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Syholl

Newbie with lighting question

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Hi, newbie here.

I recently got back into Tamiya stuff after finding my 20 year old M01 mini in the garage.... My 6 year old son absolutely loves it, so I got him a lunchbox for his birthday yesterday.?

I have some led lights to go on it, but wasn't sure which was the way to do it.

I want the lights to switch on with the lunchbox's switch and using the same battery. Can I splice in to the thin red and black wires that come out of the Esc to the receiver. it's a tble-02s if that helps.

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I'm in the middle of a similar project with my Lunchbox!

What kind of receiver and battery are you using?

One thing I have found out about using LEDs is that using resistors with them is a good idea, otherwise they tend to burn out prematurely, even if you are powering them with a voltage they are rated for. There are some websites like this one - http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz - that will help you figure out what size resistors to wire in, and how to wire them in, as well as explain why you need resistors a lot better than I can :) . I was testing a couple of LEDs without resistors, and after just a few minutes, one of them was already going dim.

My plan is to wire up two parallel LEDs with a resistor in series with each LED, and connect that into a modified servo like this http://www.instructables.com/id/Convert-a-Servo-to-switch-on-and-off-LEDs/. You basically remove the servo logic board, replace the motor with a plug to connect lights to, and replace the potentiometer with a pair of 2.2K resistors. That way I can control the headlights from the 3rd channel on my transmitter.

Another thing I recommend is buying warm white flat-top LEDs. The light looks a lot more natural than a typical white LED (IMO) and it's looks a lot better in an old van like the LB.

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The battery is a 5000 mah Nimh with a 2 channel acoms receiver. I was planning on tapping in to the red, black and yellow wire that goes between the Esc and the receiver. I can sort out the resistors and stuff, as long as the esc can handle powering a few leds. Will look into warm white ones, as the White ones I have are too white...!!!

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It might be easier to wire the lights into a Y-harness along with your ESC. The ESC is feeding your Rx with 6 volts, so if you plugged the ESC and the lights into a Y, then plugged the Y into the receiver, that would also power your lights with 6V. That way you wouldn't have to alter the ESC.

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meh, it's easier than that...

Your RX will only have 2 plugs into it (Ch1 servo & Ch2 ESC), it will usually have 3 if not more sockets available.

If you plug in a servo lead, chop off the signal/blue/white wire and the red & black leads will supply 5-6V DC power. You can usually afford to draw 50-100mA without the ESC's BEC complaining.

Either wire up your own LED harness to this power source or it's probably cheaper to buy a kit like YeahRacing Dark Drifter.

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Thanks for the info guys, I did buy an LED light kit ready made off eBay. It came with a little red plug on it that fitted into the spare socket labelled "battery" on the receiver, but nothing happened. I removed the steering servo and plugged them in there and they worked fine.

I've ordered a splitter off eBay now so I don't need to cut any wires. Will let you know how get on.

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9999F977-1C16-49FB-AEFA-FDFB0FB4071B.jpg

In the mean time, here is a piccy of it without the lights. He is mad about the A Team, so the paint decision was easy, it won't stay looking nice like this for very long....

It has steel bearings, foam tyre inserts, oil shocks, alloy body mounts and the 5th shock. It's for my 6 year old, so is running a standard 540 motor at the moment.... Gave it a blast for the first time earlier, he loves it....!!!

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