My Rice Lighting Project

[Chimera]

my back is doing me murder..
the rear another day... still need to figure out running the wires back there.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by Chimera

projects starting to wear me out.
photo here of how I mounted the LEDS for the front grill.

don't give me that.. it's the wrong month for it.. this was my car last saturday, heard back from the insurance it's officially totaled 3 days ago.


now i need to go and pull every single itty bit of gear that i put in it, and then reinstall it all over again in the replacement...

[Chimera]

D#MN.
did someone hit you?
Are you okay?

I can honestly say I haven't followed your build before, how much gear did you have in it?

Originally Posted by soundman98

don't give me that.. it's the wrong month for it.. this was my car last saturday, heard back from the insurance it's officially totaled 3 days ago.

now i need to go and pull every single itty bit of gear that i put in it, and then reinstall it all over again in the replacement...

[soundman98]

i had just finished installing all my audio gear about a month ago..

some chick decided to not pay attention to the stop sign that she was supposed to stop for(i didn't have a stop sign at all).. i didn't have a chance, by the time i saw her and realized she wasn't stopping, i was 10' away from impact..

suffice to say, i now think that anyone that insists on changing the airbag emblem to something else is absolutely out of their mind.. sh!t hits the fan so fast, i sure wouldn't want "at least his airbag emblem looked cool" for a funeral motto...

[Chimera]

If I had known when I started what a pain this project would become, I likely wouldn't have started.

The wheels are now controlled by the same controller as the front, but independently powered and switched.

I need a better camera, my phone camera distorts the lights massively.

[retrosmiths]

@soundman98 nooooo, I remember you from HIDP and from our old convo when you still just had a bike and was very excited to get a 86 and now it's totalled???! (

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by retrosmiths

@soundman98 nooooo, I remember you from HIDP and from our old convo when you still just had a bike and was very excited to get a 86 and now it's totalled???! (

yep.. since then, i broke my wallet and bought another one in identical specs.. maybe i'll regret it later, but for now, i wouldn't have any other car.

[Chimera]

First non-busy weekend is months, got to work on this/finish it I think.


So it is now wired to be a slave to the dome light circuit. It turns on and off when I lock and unlock the doors, which IMO is the best.
If I really want to show them off while driving, like in a parking lot, all I have to do it turn the dome light on.
And thanks to the winjet switch, they are can be disabled.






If Anybody is interested in doing something like this, I can post more details on how I did it. Special thanks to Diode Dynamics, awesome products, only required very minor modifications to make this work.
Final circuit:

[Chimera]

Circuit failed on the way to the gym.. I am really bad at this it seems. Need to investigate.
Edit: I think I need a solid state relay.

[Chimera]

I think I need this:
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/HELLA-H41773001-Solid-State-Ceramic/dp/B000VU5FPE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413680675&sr=8-1&keywords=H41773001"]Amazon.com: HELLA H41773001 Solid State Ceramic 32 Amp SPST Mini Relay: Automotive[/ame]


Now I guess the question is this, will the control box handle the rapid on off duty cycles from the relay. hmmmm...


the answer is no.. I was curious and swapped the control box for an extra one I had, seems the control box doesn't like the rapid on off cycles.... mines dead.
I think a capacitor could solve the issue... then I could still use a standard relay.

[JoeMartin]

I know a lot of people hate on lights, but I love the idea. I'm all for visibility (most of my driving is at night), and since I don't speed, I don't worry much from the police noticing me as well.

With that said, I can't say I'm feeling the wheel well lighting with it shining directly on the top of the tire like that. It may just be the camera (likely is), but it looks like it's causing a hot huge hot spot that detracts from the accents for the lighting.
I feel having it shine in to the fender well would look better (though you have to keep your fender wells extremely clean, lol).

Keep up the good work. =)

[Chimera]

Quick post, just learned a new thing. The common anode is not where the arrow is... Like that makes sense... It's opposite.

[Chimera]

So,
I tried to use the solid state relay on the common anode, but it let to much current leak, and the LEDs still partially lit even when the circuit was 'open'
So I tried this as an alternative.
It seems to be working so far. 2nd control box hasn't burnt out. Ill keep it this way for a little while.
I ordered another SSR from a different vender, hopefully with tighter tolerances. If it works the circuit will work much smoother by controlling the common anode and look nicer.
I ordered a Bluetooth RGB controller from DD. its neat, has cool functions, and even is pre wired to somewhat do what I'm doing.


Anyways, current circuit appears to be working, on and off is a little rough, but its working.

Edit: the diode shown near 86 85 isn't there.. Oops

[Chimera]

Thanks. I don't really plan to ever have these function during driving, only when parked. The lights still work even with the wheel wells dirty because they are recessed. I might later on change to a more traditional underglow, but I thought that wheel wells would be easier to manage. I'm not sure if I understand what you mean by into the fender? Like inside the splash guards? Or actually behind the wheels instead of above them?

Originally Posted by JoeMartin

I know a lot of people hate on lights, but I love the idea. I'm all for visibility (most of my driving is at night), and since I don't speed, I don't worry much from the police noticing me as well.

With that said, I can't say I'm feeling the wheel well lighting with it shining directly on the top of the tire like that. It may just be the camera (likely is), but it looks like it's causing a hot huge hot spot that detracts from the accents for the lighting.
I feel having it shine in to the fender well would look better (though you have to keep your fender wells extremely clean, lol).

Keep up the good work. =)