Interior Led's
 

How do I go about putting them in. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=7960936033
Thanks.

If there selling just 4 LED's with the wiring attached. Then that is a rip off. If it is 4 seperate strips with multiple LEDs. then that price is not bad. Now to wire them up. I'm assuming they already have the resistor and everything installed on the strips. I would just find the hot wire coming off of the headlight switch and hook the hot to it and just find a good ground close to where the strip will be mounted. Very easy install. Make sure those are strips though before buying.

I agree if they arent multiple LEDS on 4 strips its robbery. Go to Radio Shack and make your own for $1-$2 each. To hook the ones up you showed us from Ebay, would be a simple power/ground.

I picked up 100 for $12 on ebay, just had to buy my own resistors at radioshack at 5 for $0.25

Or buy in bulk like Mudvayne. I used to know how to mathmatically calculate all this crap. What resistor to use for a given bulb.... Would be nice for another crash course over x-mas break. I think i am gonna make LED turn signals in my mirrors like Evil did.. Thats a nice subtle mod, that I wish I had on my car.

Here's the formula for figuring the resistor to use on any given LED and voltage.

Supply Voltage - LED Voltage
--------------------------------
LED Current Rating

Example

Say you have a supply of 12v and the LED is rated at 2.8V at 20mA which is .02 If your calculator won't do Engineering mode.
So the formula would be

12V - 2.8V
----------- = 460 OHM Resistor
20mA or .02

skewba- A question I always had while calculating this stuff was... A running vehicle could supply up to almost 14.x Volts.. So, in order to prevent a burnout, would to want to say your source voltage is 15?

Lets see if I even remember a basic definition..

The greater the mA value the greater/brighter the light output correct?

I would like Super bright LEDS for this project, but not physically have a huge bulb. Any ideas? Thanks for your info!

Yep the greater the mA the brighter the light. If it were me i would figure them at 14.5V for a source and you will be fine.

Or...
Heres a LED wireing wizzard....
http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

Dude that is awesome. That saves me alot of trouble pulling out the old text book. Thanks for posting :hail:

I opened that web site up at Radio shack when i was buying some LEDs... It worked great. I want to get going on this, so I bought a few. Ended up finding 1.7 volt 20 mA 3000 mcd 5mm red LEDs. They used a 1/2 watt 680 ohm resistor. They would work great for interior lighting.. I figured the source Voltage to be 14.5. Wired them parallel so they all get the same power. This is all you should need for interior lighting. Very cheap yet effective. Radio Shack keeps yellow,red, and a cool blue/white in stock. The resistors come in a pack of 5 i believe for $0.99. The LEDs were $1.37 each.

GotV-8, Take this info into the Shack and pick some up. Dont buy them off Ebay. You'll save alot of money.

Skewba- Is 14.5 too high, I think I am sacrificing some brightness!? I've only hooked them up to a 9-volt when i'm using them in the house..... Are they going to be noticeable brighter when they have a 12-14v source? Hoping so...

If you hooked them up to a 9v source with the resistor that you figured in for the 14.5 volt sourse. Then yes they will be brigther in the car.
EDIT:
With your LEDs rated at 1.7V at 20mA with a 9v source you should be using a 390OHM resistor. That is why there not very bright. In your car you should use a 680 OHM in series with one LED.

A 9 volt is all i had to test my wiring at the time. It is suprisingly bright with 9 volts. I have 3 bulbs (parellel) running from 1 680 ohm resistor of of the 9v source.

If I were to wire them parellel in the car(14.5v), should I be running 1 resistor per light, or can 1 resistor run several lights? If so, how many lights should I run off of 1 resistor, considering a 14.5 source and parellel wiring?

Thanks again skewba!

Use this wizard it will tell you exactly how to do it. You might have to get some new resistors. But that isn't no thing. There are thousands of ways to wire them up. So I can't really tell you the best way to do it. It's all about where your going to install them and how many your going to put there. What you need to do is plan out where your going to put them. Say if your were going to put 10 on each floor board. Then put you LED info in the wizard.

http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

Oh and BTW LED's from Radio Shack are a rip off. Go to Ebay and buy them in bulk.

Very cool, did not see that there. I will be kept busy for awhile!