Christian

The latest iteration of my #PCB to replace the tail lights in my #EV #Mustang arrived earlier from JLC. Looks like 5th times the charm. I managed to actually get this version to do something.

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Mar 14 at 10:45pmWeb
Show threadChristian16h ago
A little bit of coding later and I have a ‘demo’ working.
Show threadChristian3h ago

So, what’s better for nighttime/headlights-on mode? Top and bottom rows permanently on, middle section comes on for brakes? Or middle section permanently on and top and bottom come on for brakes?

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Show threadChristian3h ago
Ooh, maybe they should ‘slide’ up and down. There’s 100ms here between rows. Perhaps a little slow.
Show threadChristian3h ago
I don’t love the harshness of LEDs. They go so quickly from off to on. I wanted to try and simulate a bulb a bit by having it ramp up/down quickly. Not sure if it would work. But I screwed up the pin assignment on the MCU (pi pico) in this version. So I think I’ll need to respin this board to get PWM working for all segments.
Show threadFritz Adalis1h ago
@chrskly
Top bottom for running lights, middle might be mistaken for brake lights. Or do tri color and use amber for turn signals?
Show threadChristian1h ago
@FritzAdalis yeah, think this is the way. The top and bottom are a little more frosted so the light is more diffused.
Show threadFritz Adalis52m ago

@chrskly
You could put frosted plastic inside the lens if it doesn't dim it too much.

Addressable lights like ws2812 might make it easy, but I'm not sure if they'd be bright enough. I did find https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/tsf811128.pdf, which implies 31 cd might be sufficient (or at least legal in the US) but you might want at least 100 cd.

(If you've already researched this thoroughly, my apologies.)

Show threadRonan3h ago
@chrskly top and bottom always on and middle for brakes I think
Show threadDen of Earth2h ago
@chrskly
I would be tempted to have a user-selectable pattern where the two outer segments only light up the bottom three rows, and the middle finger (oops) lights up all 6 rows, for use with people who follow too closely?
Show threadChristian2h ago
@DenOfEarth haha, I hadn’t thought of that. I have three extra inputs, so that’s possible 🤣
Show threadBrisWombat13h ago
@chrskly Will you need amber lights for indicators?
Show threadChristian6h ago
@WhombeX don’t think so. It was on the road before with the original single bulb setup without issue. I’m consulting with a qualified automotive engineer to oversee the other modifications I’m making to the car. This will be one of the things I ask him about, but I don’t foresee any issues.
Show threadRue Mohr15h ago

@chrskly thats a lot of complicated, what does the lens look like?

were you there for the 5 transistor version?

Show threadChristian6h ago
@RueNahcMohr yeah, fair, it is a lot more complicated than a single bulb. The motivation behind this is that I want to hide the EV charging ports behind the tail lights. That way the overall look of the car stays the same. Putting an mcu on the board lets me play around with different sequences. I could, for example, have the lights ‘fill up’ as the car is charging.