Lights for your R/C vehicle.

[PlagueWulf]

Hello everyone, I live quite far north and the days are very short in the winter here now. I get one hour of light after work before I can't see my Savage outside anymore, so I figured some lights were in order.

I have searched and found little of use on this topic, and am therefore looking for your input. The only kit I have found online was this one: http://www.rcneon.com/leds.htm from "Varad", so first question is this a good quality light set, and is this a trusted online store?

The light set (kits 4 or 6) are for nitro models and has a functional brake light (incl. micro switch) in addition to the head and fog lights. Now this looks good to me but how about the luminous intensity, they say the head lights are rated at 4cd (each) does this sound sufficient or will I need more to run it in the dark?

They have other "pimp my ride" like lights also if anyone is interested :fro: , I know I am

So tell me are they any good, or are there light systems out there I should instead be looking at?

If you suggest to just get some LEDs and do it myself, then please tell me what size resistors etc. and max voltage to, because I dont know enough to do that myself.

And I have a couple of AAA (8 cells) size 9,6 Volts 740mAh batteries I dont use anymore, are there any "mini flashlight" sized bulbs or LEDs I can use with these for some serious headlights? (mini maglight/solitaire size)

Thanks for looking.


Edit: I almost forgot, they sent me an answer for the luminous intensity - here is what they answered: quote "We use the brightest and best quality. If your not satisfied please return for a full refund."

This was not the answer I expected as my question was:
quote:"Hello, I am looking at your R/C car LED kits and am thinking of ordering a couple. But I dont understand the light intensity/strenght of your light system, I searched for LED`s and found different sites selling in many different strengths and colors but no kits wich is what I want.

So here is my question; your R/C nitro headlight (the white LED) set is rated as luminous intensity of 4cd, what is this figure compared to a LED with lum. intensity of 4000mcd? Is yours stronger, weaker or the same as the example? I think they are the same but want to make sure what you mean before ordering."

Anyone of you know the answer there?

 

[lykan]

If you are looking to light your ride for vision not looks I have a few suggestions.

#1 Definetaly go LED batteries won;t last long enough with conventional bulbs
#2 You need a reflector. Any bulb that small is going to be too diffused (un-focused) and it will look like an area light, rater than a beam You will only be able to see the bulb, not the area around it (car and ground) The bulb also needs to be hidden behind this reflector, or you will see a bright bulb, and not be able to see the area that is is lit (the way the eye works)
#3 Use marker lights as well. It's hard enough to tell front from rear when in light, but at dark it's difficult. Use red for the back, and maybe orange for the front.


My suggestion, get your blulbs, and wiring, buy some cheap $1.00 flashlights, and take the chrome reflector out, and the lens (ditch the blulbs) Put your led's in the "socket" or reflector. If you choose a small enough cheapo flashlight you may be able to use the back half of the light for a battery case/ on off switch.

Good luck, and dont for get to send us some pics when it's done!

 

[PlagueWulf]

Thank you very much, that was an exellent suggestion with the cheap flashlights.

Just to clarify, I am looking for lights that are capable of lighting the road infront of the truck for atleast 5 meters (16 feet+), but also something for the rear lights (lower strength LEDs) the rear lights will be covered with the varad light kit, but will I need additional light in front to light up the road?

I think I will get some of those cheap small flashlights either way just to see the difference between the LEDs and real bulbs. And for use with the LEDs ofcourse.


And pictures will come as soon as I get it installed.

 

[ImBroken]

If you were able to sit in your R/C, I could understand you wanting to see in front of your car... lol BUT, this wont really make a whole lot of difference when your driving it remotely from 30 - 50 ft away.. The speeds at which these R/C's are capable, you would have no chance of avoiding an object that suddenly appeared in front of you. My suggestion would have to be driving your R/C in a lighted area. The LED's do look really cool, but they'll never throw enough light.

 

[Rolex]

You can get good reflectors from cheap keychain penlights.
Also check out RAM lighting systems. I use them on my planes.

www.ramrcandramtrack.com

Not only every light system you can think of, but sound systems also.
Excellent quality stuff.

 

[PlagueWulf]

Ooh, thanks for that link Rolex! There were so many cool things I MUST have there like the foldaway rollbar w ultrabright lights on it, and a submarine "ping" sound would be nice to.

ImBroken: well if it works or not we`ll just have to wait and see, but I think it will atleast help a little. The lights will be used mostly on our track (started building today) at night or other relatively slow off road driving (rock climbing etc.). And dont forget it will be mounted on a Savage so crashes from suddenly appearing objects will not kill it either.

 

[LazyDave]

It much better with LEDs. They don't drown your batteris because they don't wast energy by making heat. All the energy is converted to light. Plus the light is as pure as possible. They make super bright white LEDs, but they run almost $2-$4 a pop so some cheep yellowones are good also, but not as bright. With the conventional bulbs they waste energy by radiating heat, and they probbly won't be as bright, also you will need more then one aa cell or any 1.5v cell to power it andding weight. LEDs are the best choice.

se i thought about sound system. (I would use cheep speekers and wire them easy stuff. ) But it's completly pointless on a nitro car, too loud.

 

[PlagueWulf]

Hehe, true that it will be pointless with the sound system on this truck as it makes so much noise you really have to shout directly into someones ear to make yourself heard when its close by.

Weight on the other hand doesn't bother me at all, its not a racing truck by any meens, and besides all the weight will be attached to the body so if I want to race it or its bright outside I can just change body for a clean one.

Do you think I can use those 9,6 Volt 740mAh AAA batteries for some LEDs? I am willing to learn how to solder so I can reduce the cell count if needed. (have solering iron - just havent used it yet)

 

[Plaidfish]

I woULD LIke to 'ave a machine that goes PPInggg!!!!!
You live in norway what the hell are you playing w/ RCs in the winter for?......You should be snowboarding ......tell you what you can move here to Florida and I'll move there.......I'll even give you my RC stuff.....what a trade huh???
I'm with the broken one on this......they just look cool while your riding around..... they sort of look like fireflies on speed......whooo you'll quickly find they are novelty items and will not give you the desired effect you're trying to acheive......

 

[Rolex]

I'm gonna' disagree with you plaidfish. The lights are cool. Right now it gets too cold to run here after the sun goes down, but during the warmer months, we had lots of activity on the track after dark. Some had headlights, some with taillights also. I had a Humm-V in military tan with MP markings, and blue lights flashing in the front and red flashers in the back. HOT PURSUIT at its' best. Hard to believe, while running nitro trucks that you'd want it to get dark.

 

[Plaidfish]

yeah but how often do you run those kits.....I made some lights from Radio shack stuff for a friend's and my cars so we could drift on this black top where there no lights so it was pitch black and they looked cool....I've played w/ that setup 2 times since then...I wouldn't use lights on my nitro trucks or buggy going off road .....DEATH.....SMASH BOOM CRASH break toy.......unless it was a perfectly smooth parking lot that had bben swept......even then driving blind.....creepy...
but everybody has their own rules to life

 

[Rolex]

We were all familiar with the track, and all going in the same direction, with just enough background lighting from street light to see. With lights on the trucks, we knew exactly which truck was who's. It was a nightly blast.
Now there's a guy who put lights on his Mini T, and tomorrow I have to install a light kit on the Traxxas Nitro-V boat for a guy that just got it.
I'll say it again, lights are cool. You don't have to use them all the time, but it's always an OOOoooh, AAaaaah response from the crowd when they get turned on.

 

[PlagueWulf]

Some mixed opinions here but I am going to try it anyway, and then I will let you know if its of any use.
I have been looking at some 12 Volt setups (for real cars) that I might try aswell, the "bulbs" are a little to big for the head lights but could work fine on the roof or in the front bumper

I dont think driving in the dark with lights is any more irresponsible than jumping more than 10 feet in the air and landing on tarmac :boxing: to each his own I guess. I totally agree with Rolex on this though - lights will look really cool, and hopefully they will be useful to.

Plaidfish: I live on the southern tip of Norway and winters are not so extreme here like in the rest of the country,and unfortunately global warming (or whatever it is) has considerably lowered the temperature here even more - and rain and winds are the norm most of the winter now. The temps are mostly from 6 degrees below freezing to 6 above, nice and warm.
I used to snowboard a lot, but got a bad knee a few years ago so no more snowboarding (or skiing) for me. Luckily there are so many other fun things to do like R/C.

 

[Plaidfish]

I blew my knees out too....sucks...had 3 surgeries on both already and just had another MRI monday to see if I get the total rebuild.....hope not.....well I didn't mean to discourage you from trying new stuff...just putting my

 

[PlagueWulf]

And I appreciate your input to, it helps reduce my expectations so I wont be overly dissapointed if its not good enough for my intended use.

Sucks with the knees, hope it works out well for you - we`ll just have to get our kicks elsewhere

And if it works or not, it will be a useful learning experience nonetheless and a warning/encouragement to others perhaps?

 

[Rolex]

The lights won't really give you a lot of forward visibility when running in an unfamiliar area, but if you know where you are, and there are no major obstacles around, they let you know where the car is at all times. In total darkness, on a paved parking lot, it's the only way to know how to get it back to you in a straight line.
Normally, you can't drive it at all in the dark. The lights give you extra drive time.

 

[LazyDave]

So i have decided to go high quality with my kit and so far it is $40, but kicks ass.
I'm not using no wimpy 50 mcd light here, i'm using some kick as 4,850 mcd white light for the front !0 of them! 7,500 mcd red for tail and break lights using 8 bought 10. Bought 10 ambers at a mcd of 8,100. Hell yea. Those are for fog light, and a light rail on top, and turn signals, i have to find a way to make turn signals work first. Any ideas? Also none of the viewing angles go under 15 degress and the max is 30 degress. I made my break switch home made and i will get a pic on line soon. I havent actualy bought any thing yet. I made a shoping list. I already made a sercut lay out, found needed resitors, and i have a pc bord ready for use. Of course the voltage is 6.0 volts from the batterys already on board.

All made possibole by digi-key. They don't suck. They kick ass.

www.digikey.com

p.s.

they also sell cristals and they cost only about .88 to 1.50 per unit and you can by in 1, 10, 50, 5,000

yes there is a Quantity discount.

 

[akmadmaxx]

I used LED's and they work awsome. https://www.rcnitrotalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25213

 

[LazyDave]

I used LED's and they work awsome. https://www.rcnitrotalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25213

I did mean Light Emiting Diodes aka LEd's

 

[akmadmaxx]

:thumbup: right