DIY LED angel eyes...why? Because I can

[woodsman]

how do you open them up? I read previously, to use a heat gun and patience???

[particlewave]

Bake at 225f for 15min and gently pry apart with a wide flatbar.
Takes patience and a cool head, though.

[boxster7614]

Nice job on your customizing. You are one of the few of us that dare to open the lights as its a bit tricky and stressful getting them apart....not to mention running the chance of breaking or melting your expensive lights. I practiced with an old amber set I had laying around before I started opening the clear ones.

Question, Why did you make your own LED angel eyes when you can buy them already made?

Theretrofitsource has some nice ones that are very close together the only exception, like I said in another post, is they are yellow when not lit which is a turn off for me. Also I noticed you mounted your HID ballast inside your head light. This is a big No No as heat kills electronics especially the LED's won't last under heat. Before I retrofited my HID projectors I put LED's in just the small park/background light (Not sure what they call it; the small bulb placed to the side, the one that stays lit while the headlight is not) and it would keep burning out after 6 months from the heat inside the headlight. The LED's are supose to last a long time but heat kills. I've even thought of maybe installing a small fan with a filter to vent the lights.

I did the same thing as you the first time around mounting the ballasts on the inside. but I could feel how hot the light was getting on the outside and later started having problems with the ballasts not firing. If you notice the Ballasts have cooling fins built in and need to have cooler air in order to transfer the heat. There is plenty of space to mount them to the outside of the cover, just drill a hole and put a rubber grommet and some sealant. I do use my Dremel tool to trim some of tabs so the ballast and grommet sit flush. I then use a little mounting tape and a couple of Zipties to mount the ballast to the backside.

[particlewave]

I ordered a set of 70mm led halos, but the circuit board would not fit in the diffuser, so I pulled the LEDs off of the board and did this. Didn't want to mess around with trying to find some that did fit or wait for shipping...I can be a little impatient when I've got my mind set on something.

Ballasts: absolutely. During my first lengthy night drive, the driver side hl shut down 45min into a 2hr drive. Luckily, it didn't kill the ballast. As soon as I got home, I moved them to the outside of the rear cover. So far, so good. I didn't post a picture because it isn't as pretty as the internal mounting, but will do so soon. I used the supplied mounting bracket which keeps them about 1/4 inch off of the housing so that air can circulate on all sides.

[particlewave]

Originally Posted by boxster7614

Question, Why did you make your own LED angel eyes when you can buy them already made?

No offense, but are you seriously asking this question? Why did you make your own HID headlights when you can just buy litronics? Why do you do your own mechanical work when you can just pay someone else to do it?

Why? Because I can. And for the same reason that we all do our own work: because I enjoy it and it wasn't at all difficult.
Why pay theretrofitsource $50 for $3 worth of LEDs? The set that I did buy on ebay(which didn't fit) was $6.50...not much more than the cost of the LEDs, so I figured "why not give them a shot, and if they don't work or fit, I need the LEDs anyway to make my own".

[boxster7614]

Particle I was just curious.

[particlewave]

Sorry if my post came across as irate...I didn't mean it that way. Thanks for your thread documenting your headlight retrofit. As you know, it inspired me to do my own, so I am thankful for that. Otherwise, I'd still be driving around with orange on my car

I'm checking out for a while. The car is looking and running great, so I'm just going to drive it for a few months

[jb92563]

Originally Posted by particlewave

Calculating resistance...
12v to 3v with 20 LEDs @ 20mA each(400mA total) puts me at about 23ohms and 5watts for the resistor. Stopped by Radio Shack to see what I could find.
The best combination that they had was 2x 50ohm 10watt resistors. Running them in parallel will give me 25ohms @ 20 watts...a little overkill on the wattage, but better over than under.

Two 50 Ohm resisters in parrallel is still 50 Ohms resistance however your right about the wattage capacity being 20 Watts.

Its just as well anyway because with less resistance they would be even brighter and thats sure not necessary based on the pictures. They'll last longer this way as heat is the enemy and in an enclosed light like that they will need all the help they can get.

Looks good

[particlewave]

Originally Posted by jb92563

Two 50 Ohm resisters in parrallel is still 50 ohms

Actually....



R1=50
R2=50

1/(1/50 + 1/50) = 1/(2/50) = 1/(1/25) = 25/1 = 25 ohms

A common error in this equation occurs when one adds both the numerator and denominator. In this equation, that would yield 2/100, but that is incorrect.
Ex: 1/50 + 1/50 = 2/100 = incorrect. 1/50 + 1/50 = 2/50 = correct.
To add fractions you just find the lowest common denominator, change the numerator to suit, and add the numerators . You do not add denominators.

[MitchSF]

And you can easily verify this with an ohmmeter and any two equal value resistors.

[jb92563]

Thanks for clarifying with the proper formula, I do agree with your result now and stand corrected.

You can always learn something by questioning things.

In the process I found this site with calculators for more things than you ever wanted to know about audio & electronics.

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How are those angel eyes holding out, they seem awfully bright, or is that just from the camera exposure.

I've been meaning to try the light pipe version of angel eyes that are more subtle. http://986forum.com/forums/305655-post1.html

I bought a bunch of LED's for some other projects I was working on and found there are some insanely bright LED's available these days.