Simple, Working Headlights

[Petox20]

I had just recieved a 1/10 Lotus Elise body from HPI for my birthday. I had finished pianting it, and wanted it to have something more. I thought of headlights. The Lotus Elise has bucket head lights, which I had already installed. I got the idea to use Christmas tree lights. I have these round, colored ones. I picked out the frosted yellow ones. I used old wire from this tangled mess of headphones I have, and wired the thing up. I used the AA battery box that came with my model (now have a rechargeable pack), and hooked it into the wireing. I put velcro onto the one side of the battery holder, and the other part of velcro onto the top of the cover for the tray that holds the batteries, and were the antena comes out (I have an HPI Nitro RS4 3 SS). I then cut out a round section on both bucket headlight parts that are on the inside. I then threaded each light through the wholes, and used duct tape to hold the setup onto the body shell (so if the bulbs burn out, I can change them). It was great, because I liked to run my car in the eavening, when my neighbor was around. He and his one-and-a-half year old son would run there RC cars too. It got dark, and I would have to go in, but now I didn't have to. But, to turn the lights on or off, I had to take the bodyshell off of the chasis and plug the wire into the batery holder's wire connector, or unplug it, respectively. I got a small, ordinary electrical switch. I cut out a square hole in the bodyshell, and put the switch into it, then cut the wires, and hooked them into the switch. Now, I just move the switch, and they go on or off! (the switch is just in front of the windshield, on the hood, on the left side.)

I hope anyone who ever thought of this will try it. It's really simple, and people's reactions have been great, since it is pretty unique. And, at night, there's no other upgrade or detail that is more usefull. CHristmas tree lights are great for this. The only downside is that this will only work with bodyshells that have bucket headlights (wich sucks because I got the new HPI Mustang body, and it doesn't have them, which sucks, because it is such a cool body. :mad: )

[FESTER2004]

any pics?would love to see it!sounds real cool!

[Issus]

I've got a nice new HPI stock Savage SS 4.6 body which im thinking of lighting up. I was thinking of using 2-3 small LED's for the front lights and some blue to light up the inside (so you can see the glow on the windows, and escaping the bottom of the truck. Then putting some more red LED's on the back.

I'd have to get some ultra-bright ones, and then over power them so i can see where im going in a grass/dirt field - anyone got ideas on what sort of voltages i should be looking at, and how to dust/water proof them for use on a monster truck heh.

Thanks guys!

[More Juice]

yeah... post some pics. I like visuals.

[Petox20]

I'll try to get those pics on later today, or tommorow. I don't have a digital camera, but my brother has a PDA with one built in, I'll try to use that.

[Petox20]

Sorry, I can't get it to work.

[bufferoo]

[QUOTE=Issus]anyone got ideas on what sort of voltages i should be looking at, and how to dust/water proof them for use on a monster truck heh.QUOTE]

I run mine off a 9v battery. 2 LED's in series with a resistor. 6 LED's in all (white headlights, blue driving lights and red tail\brake lights).

Put 2 resistors in parrallel for the tail lights and a microswitch in parrallel with one of them. When the switch is used it shorts out the one resistor making the current go up giving you a brighter light.

Most of the LED's I use run at 3.5v so that's 7v for the LED's. 30mah is the general current you'd be wanting (unless you like your LED's to die quickly) so you would need a resistor in the area of 70 ohms. Start wih 100 just to see if it's bright enough. You may need to try a few different values before yo find what you're happy with.

I drive my tail lights at 45mah but the red LED's I have are made for street signs and are intended to be run at up to 55mah. :D

Bufferoo

[sick_audi]

i did an audi a4 body with led lights 2 white 2 blue and 2 red i mask'd the light area out and painted the car after painting i removed the mask to reveal clear lights front and back using the exess plastic i made mounts for all the lights then seald them in with black tape i took the icluded light decals cut a round hole in them in same place as led would be and applied them too the car . gives the look of proper lights not just dots of light
if any one can tell me how too post a few pictures i will do but i cant upload them

[spannerboy]

if u look on ebay - you can get many different types of led lite kits ranging from £7 to about £17. all hav diff specs like dipped main lites, brake lights, fog lites, interiour lites

[C0NTENDER]

I'm sure there is a better solution, but I used LEDs from Radio Shack. If I knew what I was doing, I could have done a better job on them :)

http://www.uuworld.net/~reub/glight2.jpg

[baih]

try here for more lighting options.

http://www.ramrcandramtrack.com/