TheSamba.com :: View topic - Update: Third Brake Light Help

Fri Sep 07, 2012 6:03 am

madmack wrote: I really like that! Hope you took some pictures during the installation.

Yeah I want to see how you stuffed it in,, and then secured it... properly.
Thats not the easiest area to access...

I like it functional, yet hidden. =D>

Fri Sep 07, 2012 4:36 pm

OK, here goes. No, I didn't take photos. Sorry. I've learned so much from members on this forum and I'm truly grateful, but I guess I was caught up in the challenge, and sweating heavy in an un-air-conditioned garage in Florida.

First, I touched up the paint in the chamber with an artist brush, through each slot. (I should mention that I'm an anal retentive Virgo)

What I bought was a pair of flexible red "MAX LED" strip lights from Autozone. $30 At first I was going to buy the regular LED strip lights, but I thought they wouldn't be bright enough tucked back there in the intake. In hindsight, they probably would have been good enough.

These things have thick, spongy 3M gorilla tape on them. The problem: how to snake them in there and get them in place where I wanted them. This tape sticks and doesn't let go so peeling it first wasn't going to work. Peeling it afterwards also presented problems, so, necessity being the mother of invention . . .

I bought various sized rare earth magnets from http://www.kjmagnetics.com/products.asp?cat=10
I ended up using five, 5/16" x 1/16" magnets for each strip. I carefully peeled off the red plastic backing, stuck the magnets to the tape, spaced out evenly, and carefully replaced the backing over the magnets. So this solved the attachment, with good repositioning capability. I then slipped some clear plastic aquarium tubing I had laying around, over the wires to protect them from potential sharp metal edges. (This wire is multi-strand wire that is thinner than bell wire). I slit the last half inch in half, and glued and taped it to the rubber fitting on the end of the LED strips.

. . . but I knew that snaking it up through the holes at each end of the chamber would be problematic because the magnets would try to grab every bit of metal they passed, so, necessity being the mother of invention . . .

I had some thin, one-sided corrugated cardboard laying around, great because with only having a skin on one side made it very flexible. I cut two strips a little longer than the LED strips and about twice as wide and secured them at ends and the middle with doubled over mini rubber bands that I also had laying around (about the size of a nickel). This allowed safe passage to the destination.

We, my wife and I, maneuvered one in place using wooden shish kabob sticks, she held it while I stuck a scissor through one of the vent slots and snipped the first rubber band. We moved the cardboard a little and got the first magnet to grab, then the next and the next. I set the end of the strip a quarter inch or so past the center of the grille so that when finished positioning the strip vertically, I could tug on the tubing and slowly pull it back to dead center. Repeat for other side. (DUH!)

(Are you sorry you asked yet?)

Originally I planned to have the wires exit at the ends of the chamber where I had fished the strips in, but I decided to loop them around onto the rear bottom of the chamber and exit one of the louvered openings in the bottom near the center, so I could pair up the ground wires and ground them to the engine lid near the license plate light.

When finished, the double strip sloped downward to each side from the center. I didn't like this and so repositioned the strips (shoving with the barbeque sticks. This took a little work cause those magnets have awesome power) I set them so they run in one straight line.

Well that's the important stuff. Not much more except some creative ways to hold the wiring in place.

Also, since the tubing that doubles back along the bottom of the chamber was visible if you looked for it, I reached through the slots with an artist brush and painted it red so it would blend in.

Only time will tell how the installation holds up, but since she's a garage queen and not a daily driver, I have great confidence.

I'm Jim Leveroni and I approve this message. :-)

Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:15 pm

I must say your tutorial has steered me clear of that idea. I'm a very patient person, but that looks like a total stress riser. You did a great job though! I'm sure you have many compliments in your near future. Do you have any daytime shots?

Sat Sep 08, 2012 6:08 am

It sounds harder than it was, when you see it all written out. First of all, I did it in small chunks. Cleaned and painted the chamber a couple of weeks ago. Scoped it out and ran some of the wiring one day. Put the magnets on while watching TV one night. Put the clear tubing on another night. I find that if I take my time, the ideas will come when needed and there is less chance of a screw up. Installed the strips one night with the help of my wife, but didn't do the ground wire hook-up til the next day and the hot lead hookups the day after that. It's hot in that damn garage! Besides, at 66 years old, I've learned to take it easy and enjoy myself.

Next projects: Replace wiper switch, knob, hoses and valve stem on water bottle. After that, replace lap belts with 3 point shoulder belts and come the winter, clean up the rust and paint the drums, plates, axels, etc.

Sat Sep 08, 2012 1:53 pm

Nice work,really you've got imagination.This has been in my head for many nights and I fall asleep wondering about it. I thought of using a magnetic tape strip but have figured a way to use an aluminum strip which will bear two 12" flexible strips each having 18 LEDS. I am curious about the daylight visibility of the leds because my understanding is that the light emmittance is mostly one directional. Therefore I can see a need to get the light strip perpendicular to the level so it will shine directly out . On the other hand, since there is some advantage to having a wider arc of visibility,maybe it would be beneficial to mount the strips on an arced piece with the bow curving in. That may help make a "wider to each side" visibility. I did say I was giving this a lot of thought :idea: .ht Anyway the aluminum strip will be attached inside the vent. Anybody see the daylight effectiveness as an issue?

Sat Sep 08, 2012 2:13 pm

2type2 wrote: Anybody see the daylight effectiveness as an issue? I don't. As I mentioned, the "MAX" LED strips are extremely bright, even at the small angle of the back of the chamber. The first picture is on a cloudy day with the garage door open. I will try to take a good daytime picture tomorrow and post it.

Sun Sep 09, 2012 9:48 am

OK, disregard my last post. The brighter the sun, the less you see them. Even my regular brake lights are barely visible. I will say that the sun was directly behind me and the shot is probably the worst case scenario, but still, I am now very disappointed after all that work. My wife says they look fine. I think she's trying to make me feel better. They're awesome at night and on a cloudy day, but in full sun, FO GETTA BOUT IT! Back to the drawing board.

Sun Sep 09, 2012 11:02 am

It'll still work fine.
LED's are instant on (unlike regular bulbs) so they catch your attention even on a bright day.

Nice work.

Sun Sep 09, 2012 3:02 pm

I would keep it. Its certainly better than just having the two stock ones at knee height. I'm going to mount mine somewhere in the back window. I'll be sure to post up some pictures when I get it done.

Sun Sep 09, 2012 3:36 pm

Don't despair. Today I started fabbing the curved aluminum bar to mount inside the vent.I should rig it, temporarily, the exact way it will be mounted but use duct tape or wires so that I can evaluate if any benefit or not. Next weekend I hope to see how it goes.Then will report.