turn signals in side mirror

[webbs]

I have been playing around with this for awhile now and haven't really found a good way. All i did was cut the plastic behind the mirror and wire 7 leds in a arrow shape. At first you could barely see it at night and only at night. then where the leds were i drilled small holes goin in maybe a 16th of an inch it helped. but the holes i tried drilling with every bit imaginable including a glass drill bit, even underwater. But no matter what i did it always chipped around the edge. any ideas of a good way to do this without buying the crappy stickon kind? Something clean that doesn't look hacked.

 

thanks

Jeff

[rockfangd]

good luck on that one. trust me it is not very easy. i always have aweful luck with glass and i do believe in the 7 years bad luck thing so i wouldt even think to attempt it lol :willynilly:

[webbs]

ive broke 2 mirrors so far so does that mean im gonna have 14 years of bad luck or 7 years of double bad luck? lol

[Pontiac6KSTEAWD]

You own a w-body, your bad luck started already!

[buckethead]

Are you trying to make these LEDs visible through the glass from the rear of the car, or are you mounting them to the front of the side-view-mirror so it can be seen from the front? If you are doing the first one, I'd think all you have to do is remove the reflective material on the back side of the mirror where the LEDs will be placed. You could probably get the coating off with a razor blade, rather than using a drill. With the coating removed, you should be able to see right through the glass, so the LEDs should be visible through that.

[webbs]

ill have to try that. I havent looked at them for awhile so I can't remember, but ik i thought of that before but can't rember why i didn't try it. Ill have to look.

[GnatGoSplat]

I believe the mirrors are silvered on the front side.

I would use brighter LEDs. The ones in the pickups are the 4-pin super flux kind.

 

[webbs]

I used super bright leds from Oznium.com you could see them good at night but barely during the day. You had to look really close. What kinda led do you suggest?

[GnatGoSplat]

Which LEDs are those? Got a link?

 

[webbs]

http://www.oznium.com/led. There is the link for the LEDs i have been working with.

[GnatGoSplat]

If the rated brightness is accurate, it seems like they'd be bright enough, but the factory GM signal mirrors use this type of LED:

http://www.lumileds.com/pdfs/DS05.PDF

 

[slick]

If the rated brightness is accurate, it seems like they'd be bright enough, but the factory GM signal mirrors use this type of LED:

http://www.lumileds.com/pdfs/DS05.PDF

 

 

Shawn, do you know which one they use exactly? There are some very narrow angle and some very wide angle LED's in that document.

[GnatGoSplat]

Shawn, do you know which one they use exactly? There are some very narrow angle and some very wide angle LED's in that document.

 

Hard to say since I think they all look similar, but I have some HPWT-DH00 F4000's which look identical to the ones from the factory signal mirror. Even under a magnifying glass they look the same. I'd say that might be them.

 

[slick]

Right about in the middle of the width of the available angle's as well. I wonder what difference it would make if you got some of the wide angle'd one's. Probably cause too much distraction to the driver. Do your's distract you any?

[GnatGoSplat]

I wouldn't know, I never got around to installing those mirrors in my truck!

I've never taken those apart, but I know what the insides look like because someone gave me the LED assembly out of a broken mirror.

 

[1990lumina]

The flashing lights in those side view mirrors have never bothered me, either in the daytime or at night.

[webbs]

I wouldn't know, I never got around to installing those mirrors in my truck!

I've never taken those apart, but I know what the insides look like because someone gave me the LED assembly out of a broken mirror.

 

 

 

Do you have some pics of what the assembly looks like? Interested in what they do.

 

 

 

 

[RJansen658]

Um... earlier.... when you were trying to drill thru glass....

 

Take 2 piecces on 1/2" thick fiberboard just bigger than the glass, put the glass between the pieces of wood, and clamp it very tight with those screw type woodworking clamps. You need to use a drill press with automatic advancement tho... and go slow. It will be almost impossible to do it by hand. But yea, thats how you drill thru glass.

[GnatGoSplat]

I wouldn't know, I never got around to installing those mirrors in my truck!

I've never taken those apart, but I know what the insides look like because someone gave me the LED assembly out of a broken mirror.

 

Do you have some pics of what the assembly looks like? Interested in what they do.

 

Sure do!

 

 

Here's a closeup of the glass. It looks like they just etch some lines out of the glass.

 

 

[webbs]

How do they attach the leds onto the back of the glass? some sort of clips that hold the chip?

[GnatGoSplat]

Yeah, there are clips molded onto the plastic backing of the glass if I remember correctly.

 

[slick]

Shawn, could you flip it to the other side and take a picture of the actual circuit? I'm interested in seeing the wiring pattern that they have.

[GnatGoSplat]

Here's the backside. I had to use flash because the sun is going down. It's hard to see in the pic, but the component side has traces on it too. It's a double-sided PCB.