I had my thread locked bc of it, i know rules are rules, but it seem a little stupid and redundant to me

its not like im asking anything illegal..

come on guys, i just wanted a a little help with a problem, as i am gaining interest in the circuit community

kind of hindering my first experience had to be like this

 

We were thinking of changing the name to "All About Most Circuits" but it just doesn't flow as well.

This forum has many young readers, and along with youth, often comes lack of funds and/or the need/want to cut corners.

This leads to LEDs without current limiting resistors, and the such.

That leads to quickly burnt-out blinker, tail lights, and other failures in the electrical system. A motor-vehicle with non-working lights is un-safe.. Hence the ban on the topic.

There are automotive forums that have designs available for such applications. There are also professionally made, UL listed products available for purchase.

If followed properly, many of these designs are quite safe, and have been designed to handle the extreme environment provided by automotive electrical systems (Load-dumps, voltage spikes, varying alternator and battery voltages, etc..)

Most people skimp on the parts that are required for reliability due to the cost. This is part of maturity, and the younger viewership of this site does not readily subscribe to safety... yet.

Youth and invincibility seem to be quite connected.

 

I know the forum rules regarding automotive modifications may be seen as somewhat pedantic in first hand. But then you must remember that your bike is approved with the original tail light. And it is an important safety property. So the tail light is designed to comply with a long list of specifications. Like visible viewing angle, how much light it emits and so on. By changing to a LED light system. Your tail light will get a much narrow visible viewing angle. And may therefore in some situations not be seen by other road users. And this may then again lead to hazardous situations. We have discussed this in the forum. And it was consensus to have quite strict rules on this matter
http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=40361
Your thread about tail lights got closed. But you are more than welcome post again. In this case the thread closing was no big deal.

 

It's quite simple actually. Virtually any modification of a vehicles lighting system will violate the manufacturers compliance with regulation. The admin of this site has decided not to aid in such activity. With the abundant number of automotive sites that are willing to discuss such topics, there is no reason that this site (or any other) needs to join the crowd.

 

Note that if you did raise this subject on, say, a forum dedicated to automobiles, you might be more likely to get in touch with people who understand the physical and legal requirements for such things.

Wherever you look for advice, bear in mind that most of these forums are international, and even if someone posting on them understands the legal requirements for his/her own region, they may not be the same in your country. It might be as well under these circumstances to indicate where you live.

 

thank you all for this information, but i must add....

99% of the motorcycle and car community doesnt know squat about circuits... wiring sure, but circuits no.... the word resistor, or transistor and they have no clue whats going on

i asked the same question i asked here on 3-4 different world wide motorcycle forums and no one was able to offer advice... they wanted to, but knowledge of simple circuity is uncommon among gear heads, i know 1 or 2 guys in all the forums im a part of that can do circuits, and 1 of them will not offer advice, unless your paying him

also if someone want to make their own automotive lighting, i would hope they would be intelligent enough not to cut corners, however i dont see why the forum would seem liable if they did...

my perdiament is im building a integrated led tail light board because in fact the OEM lighting isnt bright enough for my liking (hence why i was upgrading to 90k mcd 140 degree leds), now i can see someone hoping on here asking how to make cop light being illegal

but a integrated led tail light board?

but i know the rules arent going to change because of me, I was able to get in touch with a old friend who was able to help me regardless...

i just wanted to say its discouraging being a automotive enthusiast and light discussion not being allowed on a circuit forum

 

i just wanted to say its discouraging being a automotive enthusiast and light discussion not being allowed on a circuit forum

Probably. But adults usually don't take too long to realize that the person who owns the board and pays for it makes the rules. If you don't like the rules, you're free to go somewhere else.

If you want to stick around, you'd be welcome. There's a lot of good information here and most of the folks giving advice are generous with their time and very knowledgeable.

And guess what? If you were willing to do some learning and searching, the answers to the questions you have are probably already here -- most circuits hobbyists want to play with are pretty simple. You'd just have to figure out that instead of automotive lighting, the questions might be about aquariums or caving or whatever... Oh, and the book links at the top of the forum pages link to great material -- your questions are answered there too. You just might have to think a bit with the principles you learn there. It's worth your time, as you'll be able to use the information lots of other places.

 

It's quite simple actually. Virtually any modification of a vehicles lighting system will violate the manufacturers compliance with regulation. The admin of this site has decided not to aid in such activity. With the abundant number of automotive sites that are willing to discuss such topics, there is no reason that this site (or any other) needs to join the crowd.

There is also the possibility of legal ramifications. If someone on here tells someone else how to alter something on a car and it gets into a wreck, well, you know how lawyers are.

What many have posted is true - there's a ton more info available from the forum(s) that are dedicated to your particular car or truck and you'll be exchanging information with people that are familiar with the particular vehicle in question. We're more an LED flasher website of which almost half the questions are just students wanting us to do their homework.

 

Don't see how someone getting hurt because of a bad circuit on an automotive taillight versus a bad circuit on a beer pong LED table is any different...

This just in.. New allaboutcircuits rule #94.. No discussions of circuits involving homes or anywhere that humans might be exposed in any way to such circuits is allowed.

 

Vehicle lights are safety-critical; electronic games are not. I've never heard of a 30 vehicle pile-up on the motorway resulting from the failure of a beer pong LED.

If an officer arriving on the scene of such an accident noticed a beery pong emanating from any of the drivers, he would most likely investigate, but that's another story.

 

To be serious, an injury is an injury, but we might hope that an indoor game using a decent power supply isolated from the mains can be made reasonably* safe. I am actually somewhat concerned that the danger - averse fraternity may eventually decide to bar any discussion of practical electronics, We will have to wait and see.

The awkward thing is that it's not easy to prove that anything is safe. *A lawyer might not be willing to accept that there is any such thing as reasonable. For instance, if we have to guarantee sub-lethal currents no matter how intimately some idiot connects themselves to a circuit, the voltage required to cause death is low indeed.

In principle, one could receive a lethal shock from a single AAA cell. (Given a relatively simple converter circuit, this could happen in practice). If the principle has to be to avoid all risk, then one probably cannot justify any practical activities.

 

Please all keep in mind if someone wants to modify lights for their cars or motorcycles, they will regardless....

so why not offer a good suggestion so they end up not doing a hack job?

 

If you want to learn the electronics behind a car that is one thing, keep it hypothetical. Discuss the electronics only. The moment the words automobile, auto, car, or motorcycle get use the thread will be closed.

This particular rule is designed to protect the site, and its owner. It prevents him from being sued, which would force him to shut down the site. Other rules are designed more for the user, such as building a power supply connected directly to the mains without a transformer, or connecting LEDs directly to the mains (which can be done, and is commercially).

 

This gets kind of circular. No, we can't prevent all knowledge of automotive lighting from getting out in the world - nor is that the purpose of the policy.

What is important is that these modifications can fail and create safety problems. That can lead to people other than the OP (and the OP) getting harmed. There are legal issues about the mods being permissible in the first place. So we do not discuss lighting changes.