Topic: LED Tail on SEDAN (Slow connection watchout) (Read 8090 times)

xclream · « **on:** April 17, 2006, 12:15:14 AM »

Details on how it was done to follow.

blackmica3i · « **Reply #1 on:** April 17, 2006, 12:18:55 AM »

Looks good! So did you remove the reverse lights or are they still there?

jhershorin · « **Reply #2 on:** April 17, 2006, 12:19:14 AM »

lookin good....i smell more nabobery...he has those reflectors with leds

xclream · « **Reply #3 on:** April 17, 2006, 03:37:45 AM »

Quote from: blackmica3i on April 17, 2006, 12:18:55 AM

Looks good! So did you remove the reverse lights or are they still there?

Yea the backup lights are still there. Not going to mess with the laws.

UnCo · « **Reply #4 on:** April 17, 2006, 05:24:08 AM »

I like it a lot! Kudos to you!
Can't wait to read the write up.

Chompies · « **Reply #5 on:** April 17, 2006, 06:40:02 AM »

I love it! Well done to whoever designed this. Looks a heap better than the OEM LED tails.

SicMade3 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 17, 2006, 06:57:37 AM »

wow that looks fucking amazing, i could only imagine how sweet htat would look in like the side mirror when you drive past.....very nice job !

xclream · « **Reply #7 on:** April 17, 2006, 08:27:04 AM »

ok guys, I didn't really have time to take pics during the modification, cuz the idea came up rather random, and I just went out and bought the needed parts. But I'll try to explain how I did it as clear as possible, if it doesn't make any sense, maybe in the future when I have more time, I'll take things apart again (and photograph the steps) to show you guys how it was done.

Parts:

1. 4 red LED light strips (go to eBay and type LED light strips, you should see what I'm talking about)

Time:

Apprx. 1 ~ 2 hours, depending on how stubborn the LED light strip is (I'll explain what this means later)

That's it, that's all you need to start this little project!

Step 1: Take out your light housings (you can leave the middle two in place, but the outside two housings must come out to gain access)

Step 2: Try to stuff the LED strips inside the housing, this is the hardest part. It all depends on your luck, for example, first 2 took me about 1 hour to do, but the last 2, I kind of got the hang of it, and took me like 10 minutes.

Step 3: Once the LED strips are in the housing, use a small pen or screwdriver to get it tight against the sides. Some of you might ask "hell, if it's in there, it's going to get out of place", I thought of the same thing at first, but since the LED strips are rubber material, it will stick and stay in place. Trust me, I've had them in there for about a month now, with the crappy roads out here where I live, they haven't moved a bit.

Step 4: If you can get the LED strips in there, you've done the hardest part. The rest is easy, just splice in LED's wires to the parking lamps, that's it!

Hope this little short write up is clear. If you have questions feel free to PM me.

icspots · « **Reply #8 on:** April 17, 2006, 08:40:41 AM »

Wow, that looks great. Nice job. So ebay has several different brands of LED strips. How many LEDs are in the strips you're using. What brand did you use? How much for all the parts?

You could even do this with the 5-door tails. Infact........

If I did it thought I'd probably add in some yellow ones for the turn signal too.... though I'd have to put resistors in too. Hmmmmmm. Again, nice work. You should find another 3 close by and do their tails and do a picture walkthrough.

EDIT: Can you put in a pic of the backup lights on with the parking lights on too?

triggerpuff · « **Reply #9 on:** April 17, 2006, 09:02:41 AM »

Did you use the 25 LED light strip? That seems to be the longest, but I'm not sure if it'll be long enough to make full circle around the lights...

xclream · « **Reply #10 on:** April 17, 2006, 11:59:14 AM »

Quote from: triggerpuff on April 17, 2006, 09:02:41 AM

Did you use the 25 LED light strip? That seems to be the longest, but I'm not sure if it'll be long enough to make full circle around the lights...

One thing I forgot to mention, make sure you get the FLEXIBLE strips.

You guys might want to take note on this below:

For the inner two housings, the 25 LED strip will form a perfect circle without removing any LEDs. Depending on the size of the LED, you might need to take one or two out. Just use a knife to cut it off of the end. That's what I did.

For the outside two housings, I removed 5 LED from each strip, and it fit perfectly.

The LED strips I bought are from a local shop. I didn't get mine off eBay. Whatever you get, just make sure you get the ones that are made out of rubber and are flexible.

I got this idea from a VW Phaeton, which looks something like this:

icspots · « **Reply #11 on:** April 17, 2006, 12:31:33 PM »

Do the ones you have have a brand name or something? Looking back at the pictures...... did you put some on your reflectors too, or is that a flash?

SicMade3 · « **Reply #12 on:** April 17, 2006, 12:32:49 PM »

everytime i look at that i cant get over how fucking good it looks, amazing job dude

xclream · « **Reply #13 on:** April 17, 2006, 12:54:14 PM »

Quote from: icspots on April 17, 2006, 08:40:41 AM

Can you put in a pic of the backup lights on with the parking lights on too?

Here ya go bro:

xclream · « **Reply #14 on:** April 17, 2006, 01:01:15 PM »

Quote from: icspots on April 17, 2006, 12:31:33 PM

Do the ones you have have a brand name or something? Looking back at the pictures...... did you put some on your reflectors too, or is that a flash?

yea, I have LED reflectors installed, this is the set I bought:

http://tw.page.bid.yahoo.com/tw/auction/1140730504

dimaorlov · « **Reply #15 on:** April 17, 2006, 01:27:59 PM »

the ebay ones from the NYC manufacturer dont seem to be able to bend like so

dimaorlov · « **Reply #16 on:** April 17, 2006, 01:35:12 PM »

there are these http://autolumination.com/tubes.htm

R. · « **Reply #17 on:** April 17, 2006, 03:32:46 PM »

That looks really nice :D From the instructions, it seems that there actually is no modification to the rear lights at all, so these are totally reversible without having to "open up" the rear lights, correct?

Also, I like how you've got the rear side reflector LEDs wired to the parking lights and the rear reflector LEDs wired to the brake lights.

Do you have any daytime pics, I want to see how the LED strips look in the housing during the day?

AZTEC · « **Reply #18 on:** April 17, 2006, 04:06:24 PM »

Are the sensors on your bumper aftermarket?

icspots · « **Reply #19 on:** April 17, 2006, 04:10:30 PM »

Quote from: xclream on April 17, 2006, 12:54:14 PM

Quote from: icspots on April 17, 2006, 08:40:41 AM
Can you put in a pic of the backup lights on with the parking lights on too?

Here ya go bro:

Dude, get out of the way! That car's backing up!!!!!

Thanks, I was wondering if the LEDs in the backup light would interfere with the light but it doesn't look like they do. Hmm. I hadn't seen the LED reflectors yet. Wondering why they didn't put more LEDs in them, especially in the rear reflectors.

UnCo · « **Reply #20 on:** April 17, 2006, 05:33:11 PM »

So you just take out the outer light housings and then you can even access the inner ones just like that by leaving them on? And you don't have to open them up at all?
They're easy to get out right? Knowing me I'll stuff up and I won't be able to get the LED strip out haha.

igor2 · « **Reply #21 on:** April 17, 2006, 06:56:38 PM »

HOLY SHIT>.. this is such a great idea .. AWESOME AWESOME./. I have so many ideas.. like adding another strip as blinkers and wiring breaks into the LED's as well..

this thing is so awesome... I have no money but seriosly am considering blastin every cent I have on these... they look so sweet.. I think jsut for this alone you should get COTM.... seriosly... WOW

Igor

jhershorin · « **Reply #22 on:** April 17, 2006, 07:03:39 PM »

im gonna do something pretty creative with this...i'll make a vid when i do

dazed_and_confused · « **Reply #23 on:** April 17, 2006, 08:03:07 PM »

I'm just curious, are you located in Taiwan? Or California?

I don't understand how you got the strips in without opening the actual taillight housing.

Kev

icspots · « **Reply #24 on:** April 17, 2006, 08:59:23 PM »

I think he pushed the strips in through the hole you put the bulbs in through. I think. I'm wondering if you could put more strips (shorter ones) inside the other one so that the rest of the inside of the circle is filled too. Someone posted some stuff awhile ago that was in flexible rubber tubes and you could trim off however many you wanted to have shorter strips.

So many possibilites.

igor2 · « **Reply #25 on:** April 17, 2006, 09:26:20 PM »

xclream ... I hope you will not be upset, but I posted about this on JLeviSW forum, to hopefully get a pre made kit for Mazda3... I was having trouble finding anything online, so I thought it would be helpful..

feel free to express any disagreement with my posting about this, and inviting a company to offer it....

Igor
http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=44627.0

zobx · « **Reply #26 on:** April 17, 2006, 10:14:34 PM »

Dude.... I want to make love to your tail lights. I mean, I seriously want to make babies with that setup.

dimaorlov · « **Reply #27 on:** April 17, 2006, 11:10:24 PM »

um... unneccessary man... lol

xclream · « **Reply #28 on:** April 17, 2006, 11:28:36 PM »

Quote from: icspots on April 17, 2006, 08:59:23 PM

I think he pushed the strips in through the hole you put the bulbs in through. I think. I'm wondering if you could put more strips (shorter ones) inside the other one so that the rest of the inside of the circle is filled too. Someone posted some stuff awhile ago that was in flexible rubber tubes and you could trim off however many you wanted to have shorter strips.

So many possibilites.

Yea, that's what I did, remove the tail light housings from the car, and stuff the LED strip in from the hole where you put in the bulb. So no need to take apart the housing.

There are seriously countless possibilities with this mod, you can go both sedan AND HATCH (hatch owners save yourself $350) with this DIY mod. Now that this idea is out there, I am sure someone will come up with a even better mod. (such as going all out and do all 6 lights, including the turn signals)

P.S. - by the way, I'm from San Jose (408 baby!!), but now work and live in Taiwan.

xclream · « **Reply #29 on:** April 18, 2006, 12:06:39 AM »

Quote from: R. on April 17, 2006, 03:32:46 PM

That looks really nice :D From the instructions, it seems that there actually is no modification to the rear lights at all, so these are totally reversible without having to "open up" the rear lights, correct?

Also, I like how you've got the rear side reflector LEDs wired to the parking lights and the rear reflector LEDs wired to the brake lights.

Do you have any daytime pics, I want to see how the LED strips look in the housing during the day?

Correct, no need to "open up" the light housings, all you need to do is try to stuff the LED light strip in from the hole where you put in the bulb.

Sure I'll try to take some day time pics when it gets sunny out, it's been raining like crazy out here for the past 2 weeks.

The original Mazda3-based forum.

Author Topic: LED Tail on SEDAN (Slow connection watchout) (Read 8090 times)