Glow From Below
Posted: Sun May 18, 2003 5:02 pm
So after doing the LED headlights on my bitPimps Truck and keeping the glow from coming out from the underside of my body... now I want the exact opposite on another car.
I want the glow to come from the underside of the car only, and I'd like it to be rather even - I dont want a super bright spot from below on one end and have the glow just illuminate the rest - it'd look en-even I think.
So I started thinking on how I might do this and heres what I came up:
I'm gonna have to tint the windows regardless here so that's one thing. I can tint them black, chrome, etc. Now, skipping ahead to a fully painted body - we turn our attention to the last detail - the LEDs glowing from below.
I'm going to use the "Bare-Metal" foil tape that I'd use for mirror tinted windows and smoothly, and even tape the entire inside of the body. You can guess what that's for right? Yup, help the illumination spread, hopefully more evenly and with less loss on the intesity of the glow (insert the tech. term here for those who know it?). Now I'm going to use a tiny button cell to run these ho's off a little micro-switch - just like the bitPimps Truck. I'm thinking mounting these LEDs on top of the chassis, right in the middle, one LED facing front and the other face back.
What I'm hoping for here is that the light evenly distributes inside the body, the glow should only come out the bottom now as everything else has been covered or painted. I'm guessing what's going to happen here is the the front, rear, and sides of the car will glow brighter, as you go in towards the chassis, the glow will weaken. This is okay - this how it is on ricers - so with that - I'm hoping to achieve the same neon tube type glow on my bit.
I went for a test and bought the last LED small enough at RS and had them pick me out a nice button cell... nothing works. I'm looking and I got a 2 volt LED and a 1.5 volt button cell!
Let ya know if it works when I get some more working LEDs lol
I want the glow to come from the underside of the car only, and I'd like it to be rather even - I dont want a super bright spot from below on one end and have the glow just illuminate the rest - it'd look en-even I think.
So I started thinking on how I might do this and heres what I came up:
I'm gonna have to tint the windows regardless here so that's one thing. I can tint them black, chrome, etc. Now, skipping ahead to a fully painted body - we turn our attention to the last detail - the LEDs glowing from below.
I'm going to use the "Bare-Metal" foil tape that I'd use for mirror tinted windows and smoothly, and even tape the entire inside of the body. You can guess what that's for right? Yup, help the illumination spread, hopefully more evenly and with less loss on the intesity of the glow (insert the tech. term here for those who know it?). Now I'm going to use a tiny button cell to run these ho's off a little micro-switch - just like the bitPimps Truck. I'm thinking mounting these LEDs on top of the chassis, right in the middle, one LED facing front and the other face back.
What I'm hoping for here is that the light evenly distributes inside the body, the glow should only come out the bottom now as everything else has been covered or painted. I'm guessing what's going to happen here is the the front, rear, and sides of the car will glow brighter, as you go in towards the chassis, the glow will weaken. This is okay - this how it is on ricers - so with that - I'm hoping to achieve the same neon tube type glow on my bit.

I went for a test and bought the last LED small enough at RS and had them pick me out a nice button cell... nothing works. I'm looking and I got a 2 volt LED and a 1.5 volt button cell!

Let ya know if it works when I get some more working LEDs lol