LED Lights on Model Cars

[BDSchindler]

I attended the Mid-Atlantic NNL that my club (Maryland Automotive Modeler's Association aka MAMA's) this weekend and saw a couple of lighted model vehicles.  One of them was a Corvette Gran Sport that was well done.  The owner had it outfitted with LED head/taillights and was well done.

All that said...any opinions about lighting up our little gems of hard labor?  I'm on the fence as to whether or not to attempt it.

[SfanGoch]

Not difficult and adds some pizzazz. Check out Evan Designs.

[ctruss53]

I have not used LED lights yet.  But I put neon underglow on my Brians Eclipse build.

[Steve H]

I would also highly recommend Evan’s Design. Awesome products, great website, great service, and quick delivery. 

[Steve H]

A couple of projects with their lights:

 

[peteski]

33 minutes ago, ctruss53 said:

I have not used LED lights yet.  But I put neon underglow on my Brians Eclipse build.

No? I bet you dollars to donuts that the green underglow is emitted by . . . green LEDs. Unless there are live flames under the car being showered by powdered copper.

[Ace-Garageguy]

23 hours ago, peteski said:

No? I bet you dollars to donuts that the green underglow is emitted by . . . green LEDs. 

Or electroluminescent sheet or strips. Nice even glow.

Edited May 16, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

Wiring LEDs for head-and-taillights on a car model is the simplest electronic circuit you'll ever encounter, and a great opportunity to learn something.

I've posted circuit diagrams and sources multiple times, not going to bother doing it again.

[ctruss53]

16 hours ago, peteski said:

No? I bet you dollars to donuts that the green underglow is emitted by . . . green LEDs. Unless there are live flames under the car being showered by powdered copper.

Nope.  The green underglow is NOT LED's.  ?

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by ctruss53

[peteski]

25 minutes ago, ctruss53 said:

Nope.  The green underglow is NOT LED's.  ?

 

Ah, electroluminescent "rope"  Sweet!  Don't see those used often, as they need higher voltage power supply than just plain batteries (usually included in the purchase).  I've been known be guess wrong from time to time.   I'm just so used to this proliferation of LEDs into every part of our life, not seeing other types of light emitting devices being used often.

[ctruss53]

3 hours ago, peteski said:

Ah, electroluminescent "rope"  Sweet!  Don't see those used often, as they need higher voltage power supply than just plain batteries (usually included in the purchase).  I've been known be guess wrong from time to time.   I'm just so used to this proliferation of LEDs into every part of our life, not seeing other types of light emitting devices being used often.

Nope.  It runs on a single 1.5V battery.

[peteski]

1 hour ago, ctruss53 said:

Nope.  It runs on a single 1.5V battery.

Does the battery connect directly to the rope, or is there a small module in between?  Or maybe there are some electronics inside of the battery case?

[SfanGoch]

The EL wire requires an inverter to operate on DC current. Perhaps Chad used something similar to this.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Anybody want to broaden your horizons into electroluminescence, start here:

(NOTE: This is an older article and many of the specific parts are no longer available, but the stuff all works the same way)

https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/getting-started-with-electroluminescent-el-wire/all

[H.A.K]

On 5/14/2023 at 10:46 PM, BDSchindler said:

I attended the Mid-Atlantic NNL that my club (Maryland Automotive Modeler's Association aka MAMA's) this weekend and saw a couple of lighted model vehicles.  One of them was a Corvette Gran Sport that was well done.  The owner had it outfitted with LED head/taillights and was well done.

All that said...any opinions about lighting up our little gems of hard labor?  I'm on the fence as to whether or not to attempt it.

Its not that hard to add LEDs to a model car. The biggest part of it. And its not big at all. Is routing the leads to a place in the car "trunk" to hide the battery and switch. 

[peteski]

20 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

The EL wire requires an inverter to operate on DC current. Perhaps Chad used something similar to this.

Exactly, that is why I asked the question.  These require fairly high (50V or higher) AC voltage.

Edited May 16, 2023 by peteski

[peteski]

Here's a more advanced LED installation - pretty much every light on this wrecker is illuminated.

 

I built it about 25 years ago.  Back then white LEDs were just starting to become available (but not in small packages, just standard 5mm size), and they were very expensive (I remember buying single one for $9 to experiment with).  So in this model , the white lights are small 1.5V light bulbs, but red and amber are LEDs.  Because of this, and because I also wanted a light bar which flashed, I build a custom power supply/flasher which is in the wrecker's bed.  The whole rig needs 12V at close to 1A.  I first thought of hiding 8  AA cells in the sleeper, but the frame would bow under that weight, so I run the lights from external 12V gel battery (like the ones used in emergency building lights).

Edited May 17, 2023 by peteski