I got the midnight racer set and installed it. It is really nice and as expected does all the things it is supposed to do. I have taken some pictures of the PCB but it looks very complex and I think that you would have to know somebody in this field to replicate it! For starters you need to look at it with a microscope in order to see everything that's hooked on to this PCB! I am talking a lot of different minuscule stuff! (See photos ). If you guys are interested I have the full 5 megapixel Macros of all the PCB shots where you can really see the detail of the PCB. Just email me to get them.
The leds are very bright for 3mm and the orange/yellow fog lights look really good on the Land Cruiser! (See photos )I will splice in some more leds tomorrow and see how I can hook the whole thing up with the light bar! The really cool feature is that the lights turn off after 10 seconds of the car being stopped! Then as soon as you tap the controller forward or backward they start again! The stop lights are way cool! While driving (FWD or REV), as soon as you release the trigger to neutral the red leds intensify giving the car a realistic braking look.
The only thing I had to do is first clip the "pilot light" which is a blue led that stays on (flashing) as long as the car runs! I am not sure why this feature is there but I took care of it by clipping that piece of wire off. The power is taken at the battery terminals on the side of the chassis via some very flimsy wire terminated with a flat piece of copper that you need to insert between the battery terminal and the plastic battery holder! Because there is no good way to re-install the body on top of the chassis after these wires are left hanging on the side of the battery clips, I decided to relocate the light power supply connection (hard wired into the existing ones) right in front of the chassis where the wires connecting the front servo come out (See photos ) It's a much cleaner hook up and this way nothing gets in the way when re-attaching the body!
I can't wait when the light bar is hooked up! This is going to be a lot of light power! Stay tuned!
Here are some videos taken to demonstrate the Brake lights
There are two other connections that hook up where the motor takes its juice! that's how it knows when to turn the lights on and when to send more juice to the red LED when braking. look at this photo the orange and blue wire hook up at the motor elictrical connector on the chassis. The other two are for power connection of the light kit itslef.
Originally posted by ripsecond
... and as expected does all the things it is supposed to do.
The "things" it does, like Yeah wrotes in their page?
Quote:
The only thing I had to do is first clip the "pilot light" which is a blue led that stays on (flashing) as long as the car runs! I am not sure why this feature is there but I took care of it by clipping that piece of wire off.
Ripsecond
Did you cut all wire Sure it just not was a flashing led?
There are two other connections that hook up where the motor takes its juice! that's how it knows when to turn the lights on
So it only runs the headlights when the motor has power? That's what the GPM lightset does and why I don't like it. I want a light set that has the lights on as long as the car is turned on, but has realistic brake lights as well.
This may be a stupid question but why could you not wire the "running lights" to the main power switch on the chassis? So that the lights go on when you switch the car on. This seems like it would work, and if you want the brake lights to react to the brakes on the 02 then wire that accordingly.
No the lights stay on even when the car is in stand still, but only for 10 seconds then they shut off to conserve power I guess. Then as soon as you hit the trigger they come on and stay on as long as you drive. as soon as the trigger gets to neutral the brake lights come on and that's both when you go FWD or REV.
Remember that it derives its power from your batteries so the energy saver thing is a good thing
As far as the pilot light goes, that all it did! Flash blue! I think some people use it as ground effect on racers. I just clipped this one but I can still use the wires to plug an extra LED!!!
Originally posted by spacewalker5 This may be a stupid question but why could you not wire the "running lights" to the main power switch on the chassis? So that the lights go on when you switch the car on. This seems like it would work, and if you want the brake lights to react to the brakes on the 02 then wire that accordingly.
Yes you can, but there is no need to because the PCB shutts off the lights after 10 seconds of the car not moving! So in essence that exactly what it does! the lights can't come on after they have been turned off and the car is off until the car is turned back on!
Originally posted by ultrawide The "things" it does, like Yeah wrotes in their page?
Did you cut all wire Sure it just not was a flashing led?
Yep that all it was a flashing led! you can use it for ground effect on racers I guess. The thing is you can just clip that led off and splice in some other ones if you want I thing the LED was a flasher not a flashing function of the PCB
i just ordered the light set last night! i look forward to seeing what you can do with it and i'll be sure to post details regarding what i do with mine
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