BRZ Headlight Running Light (the Boomerang) Schematic

[Acree]

Originally Posted by Travisty75

I'm stupid and tried making the boomerang brighter by simply bypassing the circuit board they're on and applying 12v directly to them. I for some dumb reason asked they had regulators built in and dropped to the ~5v they need at the actual LED itself.. Result? Blown LED of course.

I had to go buy a new SMD, and flash-solder it to the circuit board. That was my first and hopefully last time doing that.

Could you repair what I borked, and make them brighter? I can pull and bake apart the lights this weekend.

I've never heard of the term "flash soldering" but I believe you're referring to Reflow Soldering. And yeah, putting 12v across two of these LEDs in series would definitely instantly cook them. You would be able to get away with it if you had 4 in series, but no less.

I would need you to send me picture of what you currently have to know if it's even possible to reuse the board. Send me a pm if you're serious about it. I have a little over 2000 hours of surface mount soldering and diagnostics.

Originally Posted by B L U E S L A T E

Sub'd. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

I just wanted to put up the schematic for reference in case any one else wanted to mod their headlights. I'm adding heatsinks to both of the LEDs and driving them at 700mA. The different in brightness is quite amazing.

[Inextirpable]

Originally Posted by Acree

I can make it plug and play but you would have to ship me both parking light assemblies as pictured above this post. Turn around time would be 24 hours.

So if I send you my headlights, you could be able to make the "boomerangs" brighter?

[JWMotoring]

In for the results!

[soundman98]

awesome.. this was one of the many projects on my list.. i've aleady got a scrap housing i was going to play with a similar idea, just been a little preoccupied getting the car first and then getting my drl switchbacks built...

are you making your own driver circuit or using some sort of prebuilt iteration?

how much heatsinking are you using? how much was originally there?

and btw-- i'm pretty much open source with everything i do, so if you'd rather not say, feel free to tell me off i can figure it out myself, it's sometimes just easier this way.

[Acree]

Originally Posted by JWMotoring

In for the results!

Left is stock. Right is modded. It's really difficult to capture how much brighter they are with an iPhone.

[Acree]

Originally Posted by soundman98

awesome.. this was one of the many projects on my list.. i've aleady got a scrap housing i was going to play with a similar idea, just been a little preoccupied getting the car first and then getting my drl switchbacks built...

are you making your own driver circuit or using some sort of prebuilt iteration?

how much heatsinking are you using? how much was originally there?

and btw-- i'm pretty much open source with everything i do, so if you'd rather not say, feel free to tell me off i can figure it out myself, it's sometimes just easier this way.

I don't have the time or patience to build my own driver, especially when there are plenty of cost-effective options that are fully self contained. A full time job and part time MBA suck up most of my time. There is zero heatsinking on the board from stock, with the exception of the thermal vias (the holes around the LEDs). These vias are included in the recommended solder pad from Luxeon, which is available on line as a download. I'm adding two 28x28x15mm aluminum heat sinks. They give me approximately a 10 *C cushion from the maximum recommend joint temperate at an ambient temp of 50 *C.

I have nothing to hide on this build because I will not be doing headlight conversions like this for people. I don't have the time and the "typical" owner of cars this inexpensive don't want to pay what I would charge.

I am however possibly willing to convert the boards (adding the driver, heatsinking and making it plug and play) for people who are already converting their head lights.

[B L U E S L A T E]

Originally Posted by Acree

I just wanted to put up the schematic for reference in case any one else wanted to mod their headlights. I'm adding heatsinks to both of the LEDs and driving them at 700mA. The different in brightness is quite amazing.

I was just checking out some heatsinks as well. I think I have an idea which setup I'm going to use next time I open up my headlights.

[Cjymiller]

Originally Posted by Acree

Left is stock. Right is modded. It's really difficult to capture how much brighter they are with an iPhone.

This has my attention. All of it.

[JS + BRZ]

PLEASE TELL ME YOU ARE IN LOS ANGELES AREA!

That looks fantastic.

[N1rve]

I think you should start selling headlights


Find some rear ended or T-boned BRZs and take their headlights, flip them for a profit

[soundman98]

it's really hard to find used-but-good condition headlights for cheap right now.. i consider myself lucky to have been able to find a $250 complete but broken headlamp to tinker with....

i'm planning on just ordering a new replacement set once i get all the kinks worked out on the test version...

[BRZPDX]

Originally Posted by Acree

I can make it plug and play but you would have to ship me both parking light assemblies as pictured above this post. Turn around time would be 24 hours.

Do I need to get inside the headlights (bake them) to get those assemblies you speak of? I will totally do this if your willing to do them for me, and pay you for your valuable time.

[Acree]

Originally Posted by soundman98

it's really hard to find used-but-good condition headlights for cheap right now.. i consider myself lucky to have been able to find a $250 complete but broken headlamp to tinker with....

i'm planning on just ordering a new replacement set once i get all the kinks worked out on the test version...

That's exactly what I did. Mine was broken as well and around $200. It's invaluable though having a spare around to mess up first.

Originally Posted by BRZPDX

Do I need to get inside the headlights (bake them) to get those assemblies you speak of? I will totally do this if your willing to do them for me, and pay you for your valuable time.

Yes sir you would have to open them up.

[Acree]

I'm about to post up a how-to on brightening up the BRZ's boomerangs. I am still willing to do this for people, but it's honestly a pretty easy job if you know how to solder. I'll post a link to the thread when completed.