some help with led's?
Thread Starter
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 595
Likes: 0
From: Chicago
some help with led's? Thinking of doing some things with LEDs soon as part of my appearance project and I was wondering about a few things:
What kind of brightness is good to look for? I'm seeing anything from 12,000mcd to 50,000 and I don't want to go too dim or blindingly bright.
If I were to order a bunch of them with matching resistors, would I then use a resistor for each individual LED if I fabbed up a pcb grid for something like a map light replacement? Or would I only use X number of the matched resistors depending on other factors? Would I use different resistors entirely?
How difficult would it be to convert the DRL/front turn signal lamps to led? If I were to solder up an LED grid, what would be the best way to go about mounting and wiring something like that? This seems like something I'm interested in doing because I'm getting real tired of replacing bulbs and I'd like to seal the housings since I'm getting a lot of water in them (causing the shorts).
What kind of brightness is good to look for? I'm seeing anything from 12,000mcd to 50,000 and I don't want to go too dim or blindingly bright.
If I were to order a bunch of them with matching resistors, would I then use a resistor for each individual LED if I fabbed up a pcb grid for something like a map light replacement? Or would I only use X number of the matched resistors depending on other factors? Would I use different resistors entirely?
How difficult would it be to convert the DRL/front turn signal lamps to led? If I were to solder up an LED grid, what would be the best way to go about mounting and wiring something like that? This seems like something I'm interested in doing because I'm getting real tired of replacing bulbs and I'd like to seal the housings since I'm getting a lot of water in them (causing the shorts).
12 Second Club
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 597
Likes: 0
From: Tampa
Google this..........
There are several great websites that sell everything you need and give you all the advice and instruction you could possibly want, including some fantastic ideas.
You might even find someone that is a sponsor here... :wink:
There are several great websites that sell everything you need and give you all the advice and instruction you could possibly want, including some fantastic ideas.
You might even find someone that is a sponsor here... :wink:
here is the link on how to do everything....a forum member i believe has already done all of this stuff....
http://lastofthebreed.com/Installs/InstallIndex.htm
He has done everything on our cars for LED!
http://lastofthebreed.com/Installs/InstallIndex.htm
He has done everything on our cars for LED!
Thread Starter
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 595
Likes: 0
From: Chicago
Thanks for the info so far guys.
As I mentioned I found a place to pick up the LEDs with matching resistors. Unfortunately on all of the sites I find, the writeups ALL describe the calculations for buying a new resistor and using just 1. I guess what I'm looking to find out is whether or not I can just solder the individual resistors onto each LED since I'll be getting a bunch for free anyway or if I should go out and pick up different ones.
Also, I've visited that last of the breed site and it gave me a lot of ideas to play around with. The problem is there's no info on doing the DRLs that I saw so i'm not sure if I could go about doing those with the same process and splicing in the wires or if I will need to do things another way.
As I mentioned I found a place to pick up the LEDs with matching resistors. Unfortunately on all of the sites I find, the writeups ALL describe the calculations for buying a new resistor and using just 1. I guess what I'm looking to find out is whether or not I can just solder the individual resistors onto each LED since I'll be getting a bunch for free anyway or if I should go out and pick up different ones.
Also, I've visited that last of the breed site and it gave me a lot of ideas to play around with. The problem is there's no info on doing the DRLs that I saw so i'm not sure if I could go about doing those with the same process and splicing in the wires or if I will need to do things another way.
ok...
1 resistor for 1 led. thats the easiest way to do it and not have to worry about voltage issues.
most of the resistors are base upon a 12v system. you could put more then one resistor on an led, just makes it dimmer.
they sell direct relpacement bulbs that are LED for the DRL/Turn bulbs.
i suggest buying a power supply pack at radio shack, so you can bench test everything you do.
1 resistor for 1 led. thats the easiest way to do it and not have to worry about voltage issues.
most of the resistors are base upon a 12v system. you could put more then one resistor on an led, just makes it dimmer.
they sell direct relpacement bulbs that are LED for the DRL/Turn bulbs.
i suggest buying a power supply pack at radio shack, so you can bench test everything you do.
