Turn Old Netbooks Into Animated Car Taillights

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By John Edgar Park
Posted 2012/10/28 @ 1:45 pm
Category Electronics, Home

Jason Torchinsky had this “admittedly goofy idea” about turning an old netbook into a highly customized taillight. He’s sketched up the basic plan, and is now daring one of you to go through with it!

He says that animated taillight units cost from $100 – $500, so why not go whole hog by “leveraging all the power of these cheap little (netbooks)…” which go for around $100 used.

Jason admits that he has no idea if this is exactly legal, so please don’t spend a lot of energy on this without first checking out your local laws.

Turn Old Unwanted Netbooks Into Amazing Animated Taillights

In the Maker Shed

12 Responses to Turn Old Netbooks Into Animated Car Taillights

nashblackcat on October 28th, 2012 at 2:28 pm said:

Check you local laws before trying this out. I know in Tennessee we are not allowed to have moving signs or the like.

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The United Bylaws of America on October 28th, 2012 at 4:23 pm said:

I’ve had to shelf similar ideas due to local laws. If you make it modular, you could swap it for the standard road-worthy tail light once you get to your destination (makerfair/car show).

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Alex Swavely on October 28th, 2012 at 7:41 pm said:

I love it when someone lays out a block diagram and includes a horribly inefficient 110v inverter to power a 12v device off a car source. Use a DC/DC converter instead and save some fuel.

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James Patrick on October 28th, 2012 at 10:19 pm said:

No reason why you should need an inverter.

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Darrick on October 29th, 2012 at 1:18 am said:

Why in the world would you want to distract the driver behind you while braking? Stick the netbook in the headrest of the front seats for the kids to have a media center or something less dangerous.

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володя (@thesmok) on October 29th, 2012 at 3:17 am said:

The netbook’s screen is simply not bright enougn to be a good braking light.

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- bhtooefr on October 29th, 2012 at 9:41 am said:
  
  I’ll note that it’s an LCD, so you could always switch to a significantly more powerful backlight as needed. But, as it is now, it wouldn’t be effective.
  
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Lynne Whitehorn on October 29th, 2012 at 5:58 am said:

License plate replacement. For James Bond, of course, since I doubt it would be legal. It would, however, be amusing to watch the expression on other drivers’ faces as they noticed your license plate numbers apparently melting and morphing.

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- John Edgar Park on October 29th, 2012 at 7:19 am said:
  
  Lynne, that is a fantastic idea!
  
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- balloondoggle on October 29th, 2012 at 11:32 am said:
  
  I’d make it spin like a slot machine and generate a random number for the speed cameras.
  
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