DIY black-when-off LED

[EBK]

I needed a pair of LEDs to look dark when unlit for the "eyes" on my Clippy pedal, so I decided to see what I could make.
I sanded the LEDs flat, cut out tiny circles from a free pair of roll up sunglasses to use as filters, used heat shrink tubing as a collar to prevent light leakage around my new filters, and sealed them up with some epoxy.




Of course, they won't fit in a standard-sized LED holder, but since we are already getting creative here, a creative mounting method won't be difficult (hot glue would probably do fine).

What do you think? 

[Ben Lyman]

cool, I once painted the inside edge of the bezel blue to make a clear LED appear blue, I wonder if that would work with black paint

[EBK]

cool, I once painted the inside edge of the bezel blue to make a clear LED appear blue, I wonder if that would work with black paint

I did find that a black Sharpie worked for this application as well, but I was unsure how well it would hold up over time.  Has to be dark, yet translucent.

Edit: I think you are talking about reflecting color to the LED rather than transmitting the LED through color.  Wouldn't work well here because there would be nothing to reflect, but I suppose it would be darker than with a chrome bezel.

[PRR]

> free pair of roll up sunglasses

A friend paid $120 to make her car parking-lights "black".

Not sure they make free sunglasses that big, but she also got black-out film in the windows. Should have asked the film-shop for scraps.

[greaser_au]

A friend paid $120 to make her car parking-lights "black".

the scale is wrong for this, but misting flat black paint on the inside of the lenses was what my mates all used to do...  it should be illegal!

david

[EBK]

A friend paid $120 to make her car parking-lights "black".

the scale is wrong for this, but misting flat black paint on the inside of the lenses was what my mates all used to do...  it should be illegal!

david

Reminds me of the people who buy those curved, polarized licence plate covers. 

[bloxstompboxes]

A friend paid $120 to make her car parking-lights "black".

the scale is wrong for this, but misting flat black paint on the inside of the lenses was what my mates all used to do...  it should be illegal!

david

I traded vehicles with a friend back when I started college. My car had two dead cylinders but was ripe for customizing for someone who had the money. The truck I got in the deal had lenses that were painted black on the outside. It was illegal in my state, I believe, so I sanded it off. It left the lenses dull but it was much cheaper than replacing them on such an old rusted out POS which I still loved.