diy cheap asian style car underbody lights

hey, im finally making my first instructable. i have tons of instructable-worthy projects and diys but never had the time to accomplish one. so during this school holiday i present to you my very first one- which is LED underbody light for ur car.

i made it such that the lights activates when you unlock your car with the remote or key. and slowly fades down when you lock the car after closing the door.

the project is very simple. but lots and lots of time is invloved if you want a good result.

the car i used for this project was a Honda Civic, which is my bothers.

the idea of this project is to produce underbody lights while keeping the price to minimum.
retail shops sell 24led sticks for 40$ (something stupid like that). i am using 108 leds i got for about 10-15$

before u actually start this. please read through the instructable carefully. see if you are confident with your abilites because I take no responsiblity for you if u blow fuses, screw the car up, etc, so do this at ur own risk. also im not responsible if u get pulled over by the cops if u do stupid things with these lights. eg turning it on constantly when driving. so once again. i take no responsiblity whatsoever. i provide the information, ideas and instructions while its up to u if u want to follow laws, instructions etc.

i dont know if anyone has already made instructables on this. but this project's idea is 105% original from me. i have not copied from different sources or whatever. if you have a similar project, it is a coincident. i am happy to link ur instructable as a "see also" or something similar if u want to.

Step 1 Collection of materials and parts

what i used:
multimetre
a switch(4 state switch. 3 state + 2 state switch is ok too)
packaging foam (styrofoam??)
hot glue + gun
thin and long piece of wood
lots and lots of led, colour is ur choice.
solder iron
lots of time (4+hrs)
mineral turp and a random piece of cloth.
lots of capacitors, larger capacitance the better. must 16v or larger. i got about 19800uF.
masking tape and/or eletrical tape.
wire strippers and/or wire cutter.

the leds can be supplied from a local electronic shop or online- ofcourse, with price variation depending where u shop. i used red, which is the cheapest and best suited colour led for my purpose.

Comments

[robikazz]

And so much easier of stealing if with magnets... I will make mines with screw, and then put hot glues on screws, so that even I could not take it off so easily ;]
And for later I will hope, that everything will be okay and LED's wont fry out for long :D

[usLEDsupply]

I like the lights under the seats:-) i have done some under the dash and they were sweet but under the seats would have been a nice addition

[zack247]

cool!

[electrobrandino]

Thats one hell of a rice cooker....rofl... Nice job tho :)

[howry]

cgi.ebay.ca/1-Stainless-DPDT-ON-ON-Blue-Light-Car-Switch-12V-B22ZE_W0QQitemZ290387069234QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0you were tlaking about the switches at this step, is there a way to have a switch that way that when the doors are open the lights are on,  and add to that you have on and off as well when the doors are closed? would you say that its 3 way or 2 way? cuz ive found a really nice switch that will look good inside.  

[neilo510]

you could accomplish that via relay. Run your hot power constant to the relay, signal wires from your door switch and also from your on/off switch to the energizing side of the relay and when one or the other is switched on or (door open) it will close the circuit and turn the lights on when wired to the energized side.

[neilo510]

In ohio, as long as you can't directly see the bulbs or leds its fine for any color. This is a pretty cool instructable, but if you get on ebay and do some quick searching you can buy a kit like the one i got, with all colors imaginable for around $100 ready to install and as i said, you get all colors / flash patterns in one package.

[kyles89]

do you know the brand of the kit? cause that sounds easier to do.

[Racer13]

where did u buy the LEDs?

[gwolff]

how do you make strips with more than 6 leds? 2v led * 6 is your 12v battery.. Are you just wiring each set of six in parallel with the other set of six?

[Pie_eata]

I would use flatheaded leds instead of normal ones, they give off a 180 degree radius instead of a focused beam would take care of the circles ;D

[zerox61]

yeh i agree with that. however i fixed the problem by using a pair of sharp wirecutters. snipped the round bits off. now its perfect. ill post a photo when the sun sets.

[zerozz]

What size capacitors? The ones shown are 10 volt instead of 16 volt. You mention you have 19800uF but is this the total of all the capacitors or the value of just one capacitor? Can I use just one large capacitor or is there a need in connecting several together in parallel?

[zerox61]

actually, the 10v ones shown in the pictures was just for demostration purposes. i used 16v. it wont matter what size capacitors you use. you can use a big one instead of lots of small ones. and its the total value which is 19800uf.

[capricorn111]

i like this project. but dude i have a bit problem regard resistors . it will be great if u can send me circuit diagram of this project. my email id [e-mail]

[capricorn111]

THIS project is awesome dude..

[alexharned]

So does the +ve for the capacitors pigtail go between the battery and the Leda and the negative to the negative on the battery? How does this hook up?

[mmcpherson4]

i want to do that to my car, but its illegal to have them on while driving where i live... ( BUT, i can have when im parked! TEEHEE)

[slimguy379]

if you sanded the leds, would the light disperse better rather than beam? also im curious if any issues with holding the strips to the body, has occurred? the answers would be very much appreciated

[OverSaltedFry]

I think their illegal because it distracts other drivers, but then again corvettes are legal and they completely distract me

[tamakid]

yea in australia they are illegal, cuz they distract other drivers

[Dr_Stupid]

Also, check your local laws, these lights are illegal in some states.

[ste5442]

They should be illegal in all states :-)

PCBPolice Electronics Forum

[Dr_Stupid]

agreed

[Derin]

Hey,I have that same striped electrical tape!

[bug on fire]

hey dose anybody know about the law of these things in new zealand What about the inside

[Sigsaucer647]

so these things are illegal to drive with?

[JB4times4]

In the US I know they are, I'm not sure about other places.

[JB4times4]

So did you have to run 1 wire to every 6 LEDs? or did you just run 1 wire to each strip? I'm just confused on the actual wiring of these. is it 1 wire for the entire thing? is it 1 ground per 6leds? and do the grounds connect, or run all the way back?

[krowii]

omg why is this ASIAN style? I'm so offended. :p

[huang.wencong]

In Indonesia (to be precise in Batam), you can get a neon light at a cheaper price because LED's here are sooo expensive. They cost you around Rp.700,- per pcs. And here it's not illegal to use blue lights. Even in here some motorcycles are modified to sound like police sirens and the police is just sitting down with his radio and saying ha ha ha! But nice instructables, will try to install on my motorcycle. :)

[mdgnys]

Most neon lights are realitively cheap but the expensive part it the transformer!

[the_mad_man]

lol

[groovezilla]

pretty cool. next time, take a fine grit sandpaper and lightly sand the tops of the leds. it diffuses the light and looks really smooth.

[dnguyen415]

Did you do your interior lights yourself?

[zerox61]

yup

[krieger]

Great Project, my son has a 74 bug that will be getting a set of lights . and I have a Jeep in need of interior lighting, thanks

[a_d777]

In my city, Faridabad, there is no proper drainage system... in monsoon season, almost all the road are over 12 inches under water!!!

[a_d777]

lol here in India, cops dont care.... nothing is banned! other than drinkin n drivin and smokin and drivin as well! i know i know...Its really sick! and smokin up is illegal too!!! India is a country which produces a large amount of weed...and that too good quality! but still its banned lol! nice mod !! 5*

[junits15]

pretty cool, i hope you live somewhere that there is no snow! the snow and salt would cake the leds making them impossible to see and eventualy the leads would rust away, it would be cooler if the led rods were in a tube, to protect them, nice idea though, rating:*****