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7,014 Posts
well, peep dis yo...
ive always been bothered by the fact that that liscense plate panel between the 2 tails is not lit up. it looks like part of the tail light system in the day time but when you turn on your lights, the baish doesnt light up... quite disappointing to me. i wanted it to glow the same way the brake lights illuminate when the parking/headlights are on. i think that would be kinda cool. probably be a bit safer at night or on foggy/rainy roads. more light being emitted.
so, i thought to myself; SELF!!! how do i get this thing to light up ??
well, i could put a bunch of LED's in there, but i suck at pcb creations cuz ive never done it and dont know what it takes to make a light panel w/ LCDs (its on my list of things to do). and i dont want to drill out the panel in several places to add some 194 light bulbs. and on the same token, adding specific light sources would allow the source to be easily seen from the out side. like if i put 4 light bulbs inside of it, you could see where the light was eminating from. and without a diffuser, this is the problem. Use a diffuser you say? yeah, good luck getting a diffuser to fit between the lens and the bulbs. there is very little distance between the liscense plate housing and the lens itself. there is also the fact that the thin bar runs across the top of the liscense plate recess... how the F do you get light to go down that long narrow channel to illuminate that?? more bulbs? unfortuantely, space is VERY limited in there too, not to mention, it would take quite a few to get an even illumination pattern without a the use of a diffuser.
then, i decided, electroluminescent film or vinyl would be the hot ish!!! i could apply it right to the inside of the housing and it would evenly distrubute light as well light every nook and cranny that i can tuck the film into!
ive seen the pin striping and guages that light up. unfortunately, the guages are always blue... ive also seen the EL numberplates that they put on the cars for the Rolex 24. the whole plate lights up and the numbers show up black. its awesome.
now, youre probabling thinking... how the F' are you going to even get light to go thru the panel... its painted silver on the inside. well, the lens just pops off and i can either try to strip it chemically which could be risky, or i can just sand blast it lightly. i want to try the sand blasting to see if i can easily remove the paint w/o hurting the plastic TOO much.
my main problem is, where can i get a decent sized patch of the EL film or vinyl???
ive always been bothered by the fact that that liscense plate panel between the 2 tails is not lit up. it looks like part of the tail light system in the day time but when you turn on your lights, the baish doesnt light up... quite disappointing to me. i wanted it to glow the same way the brake lights illuminate when the parking/headlights are on. i think that would be kinda cool. probably be a bit safer at night or on foggy/rainy roads. more light being emitted.
so, i thought to myself; SELF!!! how do i get this thing to light up ??
well, i could put a bunch of LED's in there, but i suck at pcb creations cuz ive never done it and dont know what it takes to make a light panel w/ LCDs (its on my list of things to do). and i dont want to drill out the panel in several places to add some 194 light bulbs. and on the same token, adding specific light sources would allow the source to be easily seen from the out side. like if i put 4 light bulbs inside of it, you could see where the light was eminating from. and without a diffuser, this is the problem. Use a diffuser you say? yeah, good luck getting a diffuser to fit between the lens and the bulbs. there is very little distance between the liscense plate housing and the lens itself. there is also the fact that the thin bar runs across the top of the liscense plate recess... how the F do you get light to go down that long narrow channel to illuminate that?? more bulbs? unfortuantely, space is VERY limited in there too, not to mention, it would take quite a few to get an even illumination pattern without a the use of a diffuser.
then, i decided, electroluminescent film or vinyl would be the hot ish!!! i could apply it right to the inside of the housing and it would evenly distrubute light as well light every nook and cranny that i can tuck the film into!
ive seen the pin striping and guages that light up. unfortunately, the guages are always blue... ive also seen the EL numberplates that they put on the cars for the Rolex 24. the whole plate lights up and the numbers show up black. its awesome.
now, youre probabling thinking... how the F' are you going to even get light to go thru the panel... its painted silver on the inside. well, the lens just pops off and i can either try to strip it chemically which could be risky, or i can just sand blast it lightly. i want to try the sand blasting to see if i can easily remove the paint w/o hurting the plastic TOO much.
my main problem is, where can i get a decent sized patch of the EL film or vinyl???