dr.edge Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 (edited) Can't find it in the thread and don't know if it was you dr.edge, but someone had posted a link to a DC - Dc converter (http://www.powerstream.com/dc-2171.htm). I was planning on ordering it, but it's out of stock until March. Does anyone know of another place I can buy one? They have some other ones available that should work just as well. Just look around on the site and get something similar. There wasn't anything special about the one I used, it was maybe a few dollars cheaper. Edited January 30, 2012 by dr.edge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr.edge Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Here's a video of the Switchback DRL in action. It shows the lights with the light bar diffuser installed and without. There really isn't much of a difference in total light output nor quality from various viewing angles (maybe a bit more without the diffuser). Anther reason for the apparent lower than expected light output (other than the lower 12V voltage applied) is that the white and yellow LEDs themselves are mounted on the side of the reflectors not on the back. So the light must bounce off of the reflector before it passes through the lens. The LED bars that I used are these which have the LED elements mounted in such a way that they're facing directly forward. That may make some difference but maybe you're expecting to get more output out of them than they're capable of? Maybe a higher power kit would work better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr.edge Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 I figured as much. It makes sense that if the LED is facing directly out of the lens, you have more focused light exiting the housing rather than dispersing the light in many directions before exiting. I think I am looking to have my cake and eat it too. I want an evenly spread "florescent bulb" - shaped light source (as in the existing OEM light bar), that puts out a bright focused beam similar to a spot light. I'm going to play around with the light assembly and possibly widen the reflector slot to the same width as the DRL assembly. Right now, the slot is overlapping the DRL reflector about 10% on each side. I may also try removing the DRL's lens and leave it open inside the OEM housing and seal it. I figure if I F.U.B.R., I'll just buy a new light assembly from Ford. I think they cost $80 - $90. Do you know of any Switchbacks that are more powerful/brighter? Before I bought these, I had asked ijdmtoy.com for the LED bulb wattage spec, but they said they didn't know. (Hmmm?). In any event. I'll tweak the reflector and install a boost converter and see how it all turns out in the wash. You could try something like these - http://store.ijdmtoy...back-drl-7h.htm or http://store.ijdmtoy...back-drl-7j.htm (except these look like they're out of stock now). I'd guess that those are 2W LED elements (8W and 12 W total output) vs 1W LED elements that are more commonly used so maybe twice the output? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr.edge Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 I found this DC to DC step up converter module. What do you think of me using this? I have an enclosure to mount it in. http://www.aliexpres...holesalers.html It looks like it should work and it has enough capacity to drive the LED strips. The only down side I can see is that you have to adjust the voltage while you measure the output voltage. Not a big deal, just a little cumbersome vs. a selector switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilkid500 Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Kc300c, that looks awesome. I can't wait to see your how-to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomX Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 I am really interested in doing this, looks great. One of the things that kinda puts me off on doing stuff like this is the steps that usually involve removing some really nasty sealant and baking crap in the oven to reseal it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr.edge Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 I am really interested in doing this, looks great. One of the things that kinda puts me off on doing stuff like this is the steps that usually involve removing some really nasty sealant and baking crap in the oven to reseal it Unlike a headlight retrofit, you don't actually have to worry about that for this mod. The light assemblies are welded together so warming them up in the oven just allows you to break them apart easier. If I had to do it over again, I might actually just cut them apart with a Dremel tool and a cutoff blade. To glue them back together you just use a good quality epoxy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frybel Posted February 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 LEDS generally won't work below a certain voltage, so dimming would have to be accomplished with a Pulse Width Modulator that can cycle the led on and off (this happens faster than the eye can see and it gives the same effect as dimming) So to dim to 50% brightness, the led would go on and off for equal amounts of time (think 1/100th of a second) So something like this would work? http://compare.ebay.com/like/320831230151?var=lv<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr.edge Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 So something like this would work? http://compare.ebay....mTypes&var=sbar That should do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frybel Posted February 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 That should do it. Perfect! Thanks man. I'll report back once everything's wired up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam I Am Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 I took these photos with my phone in a parking garage this weekend. These photos I took from my phone amazingly give the most accurate depiction of the true brightness of my new DRLs. They are quite bright, however with the DRLs not having the LED bulbs mounted directly at the back of the fixture, it does not give the visual "PUNCH" that I am looking for. My plans are to replace them with the Philips 8 light DRLs that many say are the brightest they have found. I don't have the ~ $150.00 at the time to spend, so I will have to wait a bit. Those lights look great!! Nice job. I really want to see what they look like when you put in the Philips in there. Get back to me once you have those installed, I would definitely have you do mine for a reasonable price or I could get a set from the dealer and send to you so I won't be without lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam I Am Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 I took these photos with my phone in a parking garage this weekend. These photos I took from my phone amazingly give the most accurate depiction of the true brightness of my new DRLs. They are quite bright, however with the DRLs not having the LED bulbs mounted directly at the back of the fixture, it does not give the visual "PUNCH" that I am looking for. My plans are to replace them with the Philips 8 light DRLs that many say are the brightest they have found. I don't have the ~ $150.00 at the time to spend, so I will have to wait a bit. Would it be easy to use the Philips lights alone? And not use the the light strips on the sides, would that change the look and light output? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayoVac Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 Would it be easy to use the Philips lights alone? And not use the the light strips on the sides, would that change the look and light output? That is exactly what I am planning on doing... just the 8 LED phillips DRL with No Tubes//Bars/Strips or whatever we are referring to those as. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam I Am Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 That is exactly what I am planning on doing... just the 8 LED phillips DRL with No Tubes//Bars/Strips or whatever we are referring to those as. So it'll probably look close to the OEM at a glance during the day and really shine at night. Did you get the first set to seat well that there wasn't and shaking? Probably had to use some insane type of epoxy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam I Am Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 Has there been any moisture issues with your light strips? Or did you totally seal it off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingo Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 They're called "light pipes. " and remember that the philips 8s are black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayoVac Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 They're called "light pipes. " and remember that the philips 8s are black. Hmm... wonder how they will look when turned off. Maybe some masking of LED windows and chrome paint or something might be in order. I have not ordered them yet, hope to this week. I will definitely post impressions as soon as I get them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingo Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 I'm going to leave mine black, and I plan to paint the inside of my headlights tuxedo black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingo Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 Oh, and the LEDs and the spaces between are all under a piece of glass as well. I'll take a pic and post it when my ice pack warms up some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingo Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 Yeah, I'm going to paint that tuxedo black as well. Here are pics of the drl strips for your reference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam I Am Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 Sam I Am, I want to preface my reply below by stating that this is the model in which I would like to proceed with in starting this venture and my procedures, statements, descriptions, etc. most likely will need to be tweaked in some way or another. To test the waters, I am floating this out there for you and other forum members to make comments, suggestions, etc. (geez, reading back my disclaimer above, I think I should have tried taking the Bar exam and become an attorney instead of getting into the engineered components business!) Now, to your question, yes, installing just the Philips DRLs would be the easiest and would have the quickest turn around. It is also very easy for me to remove the single LED light bar in each fixture. I offer up two options concerning the handling of the removed light bars. 1) I can ship them back to you in the box with your upgraded DRL strip lights. If after a period of time, you think you would like to have the these original light bars re-installed over the DRLs, you can ship back your lights along with the two light bars. I will open up the lenses of the strip lights and re-install the light bars. I would also need to seperate the Philips DRL from the light strip housing and recess the DRL further into the light strip housing to allow for the light bar clearance. (I would need to charge some labor to reconfigure the light strips for the single light bars. We can discuss that offline, if that’s the way you need to go, PM me). 2) The second option could be that after a period of time, you decide that you don't want to use the light bars, you could mail them to me to use for research & development purposes and possibly improve upon the current light bar designs or to help me create completely new light bar configurations. Concerning pricing: I haven’t calculated all of my costs yet (labor, components, shipping, inventory, etc.) .To start off, I want to confirm that there is truly a demand for these light strip upgrades and I feel the best litmus test is to get some upgraded lights into the hands of our Edge forum member to review, comment on, and hopefully promote. If the reviews are positive and demand becomes apparent, I will move forward by creating and posting a price list and begin taking orders. Hopefully this thread will have enough visibility to get 2 or 3 forum members that are interested in having me upgrade their light strips to DRLs for free. I will not charge any labor. They would need to supply me with their light strips and the DRLs. I would like to standardize to a single DRL just for these 2 or 3 initial upgrades and I believe the Philips 8 LED DRL will be the easiest unit to convert the light strips to DRLs only. This DRL will also work the best in my dual light bar configuration. If I can find someone who wants to include the dual light bar upgrade, I would only charge them my cost for the components (light bars, two top mounted light bar LEDs and miscellaneous lower cost components. I need at least one of the 2 or 3 members to go with the dual light bar DRL upgrade. I really think this a cool product that is absolutely unique to our Edge’s vertical light strip and the width dimension of the Philips unit should allow enough clearance for the DRL to slide in between the two vertical light bars bringing the DRL very close to the underside of the strip light lens. This will allow for a much more effective beam spread than a wider DRL that that cannot fit between the light bars. The DRL would have to be recessed further down into the strip light housing narrowing the beam spread and decreasing overall DRL light output. I still need to take some measurements and come up with a firm light bar configuration to best fit this DRL, but as it sits right now, there isn’t a better light out there that is as thin as the Philips and also puts out 460 lumens of light. That’s damn bright! Here comes the C.Y.A. (Cover Your @$$) language again. I haven’t done exhaustive research on the Philips DRL, so I will leave it up to the 2 or 3 forum members to decide if they are good with using them. I read a lot of user reviews and almost every review has stated that this DRL is the brightest aftermarket DRL on the market under $200.00. (Again, I want you guys to make that determination, not me). Once I get a few of these Philips DRL upgrades under my belt and demand calls for other DRL brands and designs, I will consider these conversions on a case by case basis. Please, I do not want to highjack frybel’s DRL thread, so if you want any specific information or to ask any questions relating to what I described above, please PM me. Do not post it here. Unless frybel objects, replies with comments and/or opinions would be welcomed. If I get a good number of PMs from interested members, I will begin a new thread specifically concerning my Light Strip DRL / Light Bar Upgrades. Thanks, Dan Hey Dan, I have to apologize, I work really long hours and read you post clearly but only had about 3 hours of sleep. Just started typing away without thinking. Thanks for all of the info will get in contact with you when I'm ready. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingo Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 I call them "fangs. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayoVac Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 I call them "fangs. " LOL Nice.... Thanks for such good pics of the Phillips DRL. This is gonna be fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingo Posted March 8, 2012 Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 I told my 12 year-old that the day he sent me a teen text acronym would be the day that his phone got bashed with a 5 lb. sledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cal3thousand Posted March 8, 2012 Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 I told my 12 year-old that the day he sent me a teen text acronym would be the day that his phone got bashed with a 5 lb. sledge. But the question is.... Will it blend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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