What's this kind of lighting called?

[car350z]

What I'm looking for is a strip of (LED) lights, but one where the individual LED is not visible but it seems like an evenly lit stripe... don't know if this makes sense... if you imagine a piece of acrylic glass, lit from the side, then sometimes all sides of the acrylic block will shine evenly. So some kind of diffusion to hide individual LEDs and make the light look evenly distributed. Sort of like CCFL.

Something like this (sorry ATTAK, I just googled for a pic of a zed front and yours came up top )

[Lexx]

Very TRON.

 

Isn't it just a type of Neon or other gas that illuminates when current pass through it?

[ATTAK Z]

No probs ... I like to think my Zed will always be top

[car350z]

Very TRON.

 

Isn't it just a type of Neon or other gas that illuminates when current pass through it?

Yes though I think that neon tubes are not terribly flexible

I think the rear lights in current BMW models use something similar... light diffusing acrylic or something like that. I can't google it because I don't know what it is

 

Edit: Now that you mention it, yes it does look very Tron! That gives me a whole bunch of styling ideas

[The Bounty Bar Kid]

Very TRON.

 

Isn't it just a type of Neon or other gas that illuminates when current pass through it?

Yes though I think that neon tubes are not terribly flexible

I think the rear lights in current BMW models use something similar... light diffusing acrylic or something like that. I can't google it because I don't know what it is

 

Edit: Now that you mention it, yes it does look very Tron! That gives me a whole bunch of styling ideas

 

Snap! TRON style lighting = need to change my boxers!

[stubzie83]

You could try looking up LED light pipes/light guides. These transmit light from one LED at one end to the other like a fibre optic cable but also light up evenly along their length.

 

These are used in lots of bits of consumer electronics to get light from LEDs from a PCB out to a front panel. They can reflect light internally to transmit the light around bends as well.

[Ekona]

The DRLs on my 911 are that exact same thing, could be worth trying to search the interweb for those to see what they are?

[chrisgunton]

Elwire is what you want.

http://www.elwire.com/

[Luke0549]

Just get a lava lamp and a glass bottle the shape you want, wire it to battery and then you'll have some nice lights!!

[rtbiscuit]

if you take an acrylic clear rod, and drill an LED sized hole in one end, fit an LED into it, the acrylic rod should bounce the light up the solid tube and out the other end. at the same time lighting up the length of the rod.

 

as an example this video shows the principal. first 2 minutes is just tech waffle, but from 2.10 shows the lights in action

 

[rtbiscuit]

advantage of acrylic rod is its a thermo plastic, so with heat you can mould the shape.

 

prime example of this is BMW halo lights.

[car350z]

if you take an acrylic clear rod, and drill an LED sized hole in one end, fit an LED into it, the acrylic rod should bounce the light up the solid tube and out the other end. at the same time lighting up the length of the rod.

 

as an example this video shows the principal. first 2 minutes is just tech waffle, but from 2.10 shows the lights in action

 

I quite like this, though, as you can see in the video, the cut-off end of the tube is much brighter than the actual tube. I'd like a pretty bright light all the way along the length of the tube. Do you know if that's possible?

[rtbiscuit]

yes, just use brighter LED's, but also mount an LED at either end. also sand the plastic to take it from clear to opaque

 

[Leeroy]

The lighting you are looking at is Gas Hydrogen Energy Yield lighting. I think Halfords might sell this, probably branded up as Ripspeed

[rtbiscuit]

The lighting you are looking at is Gas Hydrogen Energy Yield lighting. I think Halfords might sell this, probably branded up as Ripspeed

 

Cheap Hydrogen Alternate Voltage lighting is also an alternative, again they can be found in similiar places

[car350z]

Excellent, thanks everyone for their replies and great ideas.

One thing I forgot about is: Would I pass MOT with this kind of light? I mean Audis etc. use these kind of lights as styling elements as well, but this is perhaps a bit bigger.

[rtbiscuit]

as long as it doesnt affect the current lights need for an MOT you'll be fine