I drive my mini regularly, and often it seems like people don't notice my front indicators - I either get surprised looks as I turn right into a street where someone else is coming out and they almost nose into me, or get dirty looks from people when I turn left into a street and they want to come out and they think I haven't indicated

I figure it's because we have white indicators, and people are too used to amber

I didn't want to modify my indicator bases to accept an amber single filament globe because you can still see the amber globe when it's off, and I wanted to keep my parking lights

I've been dabbling with bits of electronics, and I work with a couple of experts, so we made some LED parkers/indicators with both colours

the new base - LEDs and some resistors, replaces the normal base

off - looks normal (I hadn't put the ring on yet)

indicating

parking - the light is quite 'blue' compared to the headlights, but never mind

both

both from the front


cool huh!!

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

nice and bright too! nice job

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http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=71255

Good stuff Simon, one other thing , couldn't you pick a colour you like for your motor

HA I was thinking the same.....Motor has an awesome colour scheme!

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Mini, its in my blood........

I have moved this to chat as it has merrots to
I think this is more due to
Quote
"I figure it's because we have white indicators, and people are too used to amber"

Any information you can pass on Simon

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Stop Licking the Dog...I Don't Care Who Started It

He who drives his mini has dirty engine.

I like the idea Simon, Did you use seperate amber and white LEDs or color shift type? Let me guess, seperate ones because getting an accurate voltage is near impossible in a mini? Keen to see them at Hay.

lol.... nah, after I rebuilt it at the start of last year I bought 4 cans of paint from The Warehouse, plus a couple of leftovers, and let the kids paint it - I helped a bit.... came up noice

the best patterns came up at the back of the motor, where the colours mixed together





but that's not what were talking about .....



yep, engine is filthy now

separate amber and white - honestly I didn't think about colour shift ones for a second - the white ones are at the points of the triangle, the ambers are the circle of 7 in the centre

you'll definitely see them at Hay buddy - "oh my god, those indicators, they're too bright, I'm blind!"



I was toying with the idea of making a batch of them - if people were keen... not sure what the total cost would come out at, but I'm told I can get a run of PCBs made in Melbourne pretty cheaply (maybe as low as $5-7 each for 20 or 30 of them), there is about (retail) $16 worth of LEDs on it, and 50 cents worth of resistors.... I bought new rubbers because mine weren't flash, they're about $7. Very easy to put together - I could make a killing on ebay

the board shown here is made with a fascinating, but time consuming process - good for prototyping, but no way you'd do it for a whole bunch of them. I've got some pictures of the PCB while being made, but they're on my phone, and it doesn't talk to this computer

PCB making process... after getting one of your work buddies to do a nice layout

1/ laser print the PCB layout on to special paper
2/ iron the paper onto a piece of blank copper circuitboard, it re-melts the laser printing which bonds to the copper
3/ cut the board up using a guillotine
4/ immerse the board in nasty chemicals (the kind that eats through glass) which "etches" (fancy term for "corrodes like all hell") the copper, the bits under the laser printing are protected, the rest gets eaten away
5/ drill the holes in the PCB
6/ solder the bits on
7/ that's it

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

I think others tried these in the front indicators without success. Ive got them as my stop/tail and rear ind.

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras

yeah, I thought about those - the guy I work with said he'd pulled one apart and it might be feasible to change some of them to amber, but I reckon that was a dud idea - I do plan on getting some for my rear indicators and stop/tail though

another point is that I'm probably using significantly better quality LEDs - the premade cluster ones don't hurt your eyes like mine do

these haven't increased the indicator flash rate - not that I noticed anyway - might need a new flasher unit when I put rears in tho

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

I just painted my globes with orange "lens repair" paint
If a bulb ever blows, I'll just paint another one (actually I won't as I've sold that car now).

You could always install clubbie lights - they saw the error of their ways and corrected it on M1100, 1300, 1500, and clubbies

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I tried that once, but with a red texta... it turned pink, then back to clear very quickly

but yeah, didn't want an orange globe inside the lens, and wanted a white parker - I make lots and lots of completely irrational decisions, and I stand by them


ha ha - yeah... with comedy like that, you could turn professional

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

Dude, if you can be arsed with the effort, put me down for at least one set. I think the demand would definitely be there as it allows owners to make their cars safer without compromising the image.

A bloke on a Suzuki M50 cruiser forum designed and made some handlebar risers, cnc'ed from aluminium & sold them more or less at cost to forum members. Solved an annoying issue with my bike at a very reasonable price, including shipping from the states to NZ. I believe he made 50 sets in the first run and did a second batch.

If you cost it out and include your time, then canvas for orders, it's a pretty risk-free exercise - I'd do it myself but a lack of talent prevents me...

Simon - I would be interested in a couple if you make them or if you are prepared to let me have the circuit and the pcb layout I can make my own - I've made plenty of boards in the past and have all the nasty chemicals

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

I was just thinking of doing this a few days ago.

Now ya gunna have to sell em!

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Simon I gather you had no problem with the flasher can driving the LED circuit? or did you change it to a low current draw electronic one?

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!