The LED's Strike Back

Feeling confident in my abilities having completed the Front Logic Displays I decided it was time to complete the Rear Logic Displays having recieved the brighter LED's in the mail.

Along with the brighter bulbs Paul included a toggle switch with the upgrade kit. The purpose of the toggle switch was that in the past when you connected the 9 volt battery to the Pololu regulator if you tried to "jump" a wire to connect a board the Ardunio chip would short out. The toggle switch allows for you to leave the battery connected and just flip the switch on and off like your light switch.

I started by cutting into the 9 volt lead wire and soldering on the toggle switch. Easy enough. This build is going to be a breeze......

Feeling confident, if not just plain cocky, I began placing the LED's into their correct slots. Just like the FLD's there is a lighting schematic I used to be sure that I installed the correct color bulb into the correct slot.

As you can see from the schematic the RLD is comprised of a combination of Red, Yellow and Green LED bulbs.

Just Like the FLD's I started by breaking out my Helping Hands from Radio Shack and securing the RLD board. I flipped my newly installed toggle switch to the "on" position and stared installing all of the Red LED's. I like to install them with the power on as it allows me to be sure that I am installing the right color as well as to make certain that I am not installing the bulbs backwards. If installed backwards the bulb will stay in the lit position and will not be able to flicker "on" and "off" as they are programmed by the Ardunio to do.

After having all of the Red LED's installed in the right slots I placed the CNC cut bezel included in the kit over the bulbs to hold them tight in place and used blue painters tape to hold it in place. I then flipped the board over and began to trim down the terminal leads from the bulbs so I could solder them in place.

I will apologize now as this is where the pictures stopped and the frustration began. I soldered all of the leads and then repeated all of the steps with the Yellow and Green LED's. Each time sticking out my chest and telling myself how easy this is. Then I turned them all on to see my finished product.

At first it was not too bad. Only 5-6 lights were not working. I powered down and trimmed the leads shorter as if the leads for the LED bulbs contact one another it causes a short and the bulbs touching will not light. After trimming down the leads even shorter and finding where leads were in fact touching and fixing that I powered back up even cockier now that I troubleshot the problem so I am therefore multi talented in the field of soldering electronics. Now even more bulbs were not working. Hence the title of this blog.... The LED's Strike Back.

At this point I feel smaller than Mini-Me. I am cussing and frustrated. When you are in this state it is best to take a break and collect your thoughts. Me, I went back to tinkering with it. Two more attempts and even more lights not working I gave up. After speaking to someone with more soldering experience I went back and checked my solder points. In several places the solder was touching in multiple areas. When this happens it is the same as leads touching one another and results in a short. Now having a clue I de-soldered those areas with de-solder braid and a de-solder pump then re-did them. All but a few bulbs did not work. I decided that I could live with that.

Onto the PSI's (Process State Indicators). **Disclaimer**: This is where I cheated. The PCB boards I recieved were not correct for the LED's. Paul, who made the kit, told me to send it back. I packed up everything so he could test the boards and he was kind enough to just assemble the two PSI's for me. He even fixed the few lights on the RLD that were not working.

In the end the dome lights are done and they all work perfect. My faith in my soldering skills is another story.