Phil's 2014 (neww) DARTH Mods

[Phil]

Many of you know that I am in a 12 step program for LED addiction This thread will chronicle the farkling of (new) DARTH that we picked up from Pitbull and Lamonster Garage at Spyderfest 2014.

I searched for the latest LED technologies. The latest in super bright LEDs is a class called COB LEDs. Chips On Board. There are lots of small LED chips, densely packed into a confined area. The lumens output is really great. Right now, I only see them in white (several color temps).

II also wanted to use some old EL (electro luminescent) technologies. AND even some spotlight and projector technologies. Some of these have not yet been completed, but all of the wiring is in place and ready when the parts arrive from various parts of the globe.

My goal is NOT to be a light show that should be at a circus. My goal is to have a wow factor that is somewhat subtle. And, like past posts, show what CAN be done with a few hundred feet of wire, solder, LED strips and more, lots of Posi-taps, and lots of planning and patience.

Here are some of the results pics with some description.....


I started by adding a Fuzeblok. It gives a single point from which to run wires and from which to chase problems, if you have any...


http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...b88f76406d.jpg

In another post I showed that I swapped out the halogen headlights for HID-




I also swapped the fog lights for LED. Now, before you write.... I have never used the fogs to light my way. I have only used thm for people to see me better. So I'm experimenting here.....



Here's the look of the results. The pic is deceiving. To the eye, the heads (which are 5000k) are much bluer than in this pic---



I then spent about 3 weeks with almost all of the tupperware off to get to the next level. I'm sorry that I didn't take the time to do detailed pics on all that I did, but ya know, SL now has such REALLY talented and great ryders and modyrs, I know you'll get it with little explaination.

Here's the way the front looks now...

There are few things of note. The MOB LED focused lights that I have added on the nose, pointed outward, are AMAZING. I had used these on old Darth as 'cornering' lights. They would come on when you hit your turn signal. I decided to add these guys and tie them through a relay, into the high beam circuit. So... when you hit the high beam button, the shudders go up, and these guys come on (as you can see in the pic). At night they light up both sides of the highway which in Texas is great to help spot deer as much in advance as possible! NEXT are the white light rings behind the Spyderpops KOTT screens. Now these are cool. They are white & amber leds inside a diffuser. It looks like neon, it is so smooth. When your signal is used, the proper one goes to amber and flashes with all the rest of the signals, then they automatically go back to white. Back behind the stock BRP grills, I have heavy RGB (red green blue) LED strips that reflect off of the radiators. This is the pink that you see.



Not too much special here. The under body glow is RGB. I added a 5000k white light above the license plate (for the plate, but also for the hitch). The SpyderIchthus is made from EL plastic and uses a special driver to illuminate it. Of course, you can see Reggy's run/stop ring too.


Here are a few views around DARTH..



This worked out very well. These are very bright white LED strips from Pep Boys. Made by Pilot (you can also get them on Amazon). They REALLY light up the trunk, side bags, and glove box.....



Here is some of the secret sauce. This is a 4 zone controller from SuperbrightLEDs.com I HAVE a different one, but ditched it when SBLED came out with this one that ALSO has a WiFi hot-spot so you can control all of the lights from a phone app!! And I do! The app is very similar to this controller. The color wheel is great to select just the color you want.
Zone 1 is the ground effect lighting
Zone 2 are all RGB lights above the ground so they can be dimmed down and color changes separately
Zone 3 - not yet used
Zone 4 - All of the white 'courtesy' lights (like the dash lights, puddle lights, frunk interior lights, and a couple of other minor lights).


Another front shot...


This gives an overall of the driver's perspective. You can also see the Providence power box. This is the DIY version. I added 2 switches to it. The green one, allows one button 'all dash lights bright' access. It bypasses the LED controller and makes them all 100% bright. The blue on the right, allows you to turn on all LEDs and other accessories that are on the added Fuzeblok, without turning on the key. IF you have pressed the super secret hidden kill everything switch!!


Like I said, there are more pics to come and more mods on the way. Stay tuned!!




Phil, Tyler TX- from my iPad 7.5 using Tapatalk HD