Manky Monkey Motors

Hello all,

This may interest some/one/all of you so thought I'd share  :)

When converting for the UK regs most Mustang owners put the rear indicators into the reverse light housing on the lower rear valence. I was never happy with this and wanted to incorporate the indicators into the tail/brake light housing. So I decided to try my hand at designing some LED tail lights.

Here are my original prototypes made from pre-drilled circuit board. 120 LEDs per board - many many hours of soldering were involved!

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/DSCF0346.jpg)

Indicators are now positioned within the outer section on the lens - like so:

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/DSCF0253.jpg)

I have since redesigned the lights and came up with the idea of putting in a programable flash sequence. I went the whole hog this time, got hold of some free software, designed the circuit and had proper PCBs made. Another 240 LEDs and many hours later........I had these.

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/DSC00156.jpg)

The indicators are now a part of each three sections and can be controlled independantly to give what ever flash sequence I can think of. I have not managed to get them working with the flasher-can yet, I think some rewiring of the cars circuit may be required but I've not done this as the car is in pieces!

http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/?action=view&current=AllSeqIndoors.mp4

Some flash rates are timed poorly, but you get the idea. My favourite is the first chase sequence  ;D

This is what the tail/brake lights look like.

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/BrakeInstalled.jpg)

I should add that I'm not an electonics design engineer.....I'm was purely making it up as I went along  ;D

Nathan

I have also recently finished these side lights for a guy in Australia. These are front and rear side markers for a 69 Pro Street Mustang he's building. He wanted to incorporate indicators into the side markers. He also wanted the side markers to switch off when the indicators are on which was achieved with a tiny relay in the circuit. Again I designed and had made PCBs.

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/Front1.jpg)
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/Rearclose.jpg)

http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/?action=view&current=SideIndicator.mp4

Nathan

Same Aussie also wants to put indicators into his side mirrors. I came up with a few ideas, but we settled on this design. These are off-the-shelf clear plastic lenses suitable for a standard 5mm LED. This is just an old mirror he posted me to drill and see what it looks like. I'll be supplying him with some pre-wired LEDs and the lenses and he'll be drilling holes in his brand new mirrors! (glad I didn't have to do that part of the job!)

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/Mirror1.jpg)

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/Mirror3.jpg)

Nathan

how long? how much patience?
nice lights and blend in well new with old nice
al

I'm quite a patient person  :)
The original ones took a long time to solder as I was working it out as I went and had to make the circuit with jumper leads all over the place. The proper PCBs took less time to actually solder, as it was just a case of sticking in the components and soldering, but it did take a while to design the circuit on the software in the first place.

You're not a design engineer? I struggle to wire a plug!
Very impressive Nathan. Nice new school touch to an old school car. How did your friend in Oz find you? Online owner's club? Ain't technology amazing. 
I presume PCBs are Printed Circuit Boards? Where do you get something like that made to order?

I did a little design at uni, but that was 12 years ago. I just cobbled all this together with the aid of friends and the web!

The Aussie saw my tail lights on a forum and asked if i could make the sidelights for him. He had enquired at various companies, but they all quoted him ridiculous prices, as I do it just as a small hobby its costing him half what it would.

Yes pcb is a printed curcuit board. There are various companies who will produce them, but if i only want 1 or 2 boards its quite expensive. Tooling costs are the pricey bit so for example, the side markers would have cost about £65 for 4, i ordered 10 at a cost of 75, so i have some spares.
PCB Train in newbury is where they were made. The tail light boards were made at a different company which were slightly cheaper for the bigger board.

Cool

WHAT????????????????????????????????????????? I make things up as I go along and at my age I forget what I was thinking about in the first place. Some talent you`ve got there geezer  ;D ;D ;D ;D

Thanks  :)
Its just like doing a dot to dot - stick the LEDs where you want them and then join them up with resistors and wires  ;D

If anybody wanted to have a go at making some for their car/trike/project I'm happy to try and help (or i could make them for you).

Nathan

so, technically speaking of course, I could make up a brake light saying "F**k Off You W***er" or "B****x" or anything!!!! I want?????? ;D ;D ;D ;D This idea has a certain appeal to me i think  :D :D :D :D

Yes you could  ;D Thats the beauty of LEDs you can arrange them in any shape you wanted. It would be fairly simple to layout.

I think that's what they call Mis-use of technology Cabby!

Hhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! interesting  ;) ;) ;) ;)

my nephew work,s with electronics (harry hotrod) he also use,s led,s   so i ,nabded, some of him last night ,,

gonna have a play ;) ;).

could end upwith a dash board panel for my trike  :)

I`ve decided I want my brake light to say.............................."BOLLOX"............................how do I start??????????????????? ;D ;D ;D ;D

Make sure you show some photos of your finished master piece  :)

I found this site very useful for working out resistor values for the LEDs
http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

Nathan

Best place to start would be to draw a box on a piece of paper the max size you want the light and then draw small circles how you want the LEDs laid out. Standard sizes are 3 or 5mm diamater.

Something like this

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/bol.jpg)

 ;D ;D

You also need to decide how you want to mount the light. Do you want the LEDs inside a standard rectangular/round light housing or perhaps have the LEDs flush mounted into a body panel/wing. If you plan to mount it into a housing then you'll be better of with a PCB. If mounting into a body panel you could get away with each LED (with a resistor) being wired seperately to the 12V supply.

this is starting to look very promising  ;D ;D ;D ;D

Im making some indicators for someone next week so would you like me to price up what it would cost to make a bollox brake light for you?  ;D

yes please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D

Is it for a car/trike/something else? How do you want it mounted? What size?

will PM a size tomorrow ok?

Yep thats fine  :)

Wow, that's really impressed me,(honestly) I can just about switch on a light. I can't do electronics.
240 LED's soldering for ages I'll bet. Must have loads of patience, and some to spare. Nice work.

Thanks Klogan  :)

I finished the Aussie's side lights and mirror indicators over the weekend so thought I'd add a couple of finished photos.

The marker light boards are now mounted inside the housings for a 69 Mustang. I had to cut the bodies apart, insert the boards and then glue back together. I hope nothing ever goes wrong with the lights as the only way to get them out is to cut them out!

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/CompleteFront.jpg)

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/CompleteRear.jpg)

And here are the LEDs to be mounted into his side mirrors.

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/WiredLEDs.jpg)


Nathan

Nice work there Galaxie.

Are you aware that you can get current regulators for led's rather than resistors. The benefits being that you will get perfect matching between Led brightness and less chance of a failure due to over voltage. Handy if you doing built in hard to get out lights!

Hi,
On the tail lights i made i used voltage regulators. on the smaller lights i wanted to do the same but didnt have room. I may use a regulator external to the lights just to be safe. I'll have a look at what you suggest for possible future use.
Cheers

Their are loads of different types about including really diddy ones only a few millimeters square.

The reason why I suggest it is that if you use a 20ma led and use a 20ma regulator then regardless of the voltage input the current will remain the same. (upto the limit of the regulator)

Example being that with engine off 12v engine on 14.5 the light intensity will not change but wit a resistor it will.

I've done alot of work with led's so I'll post some info when make another set.

Farnell components do lot's of current regulators.


On a trike I built 3 years ago I put in two high power leds for stop/tail lights. At full power (1,400ma each) it was so bright that following vehicles thought a space ship was landing :D  Like close encounters! Passed and sva when on half power for brakes lights and only the size of a twenty pence coin!  ;D

I like your suggestion. If I had a 20mA regulator it would make the circuit layout so much simpler and removes the need for resistors and running LEDs in series. I shall do some research.
Cheers

More LED lights......

This time I was asked to make some small indicators to fit inside the rear light housing of a 66 Mustang to show amber through the red lens.

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/DSC_0032.jpg)

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/DSC_0030.jpg)

Nice work Nathan,

Nice work!  ;)

Thanks.  :)
The next project is to make a full LED board for the above light housing to include tail, stop and indicator. Similar to what I made for my 68 Mustang, but without any fancy sequential flashing.

   Just to derail this thread for a moment, we have just returned from a good weekend at the Nostalgia Nats at Shakey, it struck me over the weekend that it is pretty antisocial ( and unnecessarily expensive) to be running a generator at two in the morning just to have light to drink by. We used to light the awning with a couple of five foot tubes but more recently have taken to using a single 28W fluorescent work lamp which is fine. We have a fair bit of surplus 12V capability in the new truck and can recharge at any time. Is it possible to use a LED type set up and get similar results ? possibly a small retail market for a successful unit. Weather proof would be a bonus but not critical, a means to hang it up and a long lead to plug it into the truck/trailer would be good. Anyone fancy a go at it ? we would be more than happy to test it, trial it and market any unit that worked. Failure in my ability to comprehend any of the techno-nonsense behind these things leads me to conclude that this project is far better outsourced.

you can allready get an led recharghable /battery work/inspection light that lasts for hours  i,ve got one back over at my old place that the nephew got from somewhere i,ll look at the details next time i,m over


p.s  my nephew is a proffesional electrical technical wizard  so i,ll try and pick his brains too

depends what ,,,mood,, he,s in  these techy type,s are highly strung  ;) ;)

It is possible to get pretty good lighting from and led lamp at low wattage. I vaguely remember discussing doing something for you just before my health went down the tubes.

   Hey professor B, we spoke about these things at Basingstoke a while back, we took your advise and sourced some 16 diode units to use as ceiling lights in the truck and they are great, hence wondering about the canopy lighting. I have a note hereabouts mentioning "Luxon star arrays"  (sp) but that may have been from when I was considering building an intergalactic space cruiser, any thoughts ?

Led tech is moving at a pace similar to computer tech so always new stuff around on a monthly basis.

Luxeon stars are good but there are alternatives.


Will get back to you by tomorrow night with some options.

   thanks mate , any help gratefully received

Hi Brock,
Have you considered getting hold of some 12V LED garden lights and hooking those up to a 12v battery source? That might be the easiest way for you to get low power lighting.

Something like this:
http://www.thegardenlightingshop.co.uk/?i=55449

With these LED type bulbs:
http://www.thegardenlightingshop.co.uk/?i=308953

Its says they accept 12V AC-DC so I assume they would run from a battery source.

Or how about an LED floodlamp
http://www.ablamp.com/outdoor_floodlight_LED.html

Hope this helps.
Nathan

I'm just searching for some prices to see if they are economically viable or point you in the direction of a suitable retail unit!  ;)

I found out yesterday that my idea of a "BOLLOX" brake light could land me with a public order offence charge!!!!! ffs what`s wrong with bollox??????? ;D ;D ;D ;D

some guy just had hes plate pulled buy dvla he brought it from them last year.  BO11ICK
they said it slipped through there system.

genlemen of dubious parentage I think  :D :D :D :D

How about ROLLOX? They can't do you for that, its not even a word!  ;D

It's just a load of(NONSENSE) ;D

I thought I'd update this thread again  :)

I have now redsigned the Mustang tail lights and am now starting to produce these for sale. My design keeps the stock look of the rear end and works with the original red lens, but incorporate amber indicators to meet MOT requirements.

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/Boards.jpg)

Tail Lights
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/DSC_0025.jpg)

Brake Lights
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/DSC_0028.jpg)

Video of the indicators
http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/?action=view&current=Indicators-1.mp4

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/th_Indicators-1.jpg) (http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/?action=view&current=Indicators-1.mp4)

By using high brightness amber LEDs I am able to hide the indicators behind the stock red lens. The same principles can be applied to any classic american car lights. So if anybody is interested in a set for their vehicle or rod them please get in touch.  :)

Cheers
Nathan

A useful service Nathan. They certainly show up well don't they.
Nice to see you back by the way.  :)

I think they've turned out really well and I've had some good feedback from people I've shown them too. I even have one guy who will be stocking these in his mustang parts shop  :)

This is just a sideline/hobby at the moment, but I'm hoping it could grow into somethine more....guess I'll have to wait and see.

Anything that keeps older motors on the road is worth doing! Good luck with it mate -& remember us when you make your first million from them!

Thanks, but I might have to sell quite a lot of LEDs to make a million squids  ;D

I don't wish to bore you all with more LED lights, but here is some more  :D

I was asked to make some amber LED lights to fit a Lucas 488 housing. He wanted to keep the red lens to match the brake lights but have amber indicators for safety. Heres my prototype showing amber through the red lens.

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/Lucas4881.jpg)

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/Lucas4882.jpg)

Video of them flashing
(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/th_Lucas488.jpg) (http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/?action=view&current=Lucas488.mp4)

Assuming the guy is happy I'll be turning these into proper PCBs in the near future.

Nathan

  

Clever stuff Nathan.

Nice work!  ;D

Thanks  :)

WOW thats fantastic ill be msging you soon on some ideas and where to get parts lol WELL DONE

Thanks. I'm more than happy to make something for you/help you make something or just offer advice. Drop me a Pm when you're ready.
Cheers
Nathan

thanks mate will do.

Thought I'd post some photos of the LED lights I have just finished for my Galaxie. Now I just need to rewire the Galaxie and fit them.  :)

Edit: Outer sections are red for tail and brake. The inner sections contain white and amber LEDs (indicators and reverse lights) to fit behind the stock white centre lens.

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/DSC_0028-1.jpg)

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/DSC_0020.jpg)

I can't decide whether to have the swirls whirling in at the top or out.....decisions decisions.....

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/DSC_0022-1-1.jpg)

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/DSC_0025-1.jpg)

Nathan

getting clever an posh  ;)

I've also finished designing the LED lights for 64-66 and 69 Mustangs.

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/6669Boards.jpg)

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/6669Brake.jpg)

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/6669Ind.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kMgNNyLUVk&feature=related

 :)

Ta  :)
The red boards look much better than the green.
I'm definetely learning as I go. The galaxie lights caused me a few head aches to start, but now I've fixed them and know what I was doing wrong.

Very professional Nathan.
Swirling outwards gets my vote.

And mine well done

Outwards - defs

Thanks  :)

I think I agree, so I'll install them swirling out and have a look with both installed.

 :o I agree mate the swirling lights look great  :o :o

Galaxie lights installed swirling out. I think in the photo they look quite cool, but they look even better in the real life!  :)

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/installed1.jpg)

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/installed2.jpg)

(http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/InlineUK/Lights/installed3.jpg)

Very cool Nathan. I'm sure plenty of people will think they're standard fitment.