My LED license lamp solution - Focaljet

**covert1** · 03-27-2005, 05:55 PM

This week I got pulled over by the county police. Nevermind the red herring the officer used: "you took that turn fast as [censored]". The real reason, he admitted, was because my license plate lamps were out. So, I end up getting a repair order.

Ironically, I also happened to have a bunch of new license lamps, for a pending project which ultimately got pushed to right now. Or, last night and today. I figured that I would share some pics and perhaps entertain discussions, because, while this will work, I'm sure others out there can chime in and maybe next time I can do it 100% better.

So, here goes.

Compare a new lamp, at left (ignore the crusted epoxy - that was a failed experiment) with the old lamp that I pulled out, today:

So, what kinds of things would one need to repeat this?

Some 10,000 mcd 5mm 3.3v LED's:

Some Resistors to make each LED 12V capable:

Epoxy, solder, "helping hands", and soldering iron:
(Small, curved needle-nosed pliers, female "quick terminal" adapters, small cable-ties, speaker wire not pictured)

Brief Synopsis: I soldered resistors onto the (+) lead of the resistor, then soldered maybe 3" of speaker wire (all I had onhand) to the bare (-) lead and on the bare end of the resistor. The goal was to have FOUR LED's wired in parallel, per license lamp.

The set of LED's was tied together into a little bundle (not too much physical space to work with in the lamp compartment). Afterward, I fastened quick terminals to the inside of the lamp, where the festoon bulb would otherwise rest. The appropriate wiring for (+) and (-) was placed into the terminals and clamped down with the pliers.

Later, I epoxy'd the string of LED's down to the lamp, so that future crud would not not be able to block out the light. Also, I suspected it would help spread some light because the LED's natively have narrow angles of view (~15 degrees).

Here's what I ended up with:

The epoxy I used, was a bit cumbersome. I plan to get a different sort of glue to act as a protective coating for the wires and the exposed leads. Since it's Easter Sunday, I didn't have an opportunity to get something.

Anyway, here are a few more images:

Picture of my "12V test rig":

Pics of the lamp with power (low exposure):

And, with "normal" exposure:

To the naked eye, you can make out the shape of the 4 LED's but the epoxy does sort of spread the light, which is good. Also, these 4 LED's produce a nice, pretty-close to white light, in stark contrast to the yellow festoon bulb.

Other notes:
- The heat shrink tubing was a tad too small. So, at times, I didn't get it to go all the way over the resistors and to the bottom of the LED base.
-My failed experiment used 8 LED's but I used too much wiring, so it definitely wouldn't fit. It was also way to bright, IMO.
-My original idea was this:

The 10mm LED's were too blue but not as bright, either.

Oh, don't forget to check on Fuse 62 (7.5 Amp) because mine had also been long dead, presumably because of moisture.

In the 3 years of owning my car, these damn lights are the ONLY ones I've had to replace. I've changed others, only voluntarily.

**xerofall** · 03-27-2005, 06:19 PM

Looks like this is going to the stickie!!!

Would you sell me a few of those?

**CrUziN4L** · 03-27-2005, 06:43 PM

sticky icky icky fo sho

yeh i would be down to buy some made cuz i have been driving around with one of mine out for soo long...

can we see some pics of them mounted and on?

-chris

**covert1** · 03-27-2005, 06:49 PM

Please allow me to improve upon my workmanship a bit. Then, yeah, (well, within guidelines) I'll consider peoples' requests. I'm definitely flattered.

Let's give this thread a day or two, while I contemplate a few things.

**xerofall** · 03-27-2005, 07:00 PM

Stickied!!!

My main reason I ask is I'm not good with resistors and LEDs, I can't seem to figure out the color code. (I know it's easy, but not when you're color blind like me)

**DFW_02_SVTFocus** · 03-27-2005, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Stickied!!!

My main reason I ask is I'm not good with resistors and LEDs, I can't seem to figure out the color code. (I know it's easy, but not when you're color blind like me)

^^ same boat in im. I'd buy some if you take orders eventually

**JustinSVT** · 03-27-2005, 10:16 PM

don't they make those size bulbs with LEDs in them? pretty sure i've seen them on ebay.

**covert1** · 03-27-2005, 10:39 PM

Been there, done that. They will suffer the same fate as the OEM festoon bulbs. BTW, they're also nowhere near as bright as what I've constructed.

**jptech2004** · 03-28-2005, 12:02 AM

i'm down also. i think both of mine are out.

**Bmorezx3** · 03-28-2005, 12:28 AM

Wow Carl!

That looks great! I'd really like to do the same with mine. I have gone through at least a half dozen bulbs in mine and they look much the same as the "old" bracket in your pic.

I have never worked with LED's, but I'm sure I can figure it all out. Looks like a fun little project.

Where did you get the new brackets?

Nate

**covert1** · 03-28-2005, 08:02 PM

My intial experiment is... I'd say, about a 90% success!!

The only flaws: I need to use a little bit less wiring. On one of my two lamps, it just barely doesn't sit evenly... so I either got too much wire clumped, or there is an errant glob of epoxy.

Anyway, the pics:

Nate, I got the lamps from Fordparts.com. They come with the lamp and bulb. Just connect and drop in.

**CrUziN4L** · 03-28-2005, 08:05 PM

hotness!...now i am definitly down for it,

except the idea of me allowing the po po even better look at my license plate or do i want the hot clean look...

i gotta weigh it out!lol

-chris

**Bmorezx3** · 03-28-2005, 08:28 PM

Quote:

except the idea of me allowing the po po even better look at my license plate or do i want the hot clean look...

The problem is the stock lamps get all wet and burn out. Then you have NO plate bulbs.

I'd rather not give the popo another reason to pull me over.

**OneHigh_focus** · 03-29-2005, 01:02 PM

What is the purpose of all that wire? couldn't you just solder all (-) the leads togheter and then a single piece of wire from that to the power terminal?
and then do basically the same with the resisitors soldered in line on the (+) side?

**rw02kr43** · 03-29-2005, 01:49 PM

I want a set too. I got pulled over in front of the Speedway for having no lights back there. I put in 2 new ones and they have popped already.

Jason

**Silfox** · 03-29-2005, 01:58 PM

Looks great, but damn thats alot of slack wire bundled.

**covert1** · 03-29-2005, 02:18 PM

OneHigh_focus , the wire was there for:
a) flexibility
b) soldering practice

Considering that I've NEVER soldered before, and that I had been warned numerous times that LEDs were fragile when exposed to the soldering heat, I left a lot of excess wire/leads. Also, I didn't expect to get a repair order (10 day fix-it period), so I rendered a quick solution without much preparation.

I didn't kill any LEDs... At least not through soldering

I created a new cardboard mockup already which contains zero speaker wire. All that remains is the last of the combined (-) leads and the last of the combined (+) leads from the resistors. All I need to do is shrink a few more mm out of it and the resulting LED/resistor clump should be closer to the volume of the festoon bulb I'm replacing.

Once could almost call it "ghetto engineering" but that might be insulting to the ghetto.

However, with a coating of superglue and/or epoxy all over it, it should remain quite weather proof.

The next main thing is to find a good glue to use. I need suggestions on clear epoxy/glues (preferably something I can apply from dispenser and not have to mix). For instance, I don't know how well Rubber Cement protects things, but it also isn't crystal clear. The Epoxy close to clear, but cumbersome.

Anyway, I just got myself 5 more sets of lamp housings

Edit: pic of prototype

**screwdiver** · 03-29-2005, 03:42 PM

how much was the lamps...one of mine is all green from water leaking from the 3rd brake light.

**covert1** · 03-29-2005, 11:26 PM

The lamps are PN: ys4z-13550-ba

I buy them in batches from fordparts.com where they are $5.90 a piece. I do not know what they cost at the dealer, but realize that the cheapest shipping at fordparts.com is $9.95.

**DagoRabbit** · 03-30-2005, 01:35 AM

hmmmm....looks like you may have a new projec show off at FOTB

**SangriaS2** · 04-02-2005, 07:56 AM

Nice work!

That second prototype looks like a winner. I was thinking of doing something like this as well. Good to know that the smaller LED's work better. As far as the adhesive goes...I wonder if they make RTV or caulking that would be clear enough? Just a thought.

BTW, anyone that's looking for lamps should check with Steve (FORDSVTPARTS) at Tousley Ford. He's an associate sponsor of [FJ] and sells OEM Ford parts at 10% over cost.

**Paolo** · 04-03-2005, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Been there, done that. They will suffer the same fate as the OEM festoon bulbs. BTW, they're also nowhere near as bright as what I've constructed.

These probaly cost less than if you were to make it yourself, no offence to the original post creator, but I learned my lesson trying, the best way is to actually seal up the area between the hatch strip and car's metal with thick insulating foam to PREVENT water from getting in, then you will have no problem anymore, even the LED method are still risk of water getting in, though it will be less chance of corrosion due to different metals used.

**covert1** · 04-05-2005, 11:57 PM

The average person probably isn't going to have a use for the 500+ LEDs I have on hand, too. Any materials not used up, will go towards other things. The best part, is that I can only get better at putting my ideas into reality.

The best of both worlds, would be to seal that area AND get the LED's, IMO. Why don't you provide us with a pic/tutorial on your effort, Paolo?

Anyway, more progress:

Tested two types of sealants... one RTV, the other, this "Clear Sealant" which purports to be better than silicone, but dries in a flexible fashion like Aquarium sealant.

RTV Sealant:

Clear Sealant:

Then, [kudos to imack from a post at MFF.com] I had to try this Liquid Tin thing for myself. Seems to work nicely.

I'm almost there, just have to change a few steps to my little procedure. The RTV and the Clear sealant do not like to flow at all, but I can get around that. IT looks like I'm gonna layer three glues.

The epoxy will go at the very bottom of the lens, because it will help spread the narrow light beam from the LED's. The clear sealant will then seal the LED and resistor piece, then the remaining space will be RTV sealed.

I'm going to give the robust RTV working demo away, once I finish soldering the leads to the tin-plated copper contacts and RTV/clear sealing the remaining voids. I'm probably going to sorta re-work the clear demo and patch it up, then replace my wired monstrosity that I put into my ZTW.

**01-yellow-ZX3** · 04-06-2005, 12:02 AM

Cool man, looks good!

Like mentioned, I think part of the corrosion is due to the poor sealing of the foam from the hatch strip to the light itself. Maybe some R&D into this idea would be worthwhile to incorporate a new precut piece of foam with these lights?

Just an idea.

**covert1** · 04-06-2005, 12:58 AM

True; that's why I want someone that's done that, to post a pictorial. I hate messing with those kinds of things because a) I have little patience and b) it won't go back together the same way if I do it

The pictorial would help me cope with A + B.

Plus, I have a wagon, and the sister has a sedan. Someone would have to take the torch on the ZX3/5. Hell, I have enough different glues + epoxies + sealants here, so something ought to come about.

03-27-2005, 05:55 PM	#1
covert1 Senior TEAM Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: aim: Bowling4Guinness Posts: 2,250	My LED license lamp solution This week I got pulled over by the county police. Nevermind the red herring the officer used: "you took that turn fast as [censored]". The real reason, he admitted, was because my license plate lamps were out. So, I end up getting a repair order. Ironically, I also happened to have a bunch of new license lamps, for a pending project which ultimately got pushed to right now. Or, last night and today. I figured that I would share some pics and perhaps entertain discussions, because, while this will work, I'm sure others out there can chime in and maybe next time I can do it 100% better. So, here goes. Compare a new lamp, at left (ignore the crusted epoxy - that was a failed experiment) with the old lamp that I pulled out, today: So, what kinds of things would one need to repeat this? Some 10,000 mcd 5mm 3.3v LED's: Some Resistors to make each LED 12V capable: Epoxy, solder, "helping hands", and soldering iron: (Small, curved needle-nosed pliers, female "quick terminal" adapters, small cable-ties, speaker wire not pictured) Brief Synopsis: I soldered resistors onto the (+) lead of the resistor, then soldered maybe 3" of speaker wire (all I had onhand) to the bare (-) lead and on the bare end of the resistor. The goal was to have FOUR LED's wired in parallel, per license lamp. The set of LED's was tied together into a little bundle (not too much physical space to work with in the lamp compartment). Afterward, I fastened quick terminals to the inside of the lamp, where the festoon bulb would otherwise rest. The appropriate wiring for (+) and (-) was placed into the terminals and clamped down with the pliers. Later, I epoxy'd the string of LED's down to the lamp, so that future crud would not not be able to block out the light. Also, I suspected it would help spread some light because the LED's natively have narrow angles of view (~15 degrees). Here's what I ended up with: The epoxy I used, was a bit cumbersome. I plan to get a different sort of glue to act as a protective coating for the wires and the exposed leads. Since it's Easter Sunday, I didn't have an opportunity to get something. Anyway, here are a few more images: Picture of my "12V test rig": Pics of the lamp with power (low exposure): And, with "normal" exposure: To the naked eye, you can make out the shape of the 4 LED's but the epoxy does sort of spread the light, which is good. Also, these 4 LED's produce a nice, pretty-close to white light, in stark contrast to the yellow festoon bulb. Other notes: - The heat shrink tubing was a tad too small. So, at times, I didn't get it to go all the way over the resistors and to the bottom of the LED base. -My failed experiment used 8 LED's but I used too much wiring, so it definitely wouldn't fit. It was also way to bright, IMO. -My original idea was this: The 10mm LED's were too blue but not as bright, either. Oh, don't forget to check on Fuse 62 (7.5 Amp) because mine had also been long dead, presumably because of moisture. In the 3 years of owning my car, these damn lights are the ONLY ones I've had to replace. I've changed others, only voluntarily.

03-27-2005, 06:19 PM	#2
xerofall [FJ] Addict Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Kingdom of Unpopular Opinion Posts: 18,386	Re: My license lamp solution Looks like this is going to the stickie!!! Would you sell me a few of those?

03-27-2005, 06:43 PM	#3
CrUziN4L [FJ] Addict Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: NY Posts: 15,401	Re: My license lamp solution sticky icky icky fo sho yeh i would be down to buy some made cuz i have been driving around with one of mine out for soo long... can we see some pics of them mounted and on? -chris

03-27-2005, 06:49 PM	#4
covert1 Senior TEAM Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: aim: Bowling4Guinness Posts: 2,250	Re: My license lamp solution Please allow me to improve upon my workmanship a bit. Then, yeah, (well, within guidelines) I'll consider peoples' requests. I'm definitely flattered. Let's give this thread a day or two, while I contemplate a few things.

03-27-2005, 07:00 PM	#5
xerofall [FJ] Addict Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Kingdom of Unpopular Opinion Posts: 18,386	Re: My license lamp solution Stickied!!! My main reason I ask is I'm not good with resistors and LEDs, I can't seem to figure out the color code. (I know it's easy, but not when you're color blind like me)

03-27-2005, 10:16 PM	#7
JustinSVT TEAM Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: San Ramon, CA Posts: 480	Re: My license lamp solution don't they make those size bulbs with LEDs in them? pretty sure i've seen them on ebay.

03-27-2005, 10:39 PM	#8
covert1 Senior TEAM Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: aim: Bowling4Guinness Posts: 2,250	Re: My license lamp solution Been there, done that. They will suffer the same fate as the OEM festoon bulbs. BTW, they're also nowhere near as bright as what I've constructed.

03-28-2005, 12:02 AM	#9
jptech2004 [FJ] Addict Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: (Jason) Irving, TX Posts: 13,552	Re: My license lamp solution i'm down also. i think both of mine are out.

03-28-2005, 12:28 AM	#10
Bmorezx3 [FJ] Specialist Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Baltimore MD Posts: 6,199	Re: My license lamp solution Wow Carl! That looks great! I'd really like to do the same with mine. I have gone through at least a half dozen bulbs in mine and they look much the same as the "old" bracket in your pic. I have never worked with LED's, but I'm sure I can figure it all out. Looks like a fun little project. Where did you get the new brackets? Nate

03-28-2005, 08:02 PM	#11
covert1 Senior TEAM Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: aim: Bowling4Guinness Posts: 2,250	Re: My license lamp solution My intial experiment is... I'd say, about a 90% success!! The only flaws: I need to use a little bit less wiring. On one of my two lamps, it just barely doesn't sit evenly... so I either got too much wire clumped, or there is an errant glob of epoxy. Anyway, the pics: Nate, I got the lamps from Fordparts.com. They come with the lamp and bulb. Just connect and drop in.

03-28-2005, 08:05 PM	#12
CrUziN4L [FJ] Addict Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: NY Posts: 15,401	Re: My license lamp solution hotness!...now i am definitly down for it, except the idea of me allowing the po po even better look at my license plate or do i want the hot clean look... i gotta weigh it out!lol -chris

03-29-2005, 01:02 PM	#14
OneHigh_focus TEAM Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: San Jose, Ca Posts: 276	Re: My license lamp solution What is the purpose of all that wire? couldn't you just solder all (-) the leads togheter and then a single piece of wire from that to the power terminal? and then do basically the same with the resisitors soldered in line on the (+) side?

03-29-2005, 01:49 PM	#15
rw02kr43 Senior TEAM Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Racing Capital of the World Posts: 3,061	Re: My license lamp solution I want a set too. I got pulled over in front of the Speedway for having no lights back there. I put in 2 new ones and they have popped already. Jason

03-29-2005, 01:58 PM	#16
Silfox [FJ] Specialist Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Arlington, TX Posts: 7,637	Re: My license lamp solution Looks great, but damn thats alot of slack wire bundled.

03-29-2005, 02:18 PM	#17
covert1 Senior TEAM Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: aim: Bowling4Guinness Posts: 2,250	Re: My license lamp solution OneHigh_focus , the wire was there for: a) flexibility b) soldering practice Considering that I've NEVER soldered before, and that I had been warned numerous times that LEDs were fragile when exposed to the soldering heat, I left a lot of excess wire/leads. Also, I didn't expect to get a repair order (10 day fix-it period), so I rendered a quick solution without much preparation. I didn't kill any LEDs... At least not through soldering I created a new cardboard mockup already which contains zero speaker wire. All that remains is the last of the combined (-) leads and the last of the combined (+) leads from the resistors. All I need to do is shrink a few more mm out of it and the resulting LED/resistor clump should be closer to the volume of the festoon bulb I'm replacing. Once could almost call it "ghetto engineering" but that might be insulting to the ghetto. However, with a coating of superglue and/or epoxy all over it, it should remain quite weather proof. The next main thing is to find a good glue to use. I need suggestions on clear epoxy/glues (preferably something I can apply from dispenser and not have to mix). For instance, I don't know how well Rubber Cement protects things, but it also isn't crystal clear. The Epoxy close to clear, but cumbersome. Anyway, I just got myself 5 more sets of lamp housings Edit: pic of prototype

03-29-2005, 03:42 PM	#18
screwdiver Senior TEAM Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Kunia, HI Posts: 1,498	Re: My license lamp solution how much was the lamps...one of mine is all green from water leaking from the 3rd brake light.

03-29-2005, 11:26 PM	#19
covert1 Senior TEAM Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: aim: Bowling4Guinness Posts: 2,250	Re: My license lamp solution The lamps are PN: ys4z-13550-ba I buy them in batches from fordparts.com where they are $5.90 a piece. I do not know what they cost at the dealer, but realize that the cheapest shipping at fordparts.com is $9.95.

03-30-2005, 01:35 AM	#20
DagoRabbit Wascally Wabbit Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: San Diego Posts: 7,050	Re: My license lamp solution hmmmm....looks like you may have a new projec show off at FOTB

04-02-2005, 07:56 AM	#21
SangriaS2 TEAM Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: NW PA native in Columbus, OH Posts: 393	Re: My license lamp solution Nice work! That second prototype looks like a winner. I was thinking of doing something like this as well. Good to know that the smaller LED's work better. As far as the adhesive goes...I wonder if they make RTV or caulking that would be clear enough? Just a thought. BTW, anyone that's looking for lamps should check with Steve (FORDSVTPARTS) at Tousley Ford. He's an associate sponsor of [FJ] and sells OEM Ford parts at 10% over cost.

04-05-2005, 11:57 PM	#23
covert1 Senior TEAM Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: aim: Bowling4Guinness Posts: 2,250	Re: My license lamp solution The average person probably isn't going to have a use for the 500+ LEDs I have on hand, too. Any materials not used up, will go towards other things. The best part, is that I can only get better at putting my ideas into reality. The best of both worlds, would be to seal that area AND get the LED's, IMO. Why don't you provide us with a pic/tutorial on your effort, Paolo? Anyway, more progress: Tested two types of sealants... one RTV, the other, this "Clear Sealant" which purports to be better than silicone, but dries in a flexible fashion like Aquarium sealant. RTV Sealant: Clear Sealant: Then, [kudos to imack from a post at MFF.com] I had to try this Liquid Tin thing for myself. Seems to work nicely. I'm almost there, just have to change a few steps to my little procedure. The RTV and the Clear sealant do not like to flow at all, but I can get around that. IT looks like I'm gonna layer three glues. The epoxy will go at the very bottom of the lens, because it will help spread the narrow light beam from the LED's. The clear sealant will then seal the LED and resistor piece, then the remaining space will be RTV sealed. I'm going to give the robust RTV working demo away, once I finish soldering the leads to the tin-plated copper contacts and RTV/clear sealing the remaining voids. I'm probably going to sorta re-work the clear demo and patch it up, then replace my wired monstrosity that I put into my ZTW.

04-06-2005, 12:02 AM	#24
01-yellow-ZX3 Senior TEAM Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Canada Posts: 2,710	Re: My license lamp solution Cool man, looks good! Like mentioned, I think part of the corrosion is due to the poor sealing of the foam from the hatch strip to the light itself. Maybe some R&D into this idea would be worthwhile to incorporate a new precut piece of foam with these lights? Just an idea.

04-06-2005, 12:58 AM	#25
covert1 Senior TEAM Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: aim: Bowling4Guinness Posts: 2,250	Re: My license lamp solution True; that's why I want someone that's done that, to post a pictorial. I hate messing with those kinds of things because a) I have little patience and b) it won't go back together the same way if I do it The pictorial would help me cope with A + B. Plus, I have a wagon, and the sister has a sedan. Someone would have to take the torch on the ZX3/5. Hell, I have enough different glues + epoxies + sealants here, so something ought to come about.