My big question is how do i wire this up? The green dots are leds, with wires...
Is my best bet to wire each together? + to + and - to - ? and then positive to a switch and negative to a ground?
I'm fairly new to this. someone help
Whats this for?
More than like want to wire in series and then use the correct size resistor to make them light up as bright as you are wanting.
Tom
I knew someone would ask. Its for plexi with an etched image in it to shine out where the etching is.
I took a class for this in college, but since then I have kinda forgotten. In series I would......lol
you can wire in parallel and pt a resistor on each positve lead...much easier
My car may run 18s, but I can do your taxes in 10 seconds flat.
JBO lube - they would never have enough in stock and we'd never see RodimusPrime again
Similar to this?
The easy way to do it is just buy a pack of Varad 12 volt hyper LED's then you don't have to worry about hooking something up wrong. But if you are like me and have a bunch of old DEI alarm LED's laying around, they are 2 volt and you need to wire 6-8 of them in series to shine decent.
^CLICK ME TO SEE HOW I BUILT EVERYTHING^ How To in Interior Forum
Its gonna be something to that effect. I still have to work out all the details of getting it done. Will probably end up getting my leds from radio shack or if someone gives me a good lead on someplace to snag some up online....looks like i'll only need 4. And any help on what kind i should get helps too...like i said...im a noob
Definitely connect in paralell - if one burns out the others will continue to light.
Connect all positives together then connect all grounds togethers
put a switch inline to be able to turn them on and off
don't forget to use a resistor for each LED to drop the voltage - I would suggest getting a set prewired for 12 volts
what color are you doing? I may a few blue ones left over
Sure, I tell you then you tell someone else, next thing you know, we're in the middle of another ice age.
I'm thinking I'll go with green. But thats just because of my choice for paints on the interior...once i get to it
I checked out superbrightleds.com last nite...that was greek to me lol. what does it all mean...HELP! lol
which LEDs were you looking at? -
let me know which ones you want
I'll look them up and let you know what size resistor you need
Sure, I tell you then you tell someone else, next thing you know, we're in the middle of another ice age.
Just get prewired leds. You dont have to worry about resistors just connect all +'s together and all -'s together out a switch on the postive and groud out the negative.
go to this
page...if its the one...and its the green ones, 5mm....i have no idea what kind to get..something with good output
anybody help me with what it all means..explain if you could
Mennitti wrote:
The easy way to do it is just buy a pack of Varad 12 volt hyper LED's then you don't have to worry about hooking something up wrong.
^CLICK ME TO SEE HOW I BUILT EVERYTHING^ How To in Interior Forum
where do you get those....
and did we all agree...wire in series?
you mean like this?
The simplest way to do it would be to use 4 led's that are 3V each and wire them in series. Most generic led's that you can find nowadays are about 3V anyway. This is also assuming that this is going in your 12V DC car.
And for all of you noobs that really want to see something cool, here's something else I've made in the past. This was all made from a single sheet of 1/8" flat plexi. The stem is actually 3 pieces of plexi bonded together, and the stem lights up green (but you can't see it cuz of the angle of the camera). The tape was only temporary while I was gluing on the leaf.
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exactly the type of thing im experimenting on doing.
thats lit up with 4 3v? those are all just lined up on one end right? something exactly to that effect is what i want..care to share a little more on how?
i was thinking of drilling holes to mount the leds in...is this necessary?
^^I have a bunch of spare green LED's, let me know how far apart you are going to mount 'em in your plexi and I'll mail you a 4 series that will work up to 14v DC
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Monday, October 08, 2007 7:44 PM
jnickel wrote:exactly the type of thing im experimenting on doing.
thats lit up with 4 3v? those are all just lined up on one end right? something exactly to that effect is what i want..care to share a little more on how?
i was thinking of drilling holes to mount the leds in...is this necessary?
you want to create a channel where you can stick the leds in (along with your wiring). if you do straight holes, you are more likely to get a smaller angle of light vs a wider angle of light. yes, its done with (4) 3v led's wired in series to a 12V dc transformer (that i could plug into my wall socket 120vac). i suggest you sand off and polish the tips of the leds so they have a wider angle.
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
should i black out the backside of the plexi? since this will be used in the car...on the rear deck. dont wanna have it show thru to the speaker deck underneath...
what should i do about that.....
jnickel wrote:should i black out the backside of the plexi? since this will be used in the car...on the rear deck. dont wanna have it show thru to the speaker deck underneath...
what should i do about that.....
black vinyl or rattle can.
and you suppose/think that will still look like viper posted above?
Well, I have all materials needed to do this except the program to do the work for me
and the LED setup.
I also have a sheet of black vinyl to slap on the backside when done. We'll see how it turns out first before anything else.
Kardain: I'll let you know the lengths and such as soon as I know for sure.
Quote:
The simplest way to do it would be to use 4 led's that are 3V each and wire them in series. Most generic led's that you can find nowadays are about 3V anyway. This is also assuming that this is going in your 12V DC car.
LED voltage depends on the color. If you do this, everything will work fine until you start the car, then the voltage jumps up to 14v, current skyrockets and you'll get a bunch of pretty smoke. Then again, if you do a series chain for exactly 14.4v, the array will be very dim when the engine is off.
If you do series chains, string LEDs together until the combined voltage is around 10v, then use a resistor for the resulting drop. This is more efficient and you need fewer resistors.
2002 Cavalier 2200 5spd
Solid Snake wrote:Quote:
The simplest way to do it would be to use 4 led's that are 3V each and wire them in series. Most generic led's that you can find nowadays are about 3V anyway. This is also assuming that this is going in your 12V DC car.
LED voltage depends on the color. If you do this, everything will work fine until you start the car, then the voltage jumps up to 14v, current skyrockets and you'll get a bunch of pretty smoke. Then again, if you do a series chain for exactly 14.4v, the array will be very dim when the engine is off.
If you do series chains, string LEDs together until the combined voltage is around 10v, then use a resistor for the resulting drop. This is more efficient and you need fewer resistors.
LED's have an effective voltage range
example:
Blue LED - Forward Voltage 3.0-3.3v(Max 3.8)
Meaning that maxed, a 4 series can handle 15.2v (not for long, but it can). At the high end of the range, the same series has a 13.2 forward voltage, resistor that to 14.4 and they won't dim off as much as you state.
Red and orange LED - Forward Voltage 1.8V-2.0V(Max 2.4)
A 6 series -- 14.4v maxed, high range = 12v. Still won't dim off with a resistor to 14.4
Optimal resistor value in my opinion should be 13.8 source voltage and whatever (low range * number in series) is. that allows for tolerance either way.
random thought
whats the best way to run it off of a 'hot' source...so the key doesn't have to be on for it to run
like i said, it will be switched
