Author Topic: LED Longboard (Read 13909 times)

Havoced · « **on:** September 28, 2009, 03:01:55 AM »

Hello all!

I came up with the idea of adding a pattern of LED's to the bottom of my longboard the other night while almost getting run down on my way home from work. This is something that happens probably once or twice a month, I will be in crosswalks, bike lanes or crossing the street and drivers just don't like to look out for me. Luckily I'm quite aware of my surroundings because I feel it's my responsibility as a pedestrian.

Anyways, I want to add LED's to the bottom of my longboard. I have zero soldering experience but I plan on buying an iron tomorrow and following some tutorials from this wonderful website.

I was thinking I would use a tool of some form (Dremel?) to carve a pattern into the bottom of my deck. The pattern would have to be deep enough to have LED's sit flush with the remaining uncarved surface of the board for aesthetic purposes. I would wire everything up to the smallest power source I could (rechargeable or inexpensive to replace preferable) which would also sit as flush with the board as possible.

I will be sanding down the art and painting something new after the LED install because I will obviously be carving lines all throughout the bottom destroying the current artwork. As for the new artwork/pattern I've tossed a few ideas around including an all white bottom with a red LED Rising Sun, or an all black bottom with a blue lightbulb.

I'm basically hoping a few kind members might have some suggestions or experience with similar projects that they might bestow upon me. What sort of tools might I need? What LED's would work best for my project?

Let me know and I'll keep you posted with progress pictures!

The Before Picture:

frenulem - No.5417 · « **Reply #1 on:** September 28, 2009, 03:33:07 AM »

Well im a skater and i would user smt leds becuase they are extremlt small , also i woud try and some how fit the battery into the chucks im gonna think about this more becuase right now im in an ICT lesson at school

Havoced · « **Reply #2 on:** September 28, 2009, 04:36:37 AM »

I was thinking SMT as well but at the same time I want them to glow as bright as possible while I'm bombing around. I'm almost going for the effect of underglow on cars and I don't know enough about LED's to know if SMT will be less powerful.

Modded Matt · « **Reply #3 on:** September 28, 2009, 09:15:04 AM »

I was a skater 10 years ago, we did not use long boards back then, our boards turned up on both ends and I allways did too many slides and grinds to do something like that lol. this seems like it will be a great project, stick with it. I would recomend you stay away from the smd leds, as they are very easy to damage and very small/hard to solder to, try a 3mm led. they will give more of that glow you are looking for, as surfacemount leds give a more direct light.

Havoced · « **Reply #4 on:** September 28, 2009, 09:33:27 AM »

So after looking over my longboard for possible areas to hide a power source I found that my trucks have a small opening and I have risers that sit between the board and the trucks that are about an inch thick. If I cut a space out of the riser I can happily fit a power source in there.

My only problem is what sort of source I should use. I plan on having a higher number of LED's because it will be partially for nightriding safety. Any ideas what I should be using? Or is there a rule of thumb like, voltage per number of LEDs?

Modded Matt · « **Reply #5 on:** September 28, 2009, 09:46:08 AM »

you can allways add a riser to your trucks, not a big deal.

I think the biggest thing to look for here is ease of use, you dont want it to be a pain, so what ever it needs to be easily replaceable, or chargeable.

as for voltage combine the souce units to get your supply, then you can use resistors to scale it back if needed

802Chives · « **Reply #6 on:** September 28, 2009, 10:20:06 AM »

im with matt, I used to skate way back in the day. Long boarding looks like a lot of fun, but we used to grind and ride pipes whenever possible. There is one product that seems to have all but disappeared since I was riding, and that is the grind rails... they would be a perfect place to hide LEDs and wiring.

What I would do if I were you, is look into the risers matt suggested for a project box. I would try to use a 9V battery which is capable of giving you up to 350mA. I would make each grind rail its own circuit that way you have a circuit in each truck riser. IDK if that is what you are after, but it would make for a cool and protected mod.

frenulem - No.5417 · « **Reply #7 on:** September 28, 2009, 11:57:03 AM »

i remember in the model shop in town that they have somthing like rice sheaf or wheat ear or summin or another but i think there quite bright i will reserch more soon because i wanna put some leds in my school calculator (Mod Idea steal LOL) will message back soon

phenoptix · « **Reply #8 on:** September 28, 2009, 01:06:36 PM »

plcc-2 smd (/smt) LEDs would work ok. Would carving into the ply of the board reduce its strength much?

frenulem - No.5417 · « **Reply #9 on:** September 28, 2009, 02:23:52 PM »

no not realy becuse your weight is pretty well spead out snd i found some super bright leds http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=21327

Havoced · « **Reply #10 on:** September 28, 2009, 02:42:14 PM »

I was worried carving in would reduce strength which is why I'm looking for the smallest LEDs possible to avoid carving
too deep. My board is also made with bamboo which gives it lots of strength while also maintaining flexibility.

So I've decided I can hide a battery underneath both of my trucks in my risers. I still haven't finalized a design but I want to minimize the amount of carving I'll need to do just to be safe in regards to the board strength.

frenulem - No.5417 · « **Reply #11 on:** September 28, 2009, 04:19:40 PM »

yeah and also if you only want to get noticed by cars ect. why dont you jusat put on some reflectors? or is that me being stupid

Havoced · « **Reply #12 on:** September 28, 2009, 11:19:32 PM »

It's part getting noticed by cars and part "Pimp my Ride"...

I need to learn how to solder and about LED wiring so I figured I'd do this as a good learner project.

frenulem - No.5417 · « **Reply #13 on:** September 29, 2009, 12:12:17 AM »

Ok Good starter project but you could cut the groves and fill them with a polyfiller kinda thing to camoflage it in (apart from battery)

budgray19 · « **Reply #14 on:** September 29, 2009, 05:15:58 AM »

the notice u part would be better with 3mm rather than 0603, 0803, or 1206 smd because like matt said they are fragile plus dont glow as bright (for distance) liek 3mm. 3mm has a bulb around the led that helps protect the led and makes it brighter

phenoptix · « **Reply #15 on:** October 09, 2009, 10:26:59 AM »

Quote from: frenulem on September 28, 2009, 02:23:52 PM

no not realy becuse your weight is pretty well spead out snd i found some super bright leds http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=21327

Are you really paying 99p a LED? wow...
I still think that something like a PLCC-2 SMD LED would give you the best effect, they're the ones used on SMD tapes, they kick out a lot of light and are low profile. Not quite as fiddly as smaller SMDs. You'd get a good underglow using them. To be spotted by cars you'd probably want something shining forward and back, DIP (the two leg leds) would be good for that.

koldkiller · « **Reply #16 on:** October 09, 2009, 10:56:02 AM »

I was wondering what power supply would you be using a 9v battery or what?

Havoced · « **Reply #17 on:** October 09, 2009, 12:42:24 PM »

I am going to test it out with a 9v most likely, but in the end I'm hoping for some form of rechargeable battery. There's a standstill on progress right now as I'm waiting for my dremel, LEDs and Kynar to come in the mail...

It has not been forgotten though!

koldkiller · « **Reply #18 on:** October 09, 2009, 01:46:24 PM »

Quote from: Havoced on October 09, 2009, 12:42:24 PM

I am going to test it out with a 9v most likely, but in the end I'm hoping for some form of rechargeable battery. There's a standstill on progress right now as I'm waiting for my dremel, LEDs and Kynar to come in the mail...

It has not been forgotten though!

I was just wondering what power supply you're going to use. I was going to say it'll be a lot of money to keep resupply 9v every time it dies.

Demonboy · « **Reply #19 on:** October 26, 2009, 04:58:29 PM »

yo heres the way i see it... u got crusin wheels i think.... if so get ur spacers hallow them out in the center get a couple of those 12v car alarm remote batteries very small... and run the wires from the smd or smt i 4get but they are the tiny leds get about 10-15 leds each side (very bright) and wire it up in a circut.... if u like i have an old school board i never use with big wheels and a black spacer between the trucks and board and i will do it to mine and post some pics if u like.... as for the issue about constantly replacing the batteries dish out a little extra and u can buy some sort of battery recharable... i am now thinkin a psp batery w/ a psp battery charger not a cord 1 just like this

Blazinkaos · « **Reply #20 on:** October 26, 2009, 05:04:42 PM »

Longbaords are tight and having one with leds would be even sicker lol.

Havoced · « **Reply #21 on:** September 20, 2010, 02:57:27 AM »

Alright, not try and revive a dead thread but this project is back on board (no pun intended). I however need to break past a few roadblocks before I can start.

Over the summer I have basically destroyed my current deck. I'm looking into getting a replacement deck in the next few days. I think I'll start with a simple strip glow around the edge of the deck. I'll use my old one as a tester and try and track down something that can be used as a chargeable battery pack. I would like to be able to bring it home and plug it into the wall for charging.

More news as it happens.

Demonboy · « **Reply #22 on:** September 28, 2010, 04:05:53 PM »

like i said WAY back then.... get urself a psp battery or some rechargeable duracell batteries hollow the black spacers get some clear grinding bars screw those in w/ the leds inside and ya get creative bro just have fun w/ it

Jonny · « **Reply #23 on:** November 20, 2010, 12:58:31 PM »

I would just get some led strip, enough to go around the whole board, connect it to some battries, or try a flat battrie such as a digital camera battrie or a psp battrie like demonboy suggested as this would prolably be the best method of 'flat pack power'.

For the carving out the board, use a chisel and not a dremel if you use the strip. Once carved out connect it all up then to cover it up use a wood veneer or some of that rubber filler you use to water proof a bathroom sink. Do not use something like polly filler or glue/hot glue because if something goes wrong with the wiring you are then unable to take the covering off where as if you use a veneer or that rubber glue stuff you can just peel it off.

Here is a link to the LED strip. There is also an SMD strip but I thought this would be better because you can put it on the bottom of the board and the LEDs point outwords or inwards, however you want it. There is also different colours as well as a tri-colour strip. Hope this helps.

http://www.phenoptix.com/shop/dip-led-strips-c-25_41.html

Demonboy · « **Reply #24 on:** November 24, 2010, 11:36:32 PM »

led strips work, but i still think getting urself some 1.5 inch spacers and hollowring out the middle drillinh a hole through tht for the wire and running a led strip around it would be the cleanest way to do it

News:

Author Topic: LED Longboard (Read 13909 times)