LED conversion

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TheDeputy

TheDeputy

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Hi Gang,

I'm thinking about performing a light upgrade to LED strips for my 1970 challenger. The way I see it, the engineers back in the day had the idea of giving the rear lights the impression that it was one wide light, but it just looks like a red bar, with a bright dot in the center.
I'm a real originality freak, but I think this could be a really nice upgrade.

I purchased a few red LED strips which I can glue into the housing giving the effect I'm after.

Now for the question, How to wire it? especially taking into consideration the direction indicator relay.

Thanks,

Antoon
 
There are some electronic sequencers and diagrams floating around the net. Should be able to get you started.

I put all LEDs in my Dart on the exterior, and will do the interior when I start the rework there. They look good, and are VERY bright.
 
Here they are. The plan is to have the normal lights around the edge of glas, and put a seperate strip in the center where the bulbs are now.

Antoon
 

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Careful, folks. The exterior lights are safety devices. It is possible to retrofit LEDs, but it takes a lot more thought and engineering than just figuring out how to make a strip of LEDs fit in the housing. "They look really good" or "they seem really bright" is not good enough. Please see here before you continue with what you're doing.
 
Thanks for the heads up Dan, I'll keep it in mind.;-)

Antoon
 
Yes there is some definite trial and error when it comes to LEDs, especially with direct replacements. Things like lens color, reflector, lamp housing size, all play a part. I learned through plenty of trial and error what works and what does not. (In some cases, nothing).

The Dart was very forgiving in this area. Colored lenses with small-ish housings make it very easy to put the output where it is needed. My only stumbling block is the reverse lights. As it's a vertical mount lamp, I haven't found anything I feel is suitable. I believe I will be going to a PCB with white LEDs to mount in that housing.

Because people around here are idiots, I am planning to run a 3rd brake light.....just need to figure out what.
 
I'm using these led strips. It takes some creative work to mount them, but the price is low, and they give excellent light, and not just in one direction.

Antoon
 
Small update,
Today I hooked up the LED strips to the existing harness where the bulb usually goes, and to my surprise there were no issues with faster blinking of the direction indicators due to the lower amp usage of the LED's.

That means I don't need to work with external resistors or something like that.

I'll post some pics when I've made one rear light work.

Antoon
 
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