Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

i will take 3 sets

kevin@glescoelectric.com

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

An addiction?! Shopping spree?! Just say "NO!".:cheers:

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

I'll take the kit. I solder all the time so I'm cool with that if you send instructions.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Down by your drivers side headlights just below them with the clam shell up there is a two part spade fuse holder that fuses the two hood lights. Most owners pull the fuse and put the two parts back together so they can leave the hood up for a couple days. Check that, you probably don't have a 10 amp fuse in there. When you put a fuse in and open the hood the lights come on.

Lance P.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

here is a photo looking at drivers side under the hood ahead of the tire. The small red arrow points to the fuse holder for the existing lights.

Lance P. How do I know this? I asked the same question you did and found many just pull the fuse and use garage lights so they don't wear their batteries out...my p.o. had done that and I have a fuse in the glove box for it but know they work just don't use them. The LED's look really interesting though.

Lance P.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

This "one time buy" will close on 02-13-2013 at 06:27 AM
This is so that I can do the buying of parts.

Payment will be paypal. If you have a credit card you can use
paypal even if you don't have an account just like paying for membership this year.

What I need in a PM from each person ordering the assembly (or kit) is this:
1. private email from you personally (so I can forward an invoice from paypal to you)

2. The number and type of your order (assembly or kit)
Example "3 competed assemblies at 3x $50"
There is no shipping or handling charge.

3. Your delivery address. (Canada and US only ,other locations can be negotiated)

What you will get with the assembly(s) is a postage paid box containing your order and instructions for installation. (a link to the instructions on TechNet ) 30day free repair for any unit but you pay shipping.

What you get with the kit (along with my sympathy) is a postage paid box and all parts needed to assemble the unit(s) except the hermetical sealing agent that both insulates the unit from moisture but also isolates from potential shorting (you will need to use black tape over the mercury switch. Each part of every kit will be tested for correct operation before shipping. Since improper assembly and damage during testing is possible I can not replace them free. Replacements can be purchased but you will need to pay for shipping.

It is important NOT to look directly into the LEDs when on. I cannot be responsible for any eye damage. These are BRIGHT!

What I will do on or after Feb 13 is:
1. process any orders and send out email with the paypal info.
(sorry you cannot prepay because I need to confirm that I can buy all the needed parts first)
2. Send out the boxes after each paypal invoice is filled.
3. Post the completed Assembly Instructions on the ZR-1netregistry.com under TechNet.

Questions? Anything I left out?
Please get the word out to anyone that you think may want some of these.
This poll and orders end on Feb 13th.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

One assembly is one light? One car needs 2 assemblies (or kits)?

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Yes,
Finished unit for $50ea (2 needed)
Kit for $25ea (2 needed)

Oh and I corrected the post on instructions for ordering to include a delivery address to be included in the email.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

PMed you Scott for a completed pair.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Just out of curiosity how are these better than the six led lights you can buy on Ebay for each bayonet bulb for $15 a pair? Different current draw? these are advertised as drop in replacements with 5,000 kelvin color white lights and fairly bright. The guy sells lots of leds for interior applications as well. On ebay. I may try a set just to see how they work as they are pretty inexpensive. I have led's under my kitchen counters at home and love them.

What's the difference?

Lance Pearson

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Lance it looks like a whole lot more LEDs (Real leds mind you) vs the mini led bayonet style dots. I have to say way more light for one. However I am sure Scott can tell you the difference. GC

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Hey Scott,

I'm in for 2 completed assemblies. PM sent as instructed.

Mahalo for offering this up.

Craig

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

2 assemblies for me please. PM submitted.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Hey Scott,

Sent you a PM to double my order to 4 assembled sets. A Z brother here in Japan wants to jump in on this and I will be the buyer for ease of shipping and everything else.

Thank you.

Craig

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

PM sent

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

I'm also in for two assembled units and have sent you an email, Scott. :cheers:

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Im still in...... GC

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

I've been doing some homework.

TESTING
I've tested the 24LED assembly in these areas:
1. Life test. (on 24-7 for two weeks)
2. Temp test (in the oven up to 250deg. The parts are spec'd at 203deg)
3. Vibration (on the end of a grinder with an off centered disk)
4. Shock (I've dropped them repeatedly 30 times)
5. I'd like to do a humidity test but don't have a humidity chamber.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
1. I've purchased and studied the two best competitors to this 24LED design.
2. I've compared the amount of light
3. I've compared the power needed
4. I've compared the light temperature (color of light)

here are some of the findings:
http://zr1.net/forum/picture.php?alb...pictureid=2008

FYI - I ordered four of the above 6-LEDs and picked the brightest for comparing.
I did a comparison of the above 6-LED light to the 24LED lamp I'm assembling. The below pic was taken at 12in away at both lamps using the same 12V supply. Surprisingly the 6LEDs use more current (95ma) than the 24LEDs (40ma). That was kinda unexpected. You'd thing "more LEDs" more current. Not so. The reason for this I won't go into here. What the pic bellow does not show in a measured way is how bright each is. I use a digital camera in "auto" mode to see what it would do to the exposure time if the F-stop was held constant. I took a picture of each unit separately. Well as you'd expect the exposure was four times longer with the 6 vs 24 LEDs indicating 4X brighter.

http://zr1.net/forum/picture.php?alb...pictureid=2007

There is an OEM company called CREE. They have a new line of LED product called High-Brightness LEDs that I have been looking at.
These could end up being another 4 times brighter than the current 24LEDs that I'm planning to use. (that would be 16X brighter than the 6LED set. How bright is bright enough. Don't know. How much HP is enough ?
I think the LT5 deserves an "LT5" level of light :-D

On a related note. I've made a few discoveries about the mercury switch assembly that might interest some of you.

Turns out the switches can be activated under breaking. That is, if your underhood lights are stock (no switch and fuse in) and you use you breaks reasonably hard the mercury floats forward enabling the underhood lights !
Interesting no? I'd sure like to talk to that designer.
Anyway, there's more work to do here related to unexpected dead batteries. TBD
Sorry for the longgggg post.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Thanks for the comparative analysis. I also wondered about those mercury switches and heard that they are the reason for dead batteries at times on these cars. I bought new mecury switches recently, but what thoughts to you have to bypass these since I already have my power switched with Gordon Killebrew switch on my inner fender? Maybe just a simple fuse in place if possible? Thanks for your thoughts. Craig:handshak:

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Yes, exactly. If that mercury bubble partially sticks in place on the contacts after hard braking...... not good. My preference now, knowing what I do, would be to remove the mercury switches (actually leave them in place and come up with a jumper arrangement) then put a normally closed momentary switch in, most likely over on the passenger side on the valence there such that the hood activates it when open. I'll be putting this on my "to do" list.

Mercury itself is really toxic and has been known to be so for a long time. Recently here on the Columbia river it's been found to exist in the Salmon that run up the river. So much so the the Oregon State health organization is about to recommend a limit to the number of salmon one should eat per/yr or is it per/mo. Not sure. Anyway I digress.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Ford at one time had serious battery issues with which product I don't recall but it had to do with the position of that product on the car carrier. The rear most position on the top activated the mercury switches drained batteries. Well of course they would accept a charge, the product was sold and batteries failed relatively soon after delivery to customer or in instances before ever delivered to customer. It was a substantially large number of failures and it was actually traced back to the loaded position on the carrier.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Truth be known, we all know there's a boat load of bad designs that have made it to the public and or government. Whether it's O-rings on a space shuttle or poorly designed and positioned gas tanks on a Pinto they make it to the point of being self evident when they fail.
We hear all about when lives are lost due to these idiotic decisions but rarely when they melt parts or kill batteries.

One can't help but wonder if those in the position of making the final decision were warned and to what degree they were warned of the pending disaster. There are unsung heroes and then there are the unsung despots.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Truth be known, we all know there's a boat load of bad designs that have made it to the public and or government. Whether it's O-rings on a space shuttle or poorly designed and positioned gas tanks on a Pinto they make it to the point of being self evident when they fail.
We hear all about when lives are lost due to these idiotic decisions but rarely when they melt parts or kill batteries.

Just like the Washington made boeing 787 where they are learning a lot more about sticking too many lithium battery cells too closely together without any venting or cooling across the chemical reaction on the Dreamliner...any sailor can tell you that his batteries aren't lineal...the way they function.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Great comparison write-up there Scott. It's amazing how much science goes into something that seems such a small feature like a light.

Also got to add a thanks to Lance for the alternative option. I think it's fantastic that we have people like both of you (and Goldcylon come to think of it) that work out these update options to keep improving our cars.

Thanks to everyone :cheers:

Dave

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Scott is a terrific engineer at all this but the other aspect to it is the heat...the original incandescent bulbs which aren't in mine any more must have generated a bunch of it with those glass lenses and perhaps plastic lenses would not have stood it but even with the option I chose, the lenses get pretty warm after a while. The lower the total amps drawn the better the heat reduction ought to be.

Now I'm wondering if I want to screw around with some type of Leds and light the gills up with the headlights or running lights on just for the effect! (just kidding...no plans to light the gills but I suppose it is possible)

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

paypal sent Scott. GC :cheers:

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Ditto Paypal.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Same here

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

X 4!

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

same

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Done.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

I received the lights today and found out something that people with aftermarket wire harness with switch for the under hood light need to be aware of.

I installed the LED light on the passenger side and it did not work. I removed the LED and tried the other LED on the passenger side with the same result. The stock bulb works.

I installed the LED on the driver side and it worked. I changed to the other LED and it worked also.

Next, I checked the voltage at both light housings and found that the passenger side was opposite polarity from the driver side.

I tried plugging the passenger side light wiring into the stock wire harness and the light works. I will need to switch the terminals in the aftermarket terminal housing to make it work. I guess they didn't worry about polarity when they made the switch harness because it doesn't matter with regular bulbs. It could just as easily have been that both sides wouldn't work or only the driver side wouldn't work.

Scott. It seems that the lense rests against the LED's. Is this ok or should I add a gasket to the lense to add clearance?

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Got mine yesterday. Thanks, Scott. This will be one of my first mods when I get my car back from Corey.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Curious, I had anticipated this potential and had several C4 lights checked for polarity. They were all neg on the bottom and pos on top.

This part I'm not quite getting. Was part/all of you harness not stock or just the aftermarket housing???
We're going to need more data from more LEDs assembly users. I took pains to make the assembly such that it could only be installed one way. That may have been a mistake if half of the lamp holders are wired the other way :(

The leds should ride snugly on the glass. This should keep them focused on the engine and not blinding people standing beside the engine. Each unit was tested for fit inside my passenger side lamp holder. I'm hoping the holders are all the same size. Having said all that if you are concerned the vibration will "sand" the end of each LED then a washer can be used under the glass. There is another work around but is more involved. Right now there's nothing to make me think there will be an issue.

Thanks for bringing the issues up.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

I think the aftermarket harness plugs into the stock harness on the driver side. The light housings for both sides plug into the aftermarket harness. The change in polarity occurred in the aftermarket harness. I don't think anyone with stock wiring will have any trouble.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Hey Scott,

I have the Gordon Killebrew under hood lamp switch as sold by Gordon and Corvette Central. I can't imagine when I installed it years ago that it would cause a polarity issue, but I will let you know as soon as I receive my LED assembly.

Thanks again,

Craig :cheers:

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

I got my lights today
I have the same problem as 1991 ZR1
Passenger side LED will not work, stock bulb does
Driver side OK
I do have a on/off switch/harness made by?, bought from catalog co.?
A suggested fix to this?

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

I prob will be in the same boat. Phil.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Ok, I've spoken to Gordon Killebrew. Apparently the harness in question is not his. His does not switch polarity. It is the one Mid America sells that is in question.
I found a picture of this harness
Can anyone confirm this is the product?
http://www.mamotorworks.com/corvette...%20switch%20c4
If someone that has this unit and willing to call me I may be able to come up with the least painful option. PM me
I do know the clips that hold the bulb are not swappable since one has the contact tab for the mercury switch.

Re: Under Hood Lighting
 

Hey Phillip,
Oops, I just saw that you changed the
lighting on/off switch/harness. Can't imagine
how that would change things.

:icon_scra

Maybe dumb question, but can you
rotate the LED 180 deg?