TuffguyF4i

Hey guys!! I am brand new to the forum, but love my (new to me) TSX... i just did an LED mod to the tails and i thought it might be something you guys would be interested in.

My goals for this retro are to have very visible rear lighting and near factory look. I wanted to use an array from another vehicle. I was behind a GMC Acadia the other day and observed some very bright, dual function, LED rings. I had no idea what the dimension where but they seemed to be 'about' the right size. My plan is to take those clusters and put them in my TSX tails, which are downright boring.

Starting point....i found 2 lightly damanged tail lights from a '08 and 2 from an '09 Acadia for only $15 each!!! Score!!





So i pulled them apart and started to look at what was inside...pretty cool design. PWM LED array with a lens set about 1/4" in front of it.
Little did i know when i was buying these, that the '08 are Phillips snap LEDS and the '09 are an OSRAM SMD. Lucky for me, i got 2 of each kind so i have matchin pairs. Score again!

Snap LED







Sweet...a name brand Lumileds running light.




More modern Osram setup




Clearly, they are very different...lets see how they look when on.

Left is Osram SMD. Right Philips Snap










Pretty clear that the Osram is a little brighter....so these will be come my Brake lights. The Snap leds will be used, almost soley for running lights, even though both assmblies are dual function.

TuffguyF4i

So after gutting the tails, this is this is what i needed.



one of the lens assemblies i cut out of the housing.


Back of test subject (one of the two lights mounted as running lights on the trunk,,,,NOT brake lights)


Cutting up my stock housing to test fit. You will go in your home!!


More cutting.


Had to remove a support. Screw it..honda over engineers anyway, right?


My chrome bezel is not going to fit!! Damn...i was really hoping it would! Oh well..going to have to go naked and just put the red lens in the housing.




All this time, i was working with a serious clearance issue. The back of the tail light goes right up against a support in the trunk. My assembly can't be more than 1-1 1/2" deep. This really limits me. It also prevents me from angling the lens assmbly at perfectly the right angle. They are aimed slightly out and not directly rear. Prob 10 degrees or so off. Oh well. Still look sweet.

Soldered on cable harness (had to cut off white connector because of said clearance issue) and did some weather proofing.
Conformal coating, then some RTV. Potting wasn't really an option.










Looking good!!!


So...never satisfied,,, i wanted to be able to turn these on their brightest (brake) setting with a flip of a switch from the front seat. Bad weather, tailgater annoyance machine, whatever....So i pulled some wire and gave it a test.







Finished product... on running light brightness.



Brake lights to be completed sometime in the next few wks with the Osram arrays.

renedcruz

iTrader: (8)

Looks good man.

And I have to say, kudos for trying something new out. I'm fairly new to the site so I don't know if anyone else has done this to their TSX over the years that I wasn't here, but nonetheless it looks good!. Certainly, it does stand out.

TuffguyF4i

Thanks man.. i tried to keep a factory look.

(mods..i just read the forum rules... please move to General forum..sorry for the mistake)

wreak

Not super clean looking when you know it's a retro and are looking for cut lines and such but to the average person on the road you'd never know it was tampered with. Pretty good job if you ask me, the only thing that worries me is water shorting that circuit board out or moisture getting into the tails after all that cutting.

TuffguyF4i

2 feet back you can't see any difference in the lines.

The board has a coating on it that will work very well. I also used RTV over that coating and around the housing. It will not leak. Not my first rodeo.

KillerG

awesome conversion and sexy pics, thanks for taking them all! i hope us 2Gers get the same love one day

xenonhid

Excellent!

Look at all the work we have to do just to get LED tail. Someone needs to mass produce them and make them plug and play.

TuffguyF4i

Thanks guys....i'll post up the pics of the complete conversion in a few wks. I need to get the brake lights done and will prob make my own plate lights too.

main70072

Don't look bad at all... will be waiting to see the finish setup.

vrflyer

Looks like way too much work for the finished product. Aesthetically doesn't look that great, but as long as your happy with it is what matters.

Aman

Looks great Props for doing something no one has tried before, I think it turned out well.

HondaAcura83

Great job!

TuffguyF4i

Clean is cool, but performace is better. And the stock lights are weak, ugly and boring.

Racing Gear

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxZs2SPnDXY

Racing Gear

Great job to the OP by the way.

I am actually surprised that no one really attempted an LED retro after I introduced mine to the community quite a while back as I disclosed the donor tail lights info and everything...

My set was retro'd by a professional retrofitter but I came up with the idea and sourced the parts before I approached him. I just didn't have the technical skills to do the retro itself. The LED's I have in mine were actually too bright so I am running some resistors...even then, I am still told they are too bright....many thinks I drive with my foot on the brake until I hit them with the LED on full blast as I actually hit the brake pedal.

One recommendation I am make for you is to make the corner and inner lights come on together when you brake as I did. You just doubled your lighting power right there!

Keep up the good work!

Zulu-

Very cool, I just threw LED bulbs in and called it a day.

TuffguyF4i

That looks good!

I thought about making my own from scratch. I have the skills and parts to do it, and have done about 5 retros from scratch before. It just takes LOTS of time soldering and custom making 4 boards with 50-100 leds on each one. Very much worth it to me to get the custom look w/o spending 40 hrs hunched over a soldering iron.

I'm thinking about making the trunk lights brake lights... I'll finish the outer lights and if i want to hook them up, it will only take a few mins.

tsx_trendz

it looks really good man. congrats

FollowingNFront

I saw this on HIDP... GREAT job man!

calisoulsurfer

Sorry, but I'm a little confused... how exactly is any of this "retro" since LEDs are relatively new, the TSX is new as of 2004 and the look isn't an old Honda look.

Don't get me wrong, its an interesting post an all, but just a little confused on terminology.

manutd

^ retrofit is what he meant haha

calisoulsurfer

OK, thanks. I wasn't trying to be a jerk. I was just honestly confused. Haha, makes so much more sense now!