juve010

So I know alot people don't care for the drl leds on the newer MBs. I wanted to add some sort of drl lighting because here in Cleveland its always overcast/cloudy and I figure it would be a good safety measure. I've done a tone of led work on my previous Volvo s60r including doing a full tail light led retro, so I'm pretty experienced with leds in automotives. You must go with superflux type leds if you are going to use them as drl/tail/signal etc. I went with 5mm ultra white superfluxes I got for cheap. In order to drive them, I'm going to be using a pwm controller/board that I purchased and built from a member of HIDplanet. Again, used this in the past and its rock solid. I'm using pwm because I know the leds are cheap and I want to ensure longer useability out of them. Anyway enough with the rambling and on to the pics:

Here's the envisioned design (photoshopped):
















Oh and these are just runing off a 9v battery at the moment...superbright more pics to come!

zx11blade

can't wait to see how it turns out.

bad hare

Even though, I have been pretty vocal as to my distaste for all of these LED mods people have been making, you are doing an excellent job. keep up the good work!

mike430sport

I want to learn more about Led's. I have a extra pair of tail lights and wanted to make a set better than what they sell on ebay. Do you know of any threads on Hidplanet that show "how to"?????

juve010

If you look at any of the car specific threads (goto main forum at the top ---> LED's subforum) you can get an idea of the different methods. Pretty much, it depends upon how in-depth and/or how skilled you are/can be. I will briefly go thru the process:

1st step is obviously taking apart the tail. Not sure how the w210's are fused together but I know on my S60R they were a PITA because they were sonic welded (a type of welding using plastic). So I had to pretty much go VERY slowly and pry/score the lense from the housing so as not to crack it. Again mb's might be different and as simple as heating up the edges and taking a razor blade to break a "seal" of some sort. not sure.

2nd step is design and layout of leds. This is where your creativity/skills come into play. Alot of people just use already made breadboards with say x amount of holes punched through (the ones you find at Radio Shack), layout the leds on the board and solder you connections. I have the ability to make my own pcb's so I actually made my own customized to my design, have a look:




3rd step is to compensate for lack of power from the leds to the car so that now bulb out messages are shown (not applicable in all cars obviously). For this, you can use load resistors or miniature auto bulbs to add more resistance to the circuit. This is a project in its self!

4th step is to put eveything back together and post pics on the internet

So thats a brief overview but again hidplanet is a GREAT resource for this type of thing whether you are a newbie or not!

Oh and a great resource for calculating resistors for leds in parallel/series is : http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

juve010

UPDATE:

OK THEY ARE FINISHED! Pics and Vids are below. Overall I'm happy with the look, maybe not my first choice of design but its def unique and they are def easy to be seen in the daytime. They are prolly at 75% brightness too! Anyway, enjoy!

Video Link