EL Wire Tail Light Border (Dodge Charger Style)

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08-19-2013, 04:01 PM
GrabberOrange

EL Wire Tail Light Border (Dodge Charger Style)

I've read several threads and seen several photoshops of what these cars (as well as Stealths) look like with a tail light border. I personally prefer a continuous border around the tail light and not one where you can see the individual LEDs if possible. Electorluminescent wire seems like it might work but I have zero experience with this stuff. A few questions that I have are:

How is the longevity of EL wire?

How would it hold up to UV rays/heat?

How does it function in cold weather?

Reading up on EL technology, it appears that it works similar to a capacitor, but I don't know how well the materials wold up under extreme temperature conditions between the diffuser and tail light lens.

Anybody have any input or knowledge on this, or maybe it's a terrible idea all together.
08-19-2013, 04:13 PM
IPD

there was a guy on the other site who had been doing some LED conversions on our tails. personally, a "ring" around the edge is pretty spiffy...but it'll look even better if it's not a complete "circle". doing the bottom & sides (no top) would look pretty spot-on & i've seen an eclipse modded like that that looked very nice.

i'd love to do that to my r/t tails...but i don't even know if i want the car anymore. ;)
08-19-2013, 04:42 PM
dbest671

Depending the the type of LEDs used, I know that not all of them show up as an individual light. I know the halos I use don't look broken-up to the naked eye, but in pictures it looks like individual lights.

This is really the only picture where the halos show up like they would to the naked eye... these are LED halos, not CCFL:

http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/p...rhalos0141.jpg
08-19-2013, 05:05 PM
GrabberOrange

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPD

there was a guy on the other site who had been doing some LED conversions on our tails. personally, a "ring" around the edge is pretty spiffy...but it'll look even better if it's not a complete "circle". doing the bottom & sides (no top) would look pretty spot-on & i've seen an eclipse modded like that that looked very nice.

i'd love to do that to my r/t tails...but i don't even know if i want the car anymore. ;)

Didn't think about that. That might look pretty sharp too. If I can get the exact idea down, I'll play with that design as well.

Quote:

dbest671
Depending the the type of LEDs used, I know that not all of them show up as an individual light. I know the halos I use don't look broken-up to the naked eye, but in pictures it looks like individual lights.

This is really the only picture where the halos show up like they would to the naked eye... these are LED halos, not CCFL:

I think it has to do with the plastic shroud on those halos, April. I'm looking for some red ones for my car as we speak and prefer the LEDs over the CCFLs due to simplicity and (possibly) longevity of installation. The two things that concern me about using LEDs for what I am envisioning is finding a transluscent shroud for the straight part of the tail light (and even more so one for the curvature of the turn signal) and crossing the gap between the tail light and turn signal. It appears using the EL wire wouldn't require lot of work at that junction and an LED strip would require a bit of surgery. That said, they are still not out of the question.

Either way, I want something that I won't have to crack the lenses open every couple years to replace.
08-19-2013, 05:09 PM
dbest671

I've used LEDs that didn't have the plastic shroud, and they looked the same. It just depends on the type of LEDs used and spacing of course. If I play with the camera setting some, I can easily take a pictures of the same halos above where it looks like individual lights.
08-19-2013, 05:17 PM
GrabberOrange

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbest671

I've used LEDs that didn't have the plastic shroud, and they looked the same. It just depends on the type of LEDs used and spacing of course. If I play with the camera setting some, I can easily take a pictures of the same halos above where it looks like individual lights.

Whenever you get a chance. I'd be curious on what is used for LEDs/spacing without the shroud. IF I could go the LED route, I think I'd prefer that since what i've read on EL wire indicates that they degrade over time. I could only guess that sitting in the sun only promotes the degradation. But I do like the smooth glow effect of it.
08-20-2013, 10:36 AM
Checkered vr4

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I like the glow of ccf lights and don't have any problems with them working in all temperatures.
08-20-2013, 11:00 AM
IPD

fluorescent lights--regardless of style--will offer degraded performance in colder temperatures. below 32F, they may not operate properly at all. i'm not saying each light is the same...but this IS a known factor about this type of light.
08-20-2013, 12:35 PM
GrabberOrange

Quote:

Originally Posted by Checkered vr4

I like the glow of ccf lights and don't have any problems with them working in all temperatures.

I really like the glow of those as well, but I don't think CCFL would be possible to use with the design I'm going for.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPD

fluorescent lights--regardless of style--will offer degraded performance in colder temperatures. below 32F, they may not operate properly at all. i'm not saying each light is the same...but this IS a known factor about this type of light.

Yah, I am aware of this. Since it's only the border and not the actual tail light, I'm not to worried about that. I am more worried about the longevity in extreme weather changes and didn't know if anyone had any long term experience with this stuff. I guess I might have to just get a set of tail lights and try it out myself. Although I would like to see the LED setup on April's halos to see if that is an option for what I have in mind.