Turn Old Netbooks Into Animated Car Taillights

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Turn Old Netbooks Into Animated Car Taillights

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

 

 

24 thoughts on “Turn Old Netbooks Into Animated Car Taillights

  1. nashblackcat says:

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

  2. The United Bylaws of America says:

    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).

  3. Alex Swavely says:

    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.

  4. James Patrick says:

    No reason why you should need an inverter.

  5. Darrick says:

    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.

  6. володя (@thesmok) says:

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

    1. bhtooefr says:

      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.

  7. Lynne Whitehorn says:

    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.

    1. John Edgar Park says:

      Lynne, that is a fantastic idea!

    2. balloondoggle says:

      I’d make it spin like a slot machine and generate a random number for the speed cameras.

  8. MAKE | Your Comments says:

    […] the article Turn Old Netbooks Into Animated Car Taillights, The United Bylaws of America […]

  9. New use for an old netbook says:

    […] MAKE | Turn Old Netbooks Into Animated Car Taillights GA_googleFillSlot("MydellMini_Banner_Within_Post"); Steve Mini 9|2GB RAM|64GB RunCore|Intel 5300|Windows 8 […]

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John Edgar Park likes to make things and tell people about it. He builds project for Adafruit Industries. You can find him at jpixl.net and twitter/IG @johnedgarpark

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