Well Guys,
I should have bought more of those core LED bars when I had the chance. I can;t find them any more.

What we are looking for is the gutts to the LED third brake light for Autos.

I encase them in side of plex tubing and they become mud proof and strong.

PilotNut's Brother has one now. Have John send me his broken brake light
I'll try and craft a LED setup inside it.

Here's a link to how to build one from scratch.

http://www.nationaltbucketalliance.com/ ... ed/led.asp

I tell ya they bust thru the dust just nicely.

What does someone search for when trying to locate the LED bars on the net?
You found them once someone else has to have them some place

I actually found them on Ebay.

At the time there were several people selling the surplus. I'm searching my year + old email to try and find who I bought them from.

I searched on LED Brake Light or LED in general.
The original auctions stated they were for a Chevy S10. I've looked at those
cars brake lights and these ain't them. I think one guy said it and they all tagged along with it.
Especially since they all liked to use the same Picture.

They are like a 40 LED element brake light bar, Just the PC board component with LEDs in a single linear row. They cost at the time ~ $14. Which is good. since to build it in labor and parts would be more than that.

Currently there is a lot of these but with the body housings. But going for too much $$$.

I'm now google searching on electronic surplus LED brake.

The auctioned members appeared to be centralized near Michigan. Almost implying a local manufacture had a bad lot going to chevy, or a discontinued from Chevy so they dumped there inventory.

Well Guys,
Kathy (MrsMass) found a surplus site for us. And they are cheaper.

http://www.sciplus.com/singleItem.cfm?t ... y%20Filter

Bunch of cool stuff there. I just don't like how they have drawings instead of pics of the parts.

You see the "click for photo" ?
http://www.sciplus.com/itm_photos/35295.jpg

Way to go Kathy...

I did after I read the screen better. :)

DOAH.

The pics similar ot the ones I built.

Pics of the old design using flexible tubing and silicon end caps.

The current design is a PlexiTube and marine Epoxy end caps.

Mass will that connect to the factory wiring with no worries, if so Ill take 3 from you if you mass-heh-produce them.you ever have any issues with your tank mounted like that at all?

They work fine with the stock harness.

On the 350 I had to add a banjoe bolt switch for the brake lite.

Dim for lites and bright for brake is done thru this circuit.

I beleive 8VDC is my desired dim voltage.

That tank couldn't stay there. my radiator placement made me have to
relocate the airbox.

what happend to the beer cans in the #2 photo
they dissapeerd :(
tripp

The LED bars showed up today.

There not the same but, similar.

The spacing on them is a bit more than the other ones I had gotten.
Thus they are a bit longer too. Bummer we want smaller.

Similar brightness. However I wouldn't think they will be a band of light like mine
already is. We'll see though.

I'll need to post pics.

Drats, too bad they were not the same as yours, maybe buying single LED's would be
better for the OEM tail light mod? Use the full length bar like you did for a after
market light? Either way they will make a GREAT dust light when you cant see your
buddy in front of you... Should increase the safety margin.

Well initial looks are still looking good.

Some measurements show they appear to draw more juice. 600ma at full brightness. Not bad.
On one dim setting using 330 ohm resistor make the volts drop to 10.16 volts an draw 11 milliamps (ma).

Now a little brighter resistor setting 165 ohms it drew 20 ma and that's at 10.5 volts. That was bright enough to see it beam on the ceiling.

The input voltage was 13.9 volts from a bench power supply like for a CB.

A plus though. I should be able to trim these shorter. Use the excess parts for prototyping the OEM replacement.

I could use a light meter now.

So, we looking at getting some out to guys Mass?I need a early Christmas gift!!

Yeah Sure. I need to go get plexiglass tubing still.

I also need to see if i have enough resistors and diodes.

I'll work on them this weekend.

OK for the 350 guys we need to add a brake pressure switch to the rear brake caliper.
this goes onto the / replaces the banjoe bolt that bolts the brake lines to the caliper.

The one I used is a K&S Technologies Inc. Hydraulic brake switch
Part # 12-0010 its a 10 mm dia. x 1.25 mm pitch single bleed brake switch.

http://www.denniskirk.com/jsp/product_c ... uId=210369

Credit for this switch really needs to go to a member that I've lost track of whom they are. A year + plus back someone noted these switches and I got one and tried this out....

more to come.

More info:

Here's an update to the schematic for the new LED bars we located.

Note: The 12 VDC remarks are relative. The input voltage was from a 13.8 VDC source.
The New LED bar is sensitive to over voltage. The inline resistors compensate for the vehichle
voltage. Assumming a decent regulator is inplace on the vehichle.

Hoser foudn this link to some one elses write up.

http://www.myra-simon.com/bike/LEDlight.html

I have made a couple of "Shade Tree" LED brake light/tail light setups for my 350s over the last few years. I got the LED brake light strips from Ebay for 10-15 bucks. I mounted them to a piece of angle iron. Next, I put a diode and a 330 ohm resistor in line with the factory tail light wire so the power will be dimmed with the lights on(tail light). Next I ran a couple of switches from the key on(hot 12v) wire behind the key switch to two long armed micro switches that I mounted to a plate to support them. The long switch arms ride on the brake arms above the master cylinder so the switches with close when either brake lever is pulled(raised). I ran another wire from the outs on both switches to just above the resistor/diode combo so it will allow the full 12V through the LED when the brakes are applied, not just the dim tail light voltage. I have been using them for around 3 years and have had no problems. Odyknuck told me to try using a hydrolic switch (in the brake line), but never have tried it. I painted one red and the other black. Any more questions about my setup, just ask.
Gary

A few more pics......

Hoser, Dennis, Jerry, Lightspeed, Ike, Curtis, Fed and several others have seen them in action and I have been told they work great when following me.

Hi Nukem.
I believe it was your original posting and chat on your lights that got me motivated to make mine. THANKS!

That is right it was the suggestion to use a hydraulic switch that got me going full steam. They work great. I chose to only trigger off of the rear brakes only.

They do work great when following. You can see them through fog / dust very nicely.

One thing I did notice with the circuit I built and also the Hydraulic switch.
I think the switch when off still passes a little voltage from time to time.
A very low resistive flow.

I've noticed in the garage after letting it sit for a LONG time the brake lights are on ever so dimmly. I pump the brake and it stops.
I should add an isolation relay off the hydraulic switch to mitigate that.
But, its not that bad to worry about as long as it doesn't get worse. I try to trickle charge my batteries every couple months anyways.

I'll look through my paperwork againa nd try and locate the LEDs I bought. They can easily be trimmed to length without any resoldering. (as long as you trim the correct side and amount of LEDs)

No problem, glad to help you get motivated! There really are a great safety mod. As for the voltage bleeding problem, did you consider moving your hot lead to past the key switch hot? That way they can not get voltage until the ket is turned on. that's what I did.

Great work, I really like the schematic too. How much was the switch? I will probably go that route on my next brake light project.

Great thread....

Gary

Well I did consider wiring it to the HOT side of the ignition.
I hadn't since I liked the fact the lights could be engaged without the key. Kind of like the way our cars work as well. And being lazy......

But, now you mention it its a zero cost option as compared to a relay.

I believe the switch was on the order of 14 or so dollars plus shipping.

I'm more electrically inclined than mechanically and even though it required a brake bleed for me it was easier. I also had looked into using microswitches in the steering wheel. Or reed type magnetic triggered switches. Or HALL Affect even. that's for another thread for another day.

I am electronically inclined also, spent 10 years of my military career in an electronics labratory. I also had a bunch of those micro switches laying around so no money in that either. $2 worth of resistors, wire and a diode, $13 LED strip, scrap iron, and a little ingenuity and walla! The angle iron is even from an old bed frame. LOL Cheap SOB!

Hope some others follow suit, maybe even improve on it.
Gary

Very cool in deed!

I found my receipt: I got the strips for 9.95$ each from www.sciplus.com
I had gotten 1 or 2 off ebay at a much better price. They came up and now have disappeared.

Mikey hooked me up with clear square stock. And I located circular lexan stock for a few of them.

I found this site in my searches tonight.
http://www.customdynamics.com/flex_led_array.htm

The prices weren't that bad. They sell the circuit I posted here. (or similar)

The Hydraulic switch is $15.99 from Denis Kirk http://denniskirk.com
Kirk Part # 21-0369 and is a K&S 10MM x 1.25 Hydraulic Brake Light Switch.
Shipping was 6 bux for 3 of them.....