anyone mod a set of 2 inch LED pods, Rigid, Black Oak, Rough Country, etc???

-Virgil-

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
7,802
That sounds like an interesting project, and I'm curious what kind of change you have in mind in terms of emitter characteristics. I hope you get good answers to your questions, but you might not find them on this board; there's almost no modding discussion here because most such activities (on-road lighting) are precluded by safety concerns, standards, and regulations.
 

Alaric Darconville

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 2, 2001
Messages
5,377
Location
Stillwater, America
Like -Virgil-, I find the project interesting-- and I'll bet Hilldweller might also, as he's an offroader, and the right tint and a high CRI can be extremely helpful in discerning features of the terrain while offroading.

One of the biggest concerns you should have is the ability to get it all back together such as the moisture and dust ingress protection is preserved after taking them apart and putting in the emitters of choice. Sealing them is best done with windshield urethane, as you don't want the outgassing of traditional silicone products to ruin the optics. As far as the circuit board layouts, they're probably pretty simple once you look at them. So long as you select emitters with relatively the same forward voltage and current ratings, that should work out. However, a larger hurdle might be if there are other optical changes, such as the LEDs' domes and similar.

After that, just be prepared for weather events that wouldn't faze the original lamps doing ruinous damage after something wasn't sealed properly or a vent was accidentally sealed off.
 

FRITZHID

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 20, 2011
Messages
2,500
Location
Icelandic wastelands of Monico, WI
I've been actually.
Depending on the size of the PCB, I use hot air & occasionally a preheater.
A hands-free board holder with ALLOT of clearance makes the job fairly easy if you have exp in rework.
I swapped the stock chips on a 42 LED bar with nichia 219c 4000k for a buddies truck. I think it was 6 chips per board.
Turned out very nice and he loves it. Says makes everything easier to see all around.

Just be careful not to jiggle the board or bump any of the driver or support components. Use no clean liquid flux. Work expeditiously as to not delam the board.
 

hippy

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 14, 2008
Messages
20
That sounds like an interesting project, and I'm curious what kind of change you have in mind in terms of emitter characteristics. I hope you get good answers to your questions, but you might not find them on this board; there's almost no modding discussion here because most such activities (on-road lighting) are precluded by safety concerns, standards, and regulations.

I guess I'm a tint snob, I'd love to do what FRITZHID mentioned and put in nichia 219c at 3000K and 80-90 CRI. I'd really like to find a set of optics that have a strong top cutoff and run some 2500K emiters and then use the other set for full floods at 3-4000K. But I think I'm dreaming finding a set of led auxiliary lights that have a good fog pattern. even the Rigid don't seem to offer something like that.

Like -Virgil-, I find the project interesting-- and I'll bet Hilldweller might also, as he's an offroader, and the right tint and a high CRI can be extremely helpful in discerning features of the terrain while offroading.

One of the biggest concerns you should have is the ability to get it all back together such as the moisture and dust ingress protection is preserved after taking them apart and putting in the emitters of choice. Sealing them is best done with windshield urethane, as you don't want the outgassing of traditional silicone products to ruin the optics. As far as the circuit board layouts, they're probably pretty simple once you look at them. So long as you select emitters with relatively the same forward voltage and current ratings, that should work out. However, a larger hurdle might be if there are other optical changes, such as the LEDs' domes and similar.

After that, just be prepared for weather events that wouldn't faze the original lamps doing ruinous damage after something wasn't sealed properly or a vent was accidentally sealed off.

Thanks for the suggestion about windshield urethane. I'm fairly careful about pulling stuff apart but...

I've been actually.
Depending on the size of the PCB, I use hot air & occasionally a preheater.
A hands-free board holder with ALLOT of clearance makes the job fairly easy if you have exp in rework.
I swapped the stock chips on a 42 LED bar with nichia 219c 4000k for a buddies truck. I think it was 6 chips per board.
Turned out very nice and he loves it. Says makes everything easier to see all around.

Just be careful not to jiggle the board or bump any of the driver or support components. Use no clean liquid flux. Work expeditiously as to not delam the board.

That's what I'm worried about. I've replaced PCBs with the LEDs already attached but never reflowed an LED on a board. If the makers put the drivers on the same board as the LEDs I would think the risk of destroying everything too great. If that was the case for most of these assemblies then I might as well just use a film to cut the higher wavelength of light out, but that seems like a [FONT=DDG_ProximaNova]kludge [/FONT]to me.
 

-Virgil-

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
7,802
I guess I'm a tint snob, I'd love to do what FRITZHID mentioned and put in nichia 219c at 3000K and 80-90 CRI.

I hope you succeed, please keep us posted! Another really interesting LED (though I don't know what degree it's actually in production yet) is Seoul Semiconductor's SunLike.

I think I'm dreaming finding a set of led auxiliary lights that have a good fog pattern.

That actually exists, bigtime, from Myotek. Their MFL-47 and MFL-5272 are extremely high-performing fog lamps (very bright, very broad beam with good, sharp cutoff) and while I haven't scoped it, I suspect their MFL-100 is, too. They don't have an aftermarket distribution channel, but you can buy the MFL-47 (which looks, in real life, like this) by ordering Chrysler part number 6822-8884-AC (first item shown here). Nice bracket on them, but made for a particular vehicle, so you'd have to rig up some way of mounting them on your "some other vehicle".

The same availability path is likely workable on the MFL-100 and MFL-5272, but first you'd have to figure out what vehicles use them as factory equipment (Myotek would probably tell you if you ask them).

As with all LED vehicle lights, these are 6000K (because that's what the automaker stylists want) and standard LED color rendering of about 80 (because nobody's asking for anything else).
 

FRITZHID

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 20, 2011
Messages
2,500
Location
Icelandic wastelands of Monico, WI
I guess I'm a tint snob, I'd love to do what FRITZHID mentioned and put in nichia 219c at 3000K and 80-90 CRI. I'd really like to find a set of optics that have a strong top cutoff and run some 2500K emiters and then use the other set for full floods at 3-4000K. But I think I'm dreaming finding a set of led auxiliary lights that have a good fog pattern. even the Rigid don't seem to offer something like that.

....

That's what I'm worried about. I've replaced PCBs with the LEDs already attached but never reflowed an LED on a board. If the makers put the drivers on the same board as the LEDs I would think the risk of destroying everything too great. If that was the case for most of these assemblies then I might as well just use a film to cut the higher wavelength of light out, but that seems like a [FONT=DDG_ProximaNova]kludge [/FONT]to me.


It's really not that hard with a little knowledge and the right(ish) equipment. :)

P.M. sent.
 
Top