Project Description
Simply, the "Gators" brakelight is a rear stop light for the Formula SAE car.
RE:Vision 1
Version 1 included 104 surface mount 60 mcd red GaAS LED's [above left]. It also included a 7 Ohm power resistor. Each LED was placed in series with a 330 ohm resistor element from an array [above right]. Of note, the elements are hand soldered surface mount components. For perspective, the traces leading into the resistor arrays are 8 mil wide or 0.008".
RE:Vision 2
This version increased the LED count to 208, to increase the luminosity. The LED's, with a 1.8V drop each, were arranged in series rows of six elements each row. Coupled with the power resistor, each row consumed the 12V (battery voltage) drop. A second power resistor provision was added but later deemed unneeded.
RE:Vision 3
High output 3600 mcd LEDs were used. Still arranged in rows of 6, overall part count is down to 63. Light output is now painful to the naked eye.