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Dang LED's WTF?????

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Old Mar 22, 2006 | 05:55 PM
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Default 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???
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Old Mar 22, 2006 | 06:48 PM
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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
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Old Mar 22, 2006 | 06:49 PM
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maybe they arent getting enough power , did you plan for about 14 volts? thats roughly what it is when the car is on
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Old Mar 22, 2006 | 07:01 PM
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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).

Last edited by evilbadz; Mar 22, 2006 at 07:11 PM.
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Old Mar 22, 2006 | 07:24 PM
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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?
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Old Mar 22, 2006 | 07:31 PM
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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
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Old Mar 22, 2006 | 07:36 PM
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well check the voltage at the dome light with a multimeter
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
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Old Mar 22, 2006 | 10:29 PM
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Let's try this one here...you may get additional help.
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Old Mar 23, 2006 | 03:46 AM
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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.

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Old Mar 23, 2006 | 12:11 PM
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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.
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Old Mar 23, 2006 | 02:14 PM
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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.
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Old Mar 24, 2006 | 03:34 AM
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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...
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Old Mar 24, 2006 | 11:44 AM
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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.
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Old Apr 21, 2006 | 06:33 PM
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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!
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