program should also prevent you from using white lights for turn signals, etc.
Each action would have a -Warm up animation -Steady animation and -Cool down animation. I say animation with a grain of salt. An animation may be one frame long and loops as long as the action is active.
Brake animations might be unsafe and may be limited to a 1/2 sec or less warm-up time.

example, lets say parking lamps. When the action is activated ( eg. turn on the parking lamps) the warm up animation would play. This could be a fade up or some sort of sweep animation. After the warm up the steady would play as long as the lights are on. This would most likely be a one frame looped. lets say all 9 red squares. When the lights are tuned off the cool down animation once would play like the warm up animation.
This format would work for all the actions

I want 4 modes on the tailights,
1. Stock.... this is preprogramed in the code and will activate when there is no SD card or there is some kind of error with the sd card file. This would be a basic animation set, that emulates the stock look.
2. Custom... this is what is on the SD card that you make with the computer
3. Parade/carshow.... This mode would play a playlist of animations from the SD card that you make on the computer. This mode will be set back to stock when the car is restarted or a preset speed is reached, to prevent you leaving the mode on.
4 Audio mode (for car shows) Similar to the 3rd mode but this would turn the taillight into a audio visualizer, hooking up to a mp3 player or a car stereo audio line.

Safety
Of course I hope this could improve the safety of the car, I have heard that most people think the DMC taillights could be better and brighter. Being able to utilize all 9 red sections for parking and braking lights would be a huge plus. You also get more space for turn signals. Depending on how well the LEDs test out in the open, I may install a light sensor to change brightness levels depending on time of day. That way lights could be plenty bright at day, but not blinding at night.

My ideas on speed proportional brake lights.
I was thinking of 4 different braking modes. These will be achieved by using gps and accelerometer data.
1. Normal - This just everyday average braking. But could include harder braking under 10 mph. If you slam on the brakes in a parking lot because you see a space, I don't want the system acting like you are skidding to a halt from 55mph
2. Hard - This would be with a moderate deceleration, or brake pressure. This would play a different braking sequence. Maybe one or two flashes then steady.
3 Full/Panic - This be a signaled by a rapid deceleration or very high pressure (at speed). This would play the panic sequence which could be bright flashing brake lights until the brakes are released. Speed is important here because I down want the lights flashing like crazy at a stop light if the brake pressure is high. The taillights would optionally be able to activate a relay to turn on the hazard flashers until stopped then off again when the brakes are released.
4. Skid - This one would be only be possible with a sensor detection wheel spin. This could play a different sequence.

here is how BMW's system works. youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3z91w39cuM)

A few optional ideas.
Brake light hold - If you have a manual you could have the brakes stay active at a light until you start moving again. so if you sit with clutch in and no brakes on, the car behind will still see you are stopped and have brake lights on.
Automatic deceleration brake lights- If the accelerometer detects and decrease in speed over a certain amount it could send a brake light even if you did not touch the brake.
Probity tailgate warning - Add a proximity sensor and if it detects at close following car at speed, the system could flash the both amber sections once to alert the driver behind ( not sure about this one )
collision alert. My car is going to have a aftermarket lane departure/front collision avoidance system. I am going to tie into that so if it shows impending collision or hard braking it would start a brake action before I press the pedal, maybe saving me from being rear ended.
Automatic Parking lights - If the light values are low enough, the rear parking lights could come on even if the parking lights are not on.

Design

Not much to say yet. I will be using some 3d printing make the enclosure on the back of the lens. It will have to be water tight and sealed with a few selector buttons and sd card slot behind a locked door.
There would be a connector to use stock wiring and connector to go the other side of the car for the other taillight.

Expansion

On my car I will be putting LED arrays behind the side markers and front turn signals. The system can work together and animation sequences would include these sections too. I guess if there is demand, I could make a kit to add these too.


well those are my ideas, if you read it all sorry it was so long. Let me know what you think. I really think it would be fun to build these and see them installed in other people's cars. We'll just have to see how this turns out.
BTW I will be happy to accept any lenses of any type anyone might have laying around I'll put them to good use.

-Kevin

[Tomcio]

That's great information about the light intensity, wavelength and panic light blink speed -- thanks! Weird that they aren't very specific about the rear light intensity, though. I should really hunt down the DOT specs sometime...
No problem :)
I found all this info while doing research for my LED side markers and rear lights. I like to share ;)
For the actual intensity I decided to not go by the numbers alone and I got a lux meter. They are cheap but work great actually. I think mine was in the range of $10 to $15.
I don't know how accurate this thing is but I don't care. I just need to compare the readings. So, I took some measurements from my other two cars and from some of other cars (I got some strange looks from my friends ;) ). I got an average of all those readings for the front turn signals, side markers and taillights (position, brake, turn, reverse and fog). Then I built a circuit with LEDs and checked the result. This allowed me to choose correct LEDs and use a correct number of them to get the correct light output. This way if someone ever questions my lights they can test them and they will confirm that the light output is correct.
BTW, for the front turn and rear combination lights I ended up choosing 4 chip super flux LEDs. Single chip units were not bright enough even when mounted very close together.
For reverse and daytime running lights I went with 6 chip cool white super flux.


I also didn't think about brake pressure vs. pedal travel vs temperature/moisture being an issue for detecting panic stops. My thought was more that if you were panic-braking, you probably had your foot on the floor, at which point the specific pressure wasn't very important.
You don't even realize how different the brakes are depending on the temperature alone. Our brains are really great at adapting to changing conditions and we don't even notice it. At below freezing the pedal will require more effort than when it's a nice hot summer day. When the brakes are up to temperature they require the least amount of force and travel. Then when they start to overheat you'll need even more effort and the pedal will travel further in.
Then there are things like vacuum assist that changes over time, moisture in the brake fluid, moisture on the rotors/pads. How about a situation where one of the hydraulic systems develops a leak? If one of the calipers fails you'll only have the brakes work on the other system (the hydraulic system is divided into two) and the brake pedal will actually travel almost to the floor without a panic stop.
It would be impossible to adjust switches to work correctly.


I was wary of using an accelerometer because it was a secondary input (the behavior of the car braking) instead of a primary (telling the car to brake), but perhaps I'm overly concerned about that. Your mention of the 6 m/s^2 spec suggests that I am that an accelerometer is a way to go.
I believe that this is the best way to go. The panic function would activate regardless of the driver behavior. So, as you step on the brake pedal the regular lights come on. Then when the deceleration is large enough the panic function is activated. In my opinion it adds to the safety because if you decelerate rapidly (even when not intended) the panic flash will activate. I can imagine a few unfortunate situations where this might be helpful.


Also, it would ensure the lights flash only when you're actually panic-stopping, and not just sitting at a stop light with the brake pedal down hard.
Great point!
Just make sure you mount the sensor in the correct orientation! It needs to read the actual deceleration and that means you will probably need a second board with the sensor pointing forward. Since those sensors are tiny this shouldn't be a problem. A little stand-off board will do the trick.

[jangell]

For starters, some light reading material, the us DOT regs on lighting....
http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/571.108

Thanks!


I have been thinking about this for a long time. I drive a truck so I have plenty of time to think about Ideas, I also look at car taillights all day. I hope to have a car next year. When I do, I plan on doing extensive modification to the interior. I want to add a Tesla S style full touch screen control and digital dash. I will be adding a ton of sensors...

I have very similar plans. When I get to it is another story...


With all the work involved, I would imagine they would not be cheap to make. How much would you pay for a set?

I personally am interested in building my own as a learning experience, but I'll be following your project closely. Good luck!


Safety
Of course I hope this could improve the safety of the car, I have heard that most people think the DMC taillights could be better and brighter. Being able to utilize all 9 red sections for parking and braking lights would be a huge plus. You also get more space for turn signals.

I'm a really big fan of actually having separate lights for taillights, turn signals and brake lights (which makes it clear to other drivers where to look for those indicators even when they're off), and especially of having the turn signals be yellow or clear with yellow bulbs. I don't like how many modern cars seem to be combining the brake lights and tail lights, and red turn signals are not as recognizable as yellow (I found a study once saying that clear lenses with yellow bulbs were most visible for turn signals, actually -- you get the change in color as well as the change in brightness that way). I have no idea how many people share this view, though.


Depending on how well the LEDs test out in the open, I may install a light sensor to change brightness levels depending on time of day. That way lights could be plenty bright at day, but not blinding at night.

That's an interesting idea. I agree that the DMC's taillights are a bit dim in normal use, so that could help.


My ideas on speed proportional brake lights.
I was thinking of 4 different braking modes. These will be achieved by using gps and accelerometer data.
1. Normal - This just everyday average braking. But could include harder braking under 10 mph. If you slam on the brakes in a parking lot because you see a space, I don't want the system acting like you are skidding to a halt from 55mph
2. Hard - This would be with a moderate deceleration, or brake pressure. This would play a different braking sequence. Maybe one or two flashes then steady.
3 Full/Panic - This be a signaled by a rapid deceleration or very high pressure (at speed). This would play the panic sequence which could be bright flashing brake lights until the brakes are released. Speed is important here because I down want the lights flashing like crazy at a stop light if the brake pressure is high. The taillights would optionally be able to activate a relay to turn on the hazard flashers until stopped then off again when the brakes are released.
4. Skid - This one would be only be possible with a sensor detection wheel spin. This could play a different sequence.

here is how BMW's system works. youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3z91w39cuM)

Skid is an interesting one. I'm very curious about what you'll use to detect wheel spin, since I'd much rather buy an off-the-shelf unit for my own projects than build one if something compatible exists already. It would also make my speedometer conversion a bit easier, if it returned how fast the wheel was turning.

I'm curious about the value of Hard vs. Full/Panic, not because I'm saying it's a bad idea but because I genuinely don't know how useful it would be in a general sense. I see that in the BMW video that they do make the lights brighter, and I also wonder how visible that is in real world use. That said, I'll assume a company like BMW has done their research and know what they're doing.

A trick with flashing all the brake lights too slowly is that people could think you're pumping the brake instead of holding it down, and thus that you're not braking as hard as you really are, but I guess BMW doesn't think hat's a problem either. I'm guessing that 4 Hz rate mentioned elsewhere is fast enough to eliminate that, but the BMW one seemed to blink slower than that (( think).

I've added a high-center stop light (third brake light) to my car, and was considering just having that flash on panic stops.


Automatic deceleration brake lights- If the accelerometer detects and decrease in speed over a certain amount it could send a brake light even if you did not touch the brake.

That's interesting; at least it might get people to back off. Or to think that you're one of those guys who rides the brakes. :)


Probity tailgate warning - Add a proximity sensor and if it detects at close following car at speed, the system could flash the both amber sections once to alert the driver behind ( not sure about this one )

Might work. It would look like you put on your hazards for a moment, which might make them back off a bit.


collision alert. My car is going to have a aftermarket lane departure/front collision avoidance system. I am going to tie into that so if it shows impending collision or hard braking it would start a brake action before I press the pedal, maybe saving me from being rear ended.

I'm hugely interested in this. What aftermarket system were you thinking of using? I figured I was going to have to roll my own (and thus spend a lot of time learning machine vision and image processing stuff to detect road lines). I've always wanted to see car manufacturers have systems to detect the lines and make it hard to change lanes unless your turn signal was on, and nudge you into he lane if you start to drift out of it. I think some are actually starting to do this, too.

While I would like to build an emergency braking system into my car (my idea being that I'm going to hit something anyway, so the system would slam on the brakes faster than i could so I'd hit it slower; it's something I've been thinking about for more than a decade now, and some manufacturers are now doing something like it to avoid collisions entirely), I don't trust my programming skills enough to use them on critical systems that can get me killed. I don't want a leaf to fall onto a sensor and cause the car to slam on the brakes, for example, so it would require a huge amount of testing. I'd like ABS too, but I won't do it for the same reason, unless I can get a complete aftermarket kit.


Automatic Parking lights - If the light values are low enough, the rear parking lights could come on even if the parking lights are not on.

I just leave my lights on all the time anyway -- I modified the headlight switch wiring to turn the lights off with the ignition. Not that I haven't thought about something similar, though. For example, it's not clear to me if headlights during daytime actually reduce your visibility to other oncoming drivers in a manner similar to some World War II projects where they experimented with hiding tanks and planes by covering them with banks of lights to reduce the contrast between them and the background (which worked, until radar obsoleted it), in which case just running with marker lights would indeed be safer.


Design
Not much to say yet. I will be using some 3d printing make the enclosure on the back of the lens. It will have to be water tight and sealed with a few selector buttons and sd card slot behind a locked door.
There would be a connector to use stock wiring and connector to go the other side of the car for the other taillight.

I also plan on using 3D printing for a lot of my stuff, although I was hoping to reuse the cut-off back of the taillight assembly. I hadn't yet decided if I was going to build a new wiring harness or mate it to the stock one. I was trying to think of a way to seal the assembly with a gasket of some kind to weatherproof it, but still be able to open it again if I needed to fix somebody soldering or something. Hadn't quite worked out the details yet.


Expansion
On my car I will be putting LED arrays behind the side markers and front turn signals. The system can work together and animation sequences would include these sections too. I guess if there is demand, I could make a kit to add these too.

Also something i want to do. I might just buy the LED arrays from you so I can wire it into my own project, just so I don't have to build them too. :) I want the LEDs to run the entire length of the markers, which may prove slightly tricky as there is only really room to put anything where the existing bulb is (although it's been a few years since I took those out; I may be misremembering).


well those are my ideas, if you read it all sorry it was so long. Let me know what you think. I really think it would be fun to build these and see them installed in other people's cars. We'll just have to see how this turns out.

Sounds great -- good luck!

-- Joe

[jangell]

I found all this info while doing research for my LED side markers and rear lights. I like to share ;)
For the actual intensity I decided to not go by the numbers alone and I got a lux meter. They are cheap but work great actually. I think mine was in the range of $10 to $15.

I like the idea of a lux meter -- I was just going to eyeball it, but using real values makes a lot more sense. Presumably you have to measure the brightness at the same distance to get an result to compare with, much like measuring sound levels with a decibel meter.


BTW, for the front turn and rear combination lights I ended up choosing 4 chip super flux LEDs. Single chip units were not bright enough even when mounted very close together.
For reverse and daytime running lights I went with 6 chip cool white super flux.

Nice -- thanks for the info. I had overly ambitious plans involving quite a lot of LEDs (I think I was up to 450 per assembly -- this is clearly madness, and I really don't want to solder all those pins).


You don't even realize how different the brakes are depending on the temperature alone. Our brains are really great at adapting to changing conditions and we don't even notice it. At below freezing the pedal will require more effort than when it's a nice hot summer day. When the brakes are up to temperature they require the least amount of force and travel. Then when they start to overheat you'll need even more effort and the pedal will travel further in.

Speaking of which a brake upgrade is on my list as well. For some reason I have to pump my brake twice for it to feel good: the first time it dips quite a lot, and the second time it feels firm. No one has been able to figure out what's going on, so I was just going to give in and get the expensive UK braking kit. Well, after I put the engine back in the car, anyway...


(accelerometer:) I believe that this is the best way to go.

I think you're right -- it will ensure the panic mode triggers at the right time, and only at the time.


Just make sure you mount the sensor in the correct orientation! It needs to read the actual deceleration and that means you will probably need a second board with the sensor pointing forward. Since those sensors are tiny this shouldn't be a problem. A little stand-off board will do the trick.

Yup; I'm not expecting that to be much of a problem. since I plan on having a lot of sensors in my car anyway, I may have a single unit located somewhere in the cabin that tells the brakes when to pulse.

Thanks!

-- Joe

[Shep]

Can I just get a set for my desk??? Honestly, all this talk of patterns and legality and brightness, and I just want to get one for my cubicle... :hmm:



To be frank, I'm loving this project. And it gives me an idea on what to do with my old taillight housings. Maybe even turn them into a display or something! :)

(Also, have you tried a heat gun rather than an oven? Might help you melt the glue without destroying the taillights.)

[jangell]

If you're going to have one for your desk, you could write an app for your computer to control the lights based on something going on on your system. I did that for my flux capacitor project (http://www.tmproductions.com/electornics/fluxcapacitor/), turning it into a CPU activity meter and low memory indicator. The app I wrote is a bit buggy, but it does the job.

-- Joe

[bttws]

I could make a desk version.... Maybe I should do that first. I could have it display network status or something. Maybe a audio visual or some kind of clock....

Bluetooth connection with a smart phone is possible.

[Tomcio]

For some reason I have to pump my brake twice for it to feel good: the first time it dips quite a lot, and the second time it feels firm. No one has been able to figure out what's going on

Joe, this is a little off topic here but I might be able to help you out. First we need to get some facts.
Are you sure that there are no leaks in the system, the fluid is fresh and clean, the calipers are clean and dry? If yes then the main question is if you feel any vibration when you apply the brakes? The best way to check for this is to get the car up to highway speed and step on the brake. Light pedal pressure at first that you can then increase. If you feel any vibration or any pulling to one side and vibration then one or more likely both rotors have high and low spots on them. It is a condition that people call "warped rotors". It's very unusual for rotors to warp but it's fairly common for the brake pads to "burn and melt" onto the rotors when you stop your car with very hot brakes. This causes a high spot on the rotor and that high spot pushes the pads away when you drive. The first push of the pedal needs to get the pads closer to the rotors and the second push is when you get normal operation of the brakes. Turning the rotors on a lathe or replacing them will fix the problem.
So, do you get any vibration when braking at high speed?

[jangell]

Joe, this is a little off topic here but I might be able to help you out.

Thanks. My car hasn't been drivable since last year; I'm in the slow process of doing a 3.0L swap after discovering hole in my 2.8L block. As such, I'll be going from memory.


First we need to get some facts.
Are you sure that there are no leaks in the system, the fluid is fresh and clean, the calipers are clean and dry?

Fairly sure. I had Rob Grady take a look at it at one point, although that was quite a while ago now (2-3 years), and my local shop about a year and a half ago. The system was bled each time, and it didn't appear to be leaking. I'm not sure it's worth checking this out now since the car hasn't run for a year, but I'm guessing I could push the brake pedal and see if anything odd is going on.

The car does have a Saag 50/50 master cylinder in it, if that matters. I admit I was going to use this problem as an excuse to update to the UK performance brake kit, but I don't have the money for that right now either.


If yes then the main question is if you feel any vibration when you apply the brakes?

I never noticed that, only that the pedal was soft on the first pump, and firm on the second. This would happen basically every time I braked, and I got used to double-pumping them. Not super safe, since it increased my braking distance. I never did a test to see if the soft pedal braked as well as the hard pedal, but the soft pedal did still slow the car.


The best way to check for this is to get the car up to highway speed and step on the brake. Light pedal pressure at first that you can then increase. If you feel any vibration or any pulling to one side and vibration then one or more likely both rotors have high and low spots on them. It is a condition that people call "warped rotors".

This is where my memory gets hazy. I remember having my local shop try to diagnose the brakes, reconditioning the rotors (I think) about two years ago. But I can't seem to find the work order for that in my records.


It's very unusual for rotors to warp but it's fairly common for the brake pads to "burn and melt" onto the rotors when you stop your car with very hot brakes. This causes a high spot on the rotor and that high spot pushes the pads away when you drive. The first push of the pedal needs to get the pads closer to the rotors and the second push is when you get normal operation of the brakes. Turning the rotors on a lathe or replacing them will fix the problem.

Ah, I didn't know that -- I'd only heard of warped rotors before, not of high spots from melted pads. I have the rear right tire off the car (need to get access to the parking brake cable to disconnect it when pulling the engine/trans), and I could probably pull the others; would this kind of thing be visible the rotor, or is it subtle enough that to feel for it?


So, do you get any vibration when braking at high speed?

I will be sure to check as soon as the car is roadworthy again. :) Thanks!

-- Joe

[Tomcio]

Fairly sure. I had Rob Grady take a look at it at one point, although that was quite a while ago now (2-3 years), and my local shop about a year and a half ago. The system was bled each time, and it didn't appear to be leaking. I'm not sure it's worth checking this out now since the car hasn't run for a year, but I'm guessing I could push the brake pedal and see if anything odd is going on.
Some leaks might be very difficult to see. I remember when I once spent an entire week trying to figure out why the brakes on my friend's car were soft and spongy. After checking everything (almost) and replacing the master I found that one soft rubber hose had a balloon where the fluid would go between the layers of the hose. It was in a spot where you couldn't see it. I found it by running my hand along the full length of the hose.


The car does have a Saag 50/50 master cylinder in it, if that matters.
Doesn't matter. It makes braking a bit less predictable when braking hard in a turn and you might end up spinning but in this case it doesn't matter.



the pedal was soft on the first pump, and firm on the second. This would happen basically every time I braked
What really matters here is if this soft pedal would appear even when the car was not moving.
If you pump the brakes, get a firm pedal, wait a minute or two and then the pedal is soft again but the car wasn't moving then the problem is in the hydraulic system. If it doesn't happen with the car stationary but does when moving then it's the rotors.


Ah, I didn't know that -- I'd only heard of warped rotors before, not of high spots from melted pads.
The reality is that in order to warp the rotor you would need to hit it from the side hard enough to deform the metal but not hard enough to cause it to crack. A good way would be to slide the car sideways and hit a curb hard enough to break the rim into pieces and hit the ground with the rotor. Sounds like fun ;)
In normal operation the rotor is supported in the center with the pads pressing on it from both sides. Now, even in extreme cases where one pad stops moving the other pad presses onto the rotor when it's turning. It might deform all the way around but not warp. After fixing the problem the brakes would function normally but you might see some uneven wear right after installing new pads. Something like this:
31322


would this kind of thing be visible the rotor, or is it subtle enough that to feel for it?
It usually is visible but to actually verify that it is bad enough to cause the problem you need mount the rotor on a lathe and measure the runout.
This is what the pad imprint looks like:
(following pictures were found using G and are used without permission, I hope the authors don't mind)
3132431326

In extreme cases, especially after using poor quality pads and driving hard it might get to a point where the high spots start really showing up on the rotor. Then it will look like this:

31325



I will be sure to check as soon as the car is roadworthy again. :) Thanks!
No problem Joe. Glad I can help.
Let me know if you need more help but I think that we should move this conversation to a new thread. This was suppose to be cool taillight project! Sorry for drifting off topic here.

[bttws]

jangell

I'm hugely interested in this. What aftermarket system were you thinking of using? I figured I was going to have to roll my own (and thus spend a lot of time learning machine vision and image processing stuff to detect road lines). I've always wanted to see car manufacturers have systems to detect the lines and make it hard to change lanes unless your turn signal was on, and nudge you into he lane if you start to drift out of it. I think some are actually starting to do this, too.

While I would like to build an emergency braking system into my car (my idea being that I'm going to hit something anyway, so the system would slam on the brakes faster than i could so I'd hit it slower; it's something I've been thinking about for more than a decade now, and some manufacturers are now doing something like it to avoid collisions entirely), I don't trust my programming skills enough to use them on critical systems that can get me killed. I don't want a leaf to fall onto a sensor and cause the car to slam on the brakes, for example, so it would require a huge amount of testing. I'd like ABS too, but I won't do it for the same reason, unless I can get a complete aftermarket kit.


It's called the Mobileye , I've seen some reviews and it seem to work just like modern cars. I would most likely tear then thing apart and figure out how to send the data to a computer. It runs about $850 so I would differently need to learn a lot more before I fry the thing.
http://us.mobileye.com/mobileye-560/

[bttws]

New parts have arrived.

I pluged my taillight into the example board and ran some test code (mostly to test brightness) The display is a little crazy, the board is designed for a 8x8 matrix. My setup is 6x13, so I with have to make a new circuit, but this is a good jumping off point.
I'll work on it this weekend.

Kevin


http://i.imgur.com/vqwzL6n.gif
http://i.imgur.com/N1fyQld.gif

[robvanderveer]

I could make a desk version.... Maybe I should do that first. I could have it display network status or something. Maybe a audio visual or some kind of clock....

Bluetooth connection with a smart phone is possible.

May I point you to my 'Aduro (http://www.simplicate.info/aduro)' project for Arduino/Mac. It drives a bluetooth(serial) enabled ledstrip. If you need help with the code, give me a shout.

[bttws]

May I point you to my 'Aduro (http://www.simplicate.info/aduro)' project for Arduino/Mac. It drives a bluetooth(serial) enabled ledstrip. If you need help with the code, give me a shout.
Looks awesome. I will be contacting you when I get to the coding part. I have just started learning and have to say, I'm not very good at it. I could defiantly need help. Thank you!

[robvanderveer]

no problem! the offer stands!

[Shep]

Looks awesome. I will be contacting you when I get to the coding part. I have just started learning and have to say, I'm not very good at it. I could defiantly need help. Thank you!10+ years of coding experience talking here: Although I haven't seen the source code (nor would I ask for it), I can say that the end result is spectacular! I got my start coding desktop systems, and only in the past year or two delved into electronics via Arduinos. Let me be blunt: I could learn quite a few things from YOU! :) The timing you have all those LED's going off in that first post, and the direction with the 8x8 matrix chip and all, let me just say I'm quite impressed with how swank it all looks! I'm going to see what I can make of my own taillights as a one-off project, but man alive I'm extremely glad you showed us this and gave me an actual useful purpose for them! :wiggle:

[robvanderveer]

10+ years of coding experience talking here: Although I haven't seen the source code (nor would I ask for it), I can say that the end result is spectacular! I got my start coding desktop systems, and only in the past year or two delved into electronics via Arduinos. Let me be blunt: I could learn quite a few things from YOU! :) The timing you have all those LED's going off in that first post, and the direction with the 8x8 matrix chip and all, let me just say I'm quite impressed with how swank it all looks! I'm going to see what I can make of my own taillights as a one-off project, but man alive I'm extremely glad you showed us this and gave me an actual useful purpose for them! :wiggle:

I don't want to sound disrespectful, but if you can't imagine how to drive an 8x8 matrix with a C library i'm wondering what you did those 10 years!

[Shep]

I don't want to sound disrespectful, but if you can't imagine how to drive an 8x8 matrix with a C library i'm wondering what you did those 10 years!Everything except electronics :) Mostly C#.NET desktop web/database programming. Still gathering my bearings in the electronics world.

[jangell]

It's called the Mobileye , I've seen some reviews and it seem to work just like modern cars. I would most likely tear then thing apart and figure out how to send the data to a computer. It runs about $850 so I would differently need to learn a lot more before I fry the thing.
http://us.mobileye.com/mobileye-560/

That's pretty cool. I wonder why they require "professional installation". I am also interested on how to get data out of it and into a computer for my own purposes. I'm guessing they don't have an API for third party applications, or at least not one you can get if you're not an auto manufacturer...

Thanks for the link

-- Joe

[jangell]

Let me know if you need more help but I think that we should move this conversation to a new thread. This was suppose to be cool taillight project! Sorry for drifting off topic here.

So of course I forgot to actually check this while I was at the garage putting the water pump on the new engine this weekend. I'll try to remember for next weekend. Thanks!

-- Joe

[Rich_NYS]

Looks cool Shep....! :thumbup:

[Shep]

Looks cool Shep....! :thumbup:What does? Ain't my project, it's all bttws' brain-child, he gets full credit for it ;)

EDIT: OH, you must've seen the For Sale post I made. No, I'm merely trying to replicate the results of this as a one-off kind of deal. Not looking to publicize it or anything since it wasn't my idea in the first place :)

[Rich_NYS]

What does? Ain't my project, it's all bttws' brain-child, he gets full credit for it ;)

EDIT: OH, you must've seen the For Sale post I made. No, I'm merely trying to replicate the results of this as a one-off kind of deal. Not looking to publicize it or anything since it wasn't my idea in the first place :)

Sorry 'bout that, I linked here from your post; I used the wrong name and didn't realize until after you pointed it out....my mistake! :mallet:

Looks good Kevin.....just saw this post for the first time! -Looking forward to seeing more.

[Shep]

Sorry 'bout that, I linked here from your post; I used the wrong name and didn't realize until after you pointed it out....my mistake! :mallet:No need to beat yourself up over it! All is well ;)

[Beachdrifter]

New parts have arrived.

I pluged my taillight into the example board and ran some test code (mostly to test brightness) The display is a little crazy, the board is designed for a 8x8 matrix. My setup is 6x13, so I with have to make a new circuit, but this is a good jumping off point.
I'll work on it this weekend.

Kevin


http://i.imgur.com/vqwzL6n.gif
http://i.imgur.com/N1fyQld.gif

Hi, this is a real cool project. I like it; hopefully it can be marketed one day. I sure would be interested in buying. The animation sequence looks real nice.

Good luck,

-Randy

[ravecrocker]

This is really cool anything new on this project

[bttws]

Hello everyone.

A long overdue update. I have hired a programmer to so I can make headway on the project.
I'm planing on showing the finished prototype at the 2016 show in Springfield.

Also I am proud to announce a lite version that is a plug and play, nondestructive, and snaps right in and replaces the OEM board. This version will only allow for full columns for animations, but still offer some of the same customization.
If all goes to plan, I will have working units for sale and/or take orders for future batches at the show.

Just as a bit of market research.... What would you be willing to pay for this lite version? The design would plug right into the factory plug and would have optional inputs for 12v signals to trigger other animations.

-Kevin

[Flash66]

Kevin, I think $100 would be fair considering it's a small micro running your code that plugs in? I'll take one for the iDMC

[bttws]

Kevin, I think $100 would be fair considering it's a small micro running your code that plugs in? I'll take one for the iDMC

Not 100% sure what kind of chip will run the lite one, Its still in the planning stages.

[Flash66]

Understood. Being an EE it's what I would probably ask for. Great work!

[Patrick C]

Kevin, I think $100 would be fair considering it's a small micro running your code that plugs in? I'll take one for the iDMC

I'll take a set too!

[davidc89]

I really like your first ideas you came up with. The startup animation is really cool a long with the others. Not sure if that's still a thing, but I would be interested in that. Keep up the good work.

[Nicholas R]

Kevin, I think $100 would be fair considering it's a small micro running your code that plugs in? I'll take one for the iDMC

Are you thinking this price for one taillight or for a set of two? Just curious because a set of new taillight boards with LED bulbs from DMCH is $230. In fairness to bttws, I would think that these would be worth at least as much as what a stock tail light board costs; especially if they come with a light controller.


Also I am proud to announce a lite version that is a plug and play, nondestructive, and snaps right in and replaces the OEM board. This version will only allow for full columns for animations, but still offer some of the same customization.
If all goes to plan, I will have working units for sale and/or take orders for future batches at the show.

Am I reading this correct? We're talking 2 circuit boards that replace the stock boards, with new LED's attached right? Plus a chip/computer/controller/thing/etc. that controls the animation?

[Lwanmtr]

Im interested too...make a nice addition to my upgrade wishlist.

Looks cool...specially liked that first post's anim as a startup...hehe.

[bttws]

Am I reading this correct? We're talking 2 circuit boards that replace the stock boards, with new LED's attached right? Plus a chip/computer/controller/thing/etc. that controls the animation?

That's the plan, the animations would only allow full columns, and would not have the 2nd turn section. But you will be able too change how many red sections you want for brake/park. This will allow brake/park combo found on most cars. Having all the red lit up at night would greatly increase visibility. The will be also animations available for other actions, parade mode and the ability to light up the clear and orange sections as red.

The only modification to the lite version will be a ACC - ON 12v wire to the unit. This will allow the system to power off when the car is and play startup and shutdown animations.

[Lwanmtr]

Sounding cool

[cpistocco]

very cool. I always wondered what the mustang style sequential tail lights would look like on a delorean.

Delorean tail lights always reminded me of the t-lights from a mid 80s Camaro IROC z28...

[john 05141]

Seriously interested too
If it gives at least the same strength in light as it does with the standard set up, I'll buy one too.

Jan

[Bitsyncmaster]

Are you thinking this price for one taillight or for a set of two? Just curious because a set of new taillight boards with LED bulbs from DMCH is $230. In fairness to bttws, I would think that these would be worth at least as much as what a stock tail light board costs; especially if they come with a light controller.



Am I reading this correct? We're talking 2 circuit boards that replace the stock boards, with new LED's attached right? Plus a chip/computer/controller/thing/etc. that controls the animation?

I would be surprised if anyone could produce two of these boards for $100. If you can, let me know who makes your circuit boards. Let alone the component costs.

[tom kish vin. 4357]

I would buy a set!!

[OZ DMC]

Right now, nothing
I haven't got that far with the coding yet. This video is of my first working test of the hardware. I am basically teaching myself to code, and this is been a learning experience.
My goal is to allow easy customization of different animations via a SD card. A set of animations could be designed on a computer with a simple program and then loaded to the taillights with the SD card. You could make your own style for Brakes, turn, parking, startup/sundown, etc.

I have some new parts coming next week, those should give me better control of the LEDs and make more complex animations (and brighter.... that video has the LEDs at about 30% of their potential brightness, even less for the white ones)

the idea has been in my head for years and I have finally started working on it. Not sure how far it will go, I hope to have a car next year sometime, and maybe have a working prototype by DCS 2016
Here are some images I made a long time ago showing what I had in mind.

Sequental brake lights
http://i.imgur.com/aTsp1qS.gif
Sequential turn signal
http://i.imgur.com/dCy0reE.gif
Startup animation
http://i.imgur.com/YWmhMKh.gif

Like it...

[jgarland79]

I'm working on a similar project that will also use an Arduino compatible device. I'm planning on using the Particle Photon board because it has more memory, and I can re-program it via WiFi without taking it out of the car, or hooking it up to a computer.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13345

Here is my project:
http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?12520-I-want-to-cover-the-rear-facia-with-RGB-LEDs

[bttws]

Door marker prototype

LED matrix with amber DMC lens on it. Should fit in door fine,but requires cutting the boot, as I am borrowing these lights I cannot test the fit.

Crappy video shows adruino and matrix running on its own. I made a few test animations, in the final version different animations would be triggered by events. I can run 6 of these off a one adruino.
377603776137762


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL8gkeKKttA

Animations:
1-up arrows (could be used when door is opening, flipped upside down when closing. Flipped on side for turn signal)
2-All Red (red shows though on amber lens)
3-All Amber (kind of hard to see)
4-All Green (might have some problems going though non faded red lenses)
5-Flash red to amber
6-DMC logo letters
7-DMC 12 scrolling text

-Kevin

[Lwanmtr]

Looking cool. Would love to have this kind of thing

[davidc89]

I like it!

[mr_maxime]

Someone told me I should make something that is almost exactly what you are doing for the taillights. I like the concept, but as some others have pointed out the reliability and brightness of the boards makes me cautious. Something DOT approved with the same function that is mostly plug and play would appeal to me a great deal though.

[Domi]

Amazing, this is a great job :thumbup2:

[Justin51982]

Awesome!

[Ron]

:thumbup2:Excellent!

You just gotta' add a "It was a Mustang" mode...:deviltail:

[john 05141]

Any idea when it becomes available?
I'd like to install it before Eurofest, is that possible?

Jan

[john 05141]

anyone.....anyone.....

Sad to see this thread is dead. Iwas looking forward to something like this.


Jan

[DMCMW Dave]

Sad to see this thread is dead. Iwas looking forward to something like this.


Yeah - it always seems that the concept is easy but the execution isn't.

[Lwanmtr]

Maybe just a delay over the holidays. I'd love to see this too.

[bttws]

I'm still here : )

I have had some other projects going on the past few months and this go put on the back burner for a bit. I have been focusing on my digital dash project lately. By doing this I have finally gained some of the skills in programming I needed to get this project going. I still have every intention of finishing it, and now I am confident that I have the knowledge to do it. I also have had a lot of my time taken up by working extra hours at work to go toward my car fund. My work has hit it's high point and things are starting to slow down, I will have more time in the next coming months to work on this.

Stay tuned there will be more to come, but there will be more digital dash posts soon because my LCD Screen should be arriving soon.

-Kevin

[john 05141]

Glad to read it is still alive.

In May is the Eurofest event. Will I make it?

Jan

[DeloreanJoshQ]

You should add animation showing pacman and the ghosts chasing each other...very cool kevin!

[Timeless]

Kevin - any updates?

[Bob635]

Kevin,

Very nice work. Something I would like to add these to the "dream delorean" as well as the digital dashboard.

Bob



http://i.imgur.com/k9Sbh4O.gif

Just a first working test of my prototype.
Uses 80 LEDs and an arduino uno to power it. I'm not happy with the code and wiring, its far too dim right now... but I wanted to at least get it running something.
I will be working on it as I get spare time this fall.
Just a early test, but I thought you guys might be interested.
I'll be sure to post anything I come up with

Depending on how all this turns out I may try to develop a plug and play taillight set or maybe a arduino powered snap in board to work with the stock lenses..... who knows what the future may bring.

Let me know what you think.
-Kevin

p.s. thank you Rich_NYS for the good price on the taillight!

[bttws]

Sorry no updates on this project. I have spent all my time working on the digital dash project. I have obtained a 3D printer which will help me with fabricating a rear housing.

[Quinn]

Wow, this is so cool! Any updates? Sign me up for a set, if you ever produce these.

[Lwanmtr]

I think everyone wants a set....better plan on making around 5000....lol