u/UKMatt2000

Demo video: https://youtu.be/P31M9Eg0iRc

While stripping an old car with a friend 10 years ago, I took an old aftermarket brake light off his hands because I could see the potential. It doesn't have the correct number of segments or the angle of a proper scanner replica, but I wanted to give it a go anyway for fun.

Fast forward a long time and I finally got around to it in 2024. My original plan was to swap the filament bulbs for LEDs, but my tests showed that just wasn't going to look right. Instead I kept the bulbs and fed each with an individual positive power wire, then re-used the original combined ground to connect them to a set of MOSFETs and an Arduino.

It's all packed up in a project box and runs on 12V, not shown in these pictures is the 12V to 9V DC converter that's used to power the setup because it hides everything else. The MOSFETs stay quite cool in operation as they're only on for a short time.

The code for the Arduino started quite basic - getting it to scan was easy - but it was immediately obvious that the scanning didn't look right as the bulbs went out too quickly. Setting up the code to fade out each bulb slowly and create the 'tail' of light we're familiar with was tricky. I'm happy with the result now.

I made a video of it in action back then, before running it on my black Discovery during a Land Rover parade in 2024.

I got this set and wanted to make it look as close to my real Defender as possible, which meant all visible parts were changed to black and light bluish grey.

The interior was changed to a mix of light and dark bluish grey to kind of simulate the half-leather seats in mine. I updated the dash to look more similar to an early 2000s Td5 dash, and of course I used the Td5 engine. The lighting kit finishes it off nicely, especially with the hazard lights flashing to simulate a very Land Rover breakdown scenario.

I had a play around with some spare parts to create mud flaps and side steps, not completely happy with those ideas yet.

Well, this is a new one for me, drone operated window cleaning service in London. Seems excessive on water use, but it's impressive how it gets the water up the pipe to the nozzle.
I couldn't see the flyer, but there was a guy on the ground ensuring the hose didn't twist.
Seemed to be working on windows 5-6 floors up.