Door panel bulb
Thread Starter
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 616
Likes: 0
From: Des Moines, IA
Door panel bulb Well, i was trying to change my door panel bulb and well it broke in two. i cant seem to get the half (the clip peice) out to put the new bulb in. Its on a 99 Trans am. Any suggestions?
Originally Posted by RICEBURNER
break that out and put some leds in there!
Take a Multimeter and test the voltage running to the old light with the car running. Once you get that write it down. Now go to Radioshack and get two LEDs of whatever color you want. Now there will be two ratings on the box that the LED comes in. One voltage it will be inbetween 2 and 4 votls depending on color and it will have a current rating which will probably be 20mA. Now plug your source voltage, LED voltage, and your LED current 20mA in this formula. Oh and 20mA in your calculator is .02
Source V - LED voltage
-------------------------
LED Current
This will give you your OHM rating of the resistors you need to buy at Radioshack also. You need these to drop the voltage so you don't burn the LEDs up. Once you get the resistor you need solder it inline with the + side of the LED the longer lead. Then just hook your + and - voltage up the the LED and your set. Here's and example.
Source voltage 13V, LED voltage 3.5V, LED current 20mA
13 - 3.5
------------
.02
=475OHMs
You might already know this. But I just thought I would go ahead and write it out for others when they use the good ole search button.
Thread Starter
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 616
Likes: 0
From: Des Moines, IA
that pretty cool, So do i un hook or cut off the peice the bulb goes into - test it then buy a resister and an led of the right curret, and plug and play? So i take it that that broken peice isnt going to come out...thanks for the replys guys.
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Basically what I did was just cut that hole black plastic piece off. You need to get a Multimeter to test the voltage there. I'm not for sure which wire will be positive or negative so you will need to test it with the meter. You will get your voltage regardless when you test the wires. But if you've got the + led or the meter on the - wire a - will show up on the display. That's how you figure out which is positive and negative. Now what i did is like what I said before. I just cut the black plastic piece that the bulb fits in off. Then of course I hooked my LED up. Once I got the LED hooked up I then found a drill bit just a hair smaller than the LED. Then I just drilled a hole right through where the factory bulb shined through. Once I got my hole there I just slide the LED in and hot glued it in place. You can adapt a LED to the Black plastic piece that the factory bulb comes in. But it is a PITA for not much gain. I put blue LEDs in mine. But you can do any color. Just plug the values into that formula i gave you and your set.
Here's a handy wizard to use. It shows you exactly how to hook the LEDs up. Just plug the values in.
If you have anyother questions feel free to ask. This is what i'm going to school for
This is kinda a lousy pic. But heres the light I made for my lisence plate using LEDs. i think I've got like 15 on there.
Here's a handy wizard to use. It shows you exactly how to hook the LEDs up. Just plug the values in.
If you have anyother questions feel free to ask. This is what i'm going to school for
This is kinda a lousy pic. But heres the light I made for my lisence plate using LEDs. i think I've got like 15 on there.
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