Mopar LED Panel Intrests??

Teampeaklimit · Post by **Teampeaklimit** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 2:29 am

Looking for gained intrests in this Mopar LED panel. here is a pic. Hit me with feedback.

http://teampeaklimit.com/moparplate.bmp

Dimensions and specs:
8.5"x8.5"
4 "D" Batteries, 3V wall adapter
switch on the back to turn unit on/off
automatically selects AC power only if plugged in(to save battery life)

Post by **Diablo0** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 2:59 am

I might be interested, give me something new to hang in the garage

marakka · Post by **marakka** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 3:51 am

Need an idea of price and a way to connect it to a car battery....

caustic neon · Post by **caustic neon** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 10:26 am

ohh i like. how much?

Teampeaklimit · Post by **Teampeaklimit** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 10:49 am

marakka wrote:Need an idea of price and a way to connect it to a car battery....

Development is still in progress.Not too sure on the price yet until we get some protypes going to see what the materials are going to cost. it'll be alittle bit before we can get these things movin.

NiteHawk · Post by **NiteHawk** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 1:08 pm

ok, so some people already have the feeling that i'm involved in this one, lol

i'll be answering questions about this since i'm the designer, i just wont be the one selling. i'm taking a step back from selling to the public and dealing with vendors. TeamPeakLimit will be handling funds and such, I'm just teh designer here

I'm searching for a new factory for this one, after the last fiasco, i'm going to deal with someone more reputable from now on. Once I find the factory, I'll get pricing and such from them. Marakka, as for the connecting to car battery, I'll work on putting that into the design of the system. Right now it's pretty much 4D's or 3V wall plug(home, office, garage, etc)

Riddler · Post by **Riddler** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 3:34 pm

Batteries? WTF.....get with the 12V age.

Needs to be plug in.

Riddler

NiteHawk · Post by **NiteHawk** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:13 pm

i will try my best to make it 12v, but that would require the use of resistors, and having resistors on the face of the board would be very ugly... even on the back of the board would be kinda ugly because you'de see the ends of the resistors on the face with the solder points...

Ifixyawata · Post by **Ifixyawata** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:29 am

I think even with 4-1.5v batteries, those LED's should last a LONG time.... right?

03sxt · Post by **03sxt** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 7:52 am

Ifixyawata wrote:I think even with 4-1.5v batteries, those LED's should last a LONG time.... right?

I dunno, but it seems to me like those might eat batteries like crazy.

I could be way off, but I have a little lighthouse bathroom decoration with one LED in it, it's powered by a single AA battery and it stayed lit for about 48 hours, then died.

The AC adapter would be the way to go.

NiteHawk · Post by **NiteHawk** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:30 am

The 4 D's would keep the display lit for a good amount of time, but I wont lie to you, itll be enough for a show, but not much longer than that. 121 LED's will pull at MAX about 2A of power, so the use of 4D's is required. Using AA's would not last long at all since they have a much lower amperage than D's.

I'll work on finding a 12V to 3V adapter so that you can attach this to a car battery, but i'm trying to stay away from actually making the whole thing 12V ready without a transformer because of how bad it would look with all of the resistors.

atom · Post by **atom** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:31 pm

Nitehawk all you have to do is wire them differently to make it use 12v. If the LEDs take roughly 3 volts each, wire them in parallel 4 at a time.

NiteHawk · Post by **NiteHawk** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 8:30 pm

this isnt news to me, but the problem with that is voltage fluctuations.....

the voltage has to stay as close to that as possible...

so even if it is wired for 12V, then that arrises another problem. Where are you going to find 12V batteries in case you DONT want to hook it up to the car, an A/C adapter would work great here since regulated 12V transformers are readily available, but 12V or even 6V batteries are hard to find that arent lantern batteries.....

you'de need 8 D cell batteries just to power the thing...

its small things like this that make designing it perfect, impossible. sacrifices have to be made, whether its losing the Battery adapter, or losing the option of having disposable batteries.....

now granted, there's pros and cons to both situations, its just a matter of weighing those pros and cons to figure out which is the most logical and user friendly approach... in fact, lets discuss those pros and cons...

first up, ditching the D's and going with A/C and 12V plug only..

Pros:
1. Easily have a very long life at a car show without the fear of it dying on you on those really long days.
2. No batteries to replace or recharge.

Cons:
1. ugly wire hanging from the unit to your car battery during a show, not very attractive or clean looking.
2. DC to DC power units are not cheap.
3. Pulling power from car battery will cause LED's to dim if you have a stereo running at the same time.

Next up, D cell batteries and A/C power plug

Pros:
1. No wire to attach to your car battery at shows, leaving you with a clean and stealthy look.
2. Batteries are disposable or rechargable.
3. No drain on your car battery. (no dimming of the led's from a stereo)

Cons:
1. Initial cost of Batteries
2. On very long shows, batteries have posibility of having low to no charge.

If anyone else has something they'de like to add to these lists, let me know and i'll add them......

I will work on finding a DC to DC power supply that isnt astronomically expensive, but I dont know how well that will work...

NiteHawk · Post by **NiteHawk** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 6:10 pm

is that really all the interest on this site???

Post by **jonnymopar** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 10:08 pm

NiteHawk wrote:this isnt news to me, but the problem with that is voltage fluctuations.....

the voltage has to stay as close to that as possible...

Why? Buy yourself a little fluctuation "window" by choosing on the safe side for current resistors. Then, voltage fluctuations won't be a big deal. Plus, that small decrease in average current draw might even make the batteries last just a little bit longer.

My stock radio is lit up blue. My LEDs are rated for 4.7V max, 4.3V normal. BUT, I chose my resistor value based on reaching the 4.3V with a 14V input. This would save me from any quick voltage spikes. Naturally, car voltage rarely gets that high, if ever. They're still very bright and now I don't have to worry about a spike wiping out my LEDs. I especially wanted to take this into consideration because my car has a UDP, so voltage regulation sucks at low RPMs.

I suppose if you're aiming at squeezing every last bit of brightness out of each LED, then a steady voltage would be crucial, but with over 100 LEDs, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to just knock it down a little bit to buy yourself a buffer.

NiteHawk · Post by **NiteHawk** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 12:40 am

well the whole thing is, the reason i DONT want to wire it for 12V is because then i would require resistors

even if i put them on the back of the board, i still have the problem of people being able to see all of those little holes for that many resistors..... thats one thing i REALLY dont want to sacrifice, is people seeing those holes