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for the night time drivers, or for the all show no go :P

for the night time drivers, or for the all show no go :P

Old 01-05-2006, 09:25 PM
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Default for the night time drivers, or for the all show no go :P

well in my side of the world right now by the time i get off work its pretty much dark, but i want to go home and eat and all that stuff first so by the time i turn around its really DARK! so i always go to a parking lot to drive at night when im bored.. well the 4tec brought me an idea, underglow! and it works slick and is pretty much unbreakable!! check it out..

first what you will need.

red and black wire.
solder and solder gun
8 LEDS and resistors.
Electrical tape
connectors
switch
9 volt.
4 clear drinking straws
all of this can be found at radioshack, and i suggest getting everything from there.

first cut the staws down to fit the car, a little shorter than the car its self, you need some room


next your going to a LED in each end of the straw.
then you solder a resistor on the positive wire of each LED (the longest of the 2 wires is the positive)
then solder some red wire to the resistor, and black wire to the other wire on the led.

now set it in the car, and i found just taping the wires down held the light up perfect.. like so


now do the same thing for all 4 tubes.

now when you have all 4 tubes set up and taped up by the wires i took a piece of black tape and taped the top of the tube so it stops the light from going up and reflects it down.

now you should have 4 tubes taped up and a mess of wires like so


now i took all the positive and grouped them together with a twist connector, with one wire comming out to get the power, and did the same thing for the negitives.


now tape all the wires down and run your two wires to the middle of the roof of the car where there is the most room. there your going to put in the 9volt bat.


and viola! underglow, makes it great for night driving, this is VERY bright and shows up very well. and because its on the body it removes just like taking the body off. the pictures dont do this set up justice, its twice as bright and virbant in real life.






its a little bit scetchy i know, if anyone has questions ask away i can take more pics of whatever you have trouble with, if you dont know how to add a switch into that, let me know ill gladley show some more detail.

ill be doing this one more with a white set up on a camaro body, ill take lots of pics and give a few more details if anyone is still scetchy on any thing! ask questions! i doubt there isnt a question i cant answer for you.
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Old 01-06-2006, 01:30 AM
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Looks nice, how long does the D-Cell last with all 4 LED's turned on?

What ohms rating are the resistors?

Are the LED's just your standard LED?
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Old 01-06-2006, 02:51 AM
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damn Cool!!!!



gotta try those!!
thanks!!
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Old 01-06-2006, 07:42 AM
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i wouldnt use a D cell, not as much volts, prob not enough volts at all. use a 9 volt, and your using standard 5mm LEDs they take like no bat draw at all, it should last a few weaks easy i would think. but i used a 9 volt battery connector, so the battery just snaps on and off from the wires. then 2 pieces of tape to hold the bat up. works great so far.

and its actually 8 leds, 2 for each straw, and the resistor i have no glue, i bought a huge bundle on ebay of 100 leds, and the resistors came with them. they are just a really small resistor. you almost dont need one at all, so the smalled one u can find would be about the best for you....

and i have one more suggestion, your going to get a lot more than you need but its worth it, radio shack leds are expensive... these guys are cheap and you get 100 leds for about the price of 3-5 leds at radioshack, and it includes the resistors you need most the time. go to ebay and seach the color your want and LED, exp - WHITE LED, or RED LED. go to the industrial section... there is all sorts of bulks in about 50 or 100. i just bought 50 leds and resistors on ebay shipped to my door for 8.94. at radioshack i would have got 2 leds and no resistors for 8.94. ebay really is cheap. and if you have extra big deal, maybe you can find more projects for them!


just let me know if you need any help... my camaro body should be here on the 9th, my paint should be here the 10th, so by the 12th at latest i plan on having pics of the white set up, and a few more details on how to do it!
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Old 01-06-2006, 11:53 AM
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heres some info on the LEDs i used

Last an average of 100,000 hours
Withstand shocks, vibrations, frequent switching and temperature extremes that rapidly incapacitate fragile incandescent lamps
Are 10 to 50 times more energy-efficient, thus reducing your operating costs by up to 90%

Size (mm) : 5mm
Emitted Color : WHITE
Forward Voltage (V) : 3.2 ~ 3.8
Reverse Current (uA) : <=30
Luminous Intensity Type Iv (mcd) : 11,000
Life Rating : 100,000 Hours
Viewing Angle : -10 Degree ~ +10 Degree
Absolute Maximum Ratings (Ta=25 Degree)
Max Power Dissipation : 80mw
Max Continuous Forward Current : 30mA
Max Peak Forward Current : 75mA
Reverse Voltage : 5 ~ 6 V
Lead Soldering Temperature : 240 Degree ( < 5 Sec)
Operating Temperature Range : -25 Degree ~ +85 Degree
Preservative Temperature Range : -30 Degree ~ +100 Degree
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Old 01-08-2006, 04:41 AM
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looks good
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Old 01-08-2006, 05:51 AM
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altho this isn't the first time i've seen this,it's still cool.good idea,good execution,tho the one thing i dun understand is why u bought 4-Tec?? j/k j/k.this is for people who r playing in the night in parking lot or where there's little or no lights.but for racing or practicing on the track where there is plenty of lights,this will be unnecessary and not beneficial.it would add too much weight.but for bashing and running around,it's perfectly fine.good job
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Old 01-08-2006, 10:24 AM
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exactly why i said, for the all show no go. i only bash my car it will never see a track. but for the racers you can still do this. because its all hooked to the body, you have a race body and a show body. you take the body with the lights off and put astock body on and there is no extra weight.


and i like hte 4tec lmao why does everyone bash on it. i love the 2.5 engine so much.
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Old 01-08-2006, 11:27 AM
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Very good idea with the straws to help draw the light further in a neon tube fashion.

I would cut down the amount of leds and wires and use really strong leds.

If any of you guys do go with this. I highly suggest not using radioshack for the leds. Ebay is by far the best place to buy them easily , as well they come with resistors and they also come with some amazingly bright ones.

I did this on my buggy at night , places two at the top of my rear shock tower and taped them in and used a AA. They were so bright you would think a mini car was driving down the street with hids.

But other than that great job , looks like fun and thats what the hobby is all about. You dont have to race always. I have a basher car "racer2" and my race car "r40". I never driven the r40 on the street except for real quick tests of engagement and engine tuning. While ive been driving the racer2 on the streets for years and never replaced a thing once I full upgraded it.

Good post.
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Old 01-08-2006, 10:10 PM
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Forget all those lights. Lets go glow in the dark!!!



JK, I just hit invert colors.
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Old 01-09-2006, 08:01 AM
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LOL , that reminds me they do have glow in the dark paint. Not sure how effective that would be though.
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Old 01-09-2006, 09:40 AM
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Looks good! one suggestions - use shoe goo to mount your tubes and lights. It hold well and you will be able to save yourself some electrical tape.

ADE
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Old 01-09-2006, 09:48 AM
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hmm good call on the shoe glue, super glue sucks it wont hold. but i get my tape for free so i dont care lmao.
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Old 01-09-2006, 12:18 PM
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When I use shoe goo on the inside of my bodies on paint it makes the paint come off.

Im not sure whoever thought shoe goo is good cause I see everyone everywhere saying use it....but everytime ive used it , its caused my paint to come right off.
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Old 01-09-2006, 12:44 PM
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hmm maybe i wont use show glue lmao...

what kind of paint do you use?
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