Better TRX (sport) headlights

[SlidePanda]

Got a sport, but totally underwhelmed by the basic 5mm LED lights that you can fit in the grill/headlight kit (PN: TRA8116)?

They don't cast much light, and due to the bullet design, they cast light in a pretty narrow angle.

If you're looking for an upgrade there's a pretty easy path.

FWIW, I'd already fit my Sport with a MyTrickRC Dragon light controller, so biggest part was already done.

Their high power LED headlights are $12 (USD) after that - https://www.mytrickrc.com/shop/attack-headlights/

The easy fit, is just to cut a notch in the MyTrickRC light board to turn one of the holes into a U shape. With that done, you can just use the mounting bracket for the grill to clamp the LED board and hold it in place.

If you want better light, you need to modify the headlight bucket a bit. Stock, they have a cylindrical spot for the 5mm LED. Simply trim that down so that it's now flush with the back of the headlight bucket.

You'll also need to make that U shape a little wider to clear the mounting post thats between the 5mm and 3mm spots on each bucket.

Once you make those mods, do a dry fit to ensure you can align the LED with the center of the hole in the bucket.

After you're all set, use the die cut double sided tape to secure the headlight LED to the back of the bucket. FWIW, the supplied tape is disc shape, I just trimmed the excess.

Gallery of installed lights

[aqualungs]

Awesome job!!! I pondered doing that but went a different way. I also did the MyTrickRC Dragon, but fit the 5” lightbar on and rocklights. Waiting on a jumper for the amber lights


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[SlidePanda]

Jumper? You just mean the 2-1 so your can have both sets of ambers going?

And I have all the lights... I might cut back. I have the headlights, a 2" bar, a 5" bar and the rock lights.

I made the mistake of running the math on how much draw there is at full blast the other day. Maxed out brightness, all that pulls 2.5 amps.

So I might well be refactoring how many lights are in use, like halve the # of rock lights, and also tweak when they come on. Also the 2" might be going away when a new bumper arrives. Not sure it'll fit with the Scaler Fab comp bumper that's due soon.

[aqualungs]

It’s a cable to lower the power draw so I could add some amber. It plugs into one of the higher powered dragon socket. I put the amber in the front bumper and in the rack for work lights.


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[Rockin140]

SlidePanda...did you use 3mm amber lights along w/ the Attack Headlights? What did you do for the rear? Any work lights on the rack?

Aqualungs...same to you; what did you do for the rear? Why amber work lights vs white?

Pic's from both would be great.

I'm nearing the point of lighting my Sport kit. Been looking at MyTrickRC Dragon setup using 5mm and 3mm front and rear, roof light bar, and work lights on the rack. Your threads are perfect timing! Thanks

[aqualungs]

Amber is perfect for nighttime. Ran them on my Jeep. You don’t get night blindness from them when turning away and looking back into the dark like you do with white. If I had it my way I would have the Attack lights in yellow.
Besides that I wanted something for some contrast. I wish I could show you them lit up, but I went for the reverse light setup, instead of amber in that port. You can set it up as a running light with the head and rail lamps. This is the kicker, you can daisy chain so many lights, but they have to be all the same color spectrum types for each channel. Meaning blue, white, and green can be mixed on one chain, and red, amber, and oranger on the other chain. So you have to get creative. I’ll take some pics of my crazy wiring lol


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[SlidePanda]

Originally Posted by aqualungs

It’s a cable to lower the power draw so I could add some amber. It plugs into one of the higher powered dragon socket. I put the amber in the front bumper and in the rack for work lights.


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I feel like I'm missing a part here. The Dragon has 1 alway on low power connection that could feed amber corner lights, as well as a low power that works for brake lights.

Or are you going for 5mm ambers as in the headlight buckets?

What are you trying to achieve with this power step down?

Rockin140 - I have 3mm ambers in the front and rear running lights. And in back there's 5mm reds tied to the brake light function.

On my TRX4, I've got the Camper body which I mounted a GearHead RC roof rack (for the Axial Yeti). To the underside of an overhang lip, I mounted a MyTrickRC 5" light bar - you can see it in one of my photos.

I also went full overkill and have a 2" on the bumper and the rock lights. But the 2" will probably go back in the parts bin, as I have a new, smaller, bumper coming that I don't think will fit it. Also, I think I'll halve the number of rock lights. 2x per wheel is really more than is needed for me.

[aqualungs]

I have 5mm & 3mm White in the front headlights, and 5mm white in the rear red taillights. I added 5mm white to the rear for backup lights. So I don’t have another low powered input for my amber lights. In the manual there is a converter cable to lower the power. That’s what I’m getting at. Has I did the dragon led for the headlamps I wouldn’t be in this pickle. Lol


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[SlidePanda]

Oh... technically you didn’t need that. They have 2,3 and 4 way splitters. You can daisy chain them if needed. But guess that can be a “next time” solution

[aqualungs]

Originally Posted by SlidePanda

Oh... technically you didn’t need that. They have 2,3 and 4 way splitters. You can daisy chain them if needed. But guess that can be a “next time” solution

I used 3 way splitters and did daisy chain. You can’t mix certain colors on a chain. White, blue, and green can’t be mixed with yellow, amber, and red. It will burn out the yellow, red, amber bulbs. 1 of the ports I utilized backup lights with white, so lost a port there, but the backup lights are so cool. The other is for the headlights and taillights and used white.


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[SlidePanda]

Ok I guess I’m just failing to envision what you’ve got rigged up. I thought it was something like the basic running ambers and positioned based brake/rev lights. But seems like I’m missing a complexity here

[aqualungs]

Here’s a pic! I have a hard time getting my thoughts out, and explaining things, since I fell on my head 7 month back. Maybe this can help


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[SlidePanda]

Ok, way more going on there that I'd assumed. I figured you had some corner lights, not all the lights in the bed and other spots.

[aqualungs]

Originally Posted by SlidePanda

Ok, way more going on there that I'd assumed. I figured you had some corner lights, not all the lights in the bed and other spots.

Ha right! A picture is worth a thousand words. I guess I should have said sets of lights.


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[SlidePanda]

Originally Posted by Rockin140

SlidePanda...did you use 3mm amber lights along w/ the Attack Headlights? What did you do for the rear? Any work lights on the rack?

Aqualungs...same to you; what did you do for the rear? Why amber work lights vs white?

Pic's from both would be great.

I'm nearing the point of lighting my Sport kit. Been looking at MyTrickRC Dragon setup using 5mm and 3mm front and rear, roof light bar, and work lights on the rack. Your threads are perfect timing! Thanks

I don't think I ever addressed these questions.

I have 3mm ambers in both the front and rear. 5mm reds in the rear. The rear has a red lens, but I found that a white LED just appeared kind of pink and wasn't nearly as bright as the red, through that red lens.

Beyond that, I use the chip-on-board headlights as detailed, a 2" bumper mount light bar and a 5" lightbar above the windshield for when I want stupid amounts of light.

[Rockin140]

Slide Panda...any chance you could post pic's of the front and rear lights lit? I's like to see the white and amber up front as well as what the rear amber looks like through the red lens.

Thanks!

[SlidePanda]

Originally Posted by Rockin140

Slide Panda...any chance you could post pic's of the front and rear lights lit? I's like to see the white and amber up front as well as what the rear amber looks like through the red lens.

Thanks!

Yep - just updated the gallery with some images of the running lights and headlight power modes

https://imgur.com/a/OmRNc9O?

[aqualungs]

Wow that looks great!!!! I like that body and has to be less top heavy. I got my other lights hooked and. I’ll post pics later. Was waiting til I felt better to go outside and get scale pics.
I wisH I would have done the headlights like that, but wasn’t sure If I could retrofit it. I may need to get that body.. lol!!


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[SlidePanda]

Yeah, the camper body should be lighter than the sport body+hard rack. If you dropped the rack, the sport PU should be lighter/lower than the camper though.

As far as the headlights, - it's like a 5 minute mod to the Traxxas sport headlight buckets to set them flush like I did. You could easily re-work what you have to match up to my headlight set up.

[aqualungs]

I may do that. I used that finishing glue or whatever on the ends of the led. I wonder if little heat will let me pull them out. I added holes and amber bumper lights. Hmm yea if I did this rework I could have my running lights and reverse lights going. Gonna order those bad boys lol


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