Dang LED's WTF?????
 

So, I done a lot of led's in my car but this one kills me. I started doing the front map lights and they worked out beautiful. I then moved on to the rear interior lights above the rear seat and it dosen't work !!!! Nothing
I brought the board that I made to my work and lights beautiful and went up to 11.5 Volts. Bright as hell. Today I go with the board to my car and connect it. Nothing. What the hell is goin on??? Broken wire somewhere??? :bang:

check to see if your accidentally grounding it on the metal body, i had a similar problem when my interior lights would go on by itself and go off by itself. one of the metal clips was grounding to the frame. i hope that helps

maybe they arent getting enough power , did you plan for about 14 volts? thats roughly what it is when the car is on

When I do all my LED projects I aim for 13.5. That is what you should design for, although LEDs are very forgiving on power requirements provided that you usually stay withing a .4v range (usually).

100 ohm resistor for all led's and i gave it a shot of 14.5 volts with no led's burning out. I coated all ends with hot glue gun and just took another look at my car. everything looks ok??? I don't get it. I have no clip to ground out.
Thanks for helping though
If blew a fuse, wouldn't my maps not work too?

well check the voltage at the dome light with a multimeter, and make sure you have them hooked up in the right direction, remember polarity is pretty crucial with LEDs, ground to power power to ground instead of vice versa = no light

Thanks luna, I ll have to grab one from work tomarrow. I'm stupid today LOL. Is it friday yet!!!!! I'll get to the bottom soon. Checking off possibilities

Let's try this one here...you may get additional help.

Just a stupid question, but how long AFTER you opened the door did connect the light? Cause you know there is an auto-off function to the interior lights - after a period of time they will go out by themselves - hence no voltage at wire. Check with voltmeter to see that you are actually getting voltage back at the light and as mentioned earlier (or just close your doors & hatch after you install and then reopen one to reset the interior lighting cycle).

Also could be you blew a fuse for the interior lights - I don't think the map lights & interior lights are on the same circuit. Are the other interior lights on under the dash in the footwells when you are trying this?

I would guess that your polarity/resistors are correct as you stated that it works when you test it on the bench at work.

LawmanSS - I see you're a big time Mod now - how do you rate, & how much did you have to pay them to take ya in? :jest:

Good to see a local guy in a 'psuedo' position of authority! :)

Are you planning on attending the T/A Nats in Ohio this August? If so, we can hook up and drive over/park together...

-Jay-

What value resistor are you using? Maybe you ran too much current thorugh the LED and burned it out? Anyway, once you get a meter, you can check a lot of things, including the LED.

How are you testing the dome light when you are installing it? I tried to install an LED bulb not long ago and before I realized I did not need to, unscrewed the whole housing from the roof. Well I think that thing grounds via the screws, so it totally didn't work until I screwed the housing back in. Or maybe I am nuts, but when I just stuck the bulb back in when it was screwed down, it worked.

Hoping it is something easy like that for you.

The rear light in at least the 2000+ cars do not rely on the mounting screws for the plastic housing to the car to ground the system. There is a (2) wire connector inside the housing to the bulb and that is it...

Yep that's it. I haven't got a multi meter yet. I'm going to check it out this weekend.
Thanks everyone for input.

nrebie question anyone changed out hvac and cluster lights to led? I tried and not gettting power to yellow and grey wires now at hvac and light instument cluster no longer working any help nice!