Digital Corpus
Top Post Dawg
Another member of the club recently asked my about my license plate light(s) as they've shown up in a couple photos over here in the challenge thread. Or at least that is where I assume he's seen it. Now, what I did was something entirely custom. I've never considered posting about this because all except 1 or two people who I've shown the car have never noticed the light.
I didn't want to drop ~10 or so bucks on two LED replacements. Plus the seals on the lenses were deteriorating and the screws were barely staying in. For other side projects I had some left over acrylic so I decided to put it to use. Also, I had stumbled across some pre-made CCFL assemblies designed for the 12V power busses in computer systems.
First, here are two quick shots at about sunset with the light on an off.
Anyhow, here is what I did...
Since the plastic lenses were going to age more by as the years went by while owning the car, I traced their outline on some 1/4" acrylic, and went at it with a dremel. I drilled out the holes for the screws, and the with the dremel, did what I could to create a recessed grove for the clips that came with the CCFL (I'll give more details about it's specifics at the end). Oh! cannot forget about a groove for the wire to go inside the trunk for power. Add a little bit of silicone sealant and screw everythign together...
Mind you, I've had this installed for over a year now.
Here is a comparison shot if I flip the light towards install.
Even at sunset, I had to wait about 15 minutes before it was dark enough to actually photograph how fircken bright this light is.
And here is a comparison with the tail lights on:
Continued below...
I didn't want to drop ~10 or so bucks on two LED replacements. Plus the seals on the lenses were deteriorating and the screws were barely staying in. For other side projects I had some left over acrylic so I decided to put it to use. Also, I had stumbled across some pre-made CCFL assemblies designed for the 12V power busses in computer systems.
First, here are two quick shots at about sunset with the light on an off.
Anyhow, here is what I did...
Since the plastic lenses were going to age more by as the years went by while owning the car, I traced their outline on some 1/4" acrylic, and went at it with a dremel. I drilled out the holes for the screws, and the with the dremel, did what I could to create a recessed grove for the clips that came with the CCFL (I'll give more details about it's specifics at the end). Oh! cannot forget about a groove for the wire to go inside the trunk for power. Add a little bit of silicone sealant and screw everythign together...
Mind you, I've had this installed for over a year now.
Here is a comparison shot if I flip the light towards install.
Even at sunset, I had to wait about 15 minutes before it was dark enough to actually photograph how fircken bright this light is.
And here is a comparison with the tail lights on:
Continued below...
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