so i was really stupid oneday and sodered like 4 2.6 leds together and attached ti to my rear brake lights. I tape the breaks and nothign happens and i realise i needed a fuse and a resistor. SO i take it all apart and hook back up the bulb but now when i tap the breaks nothing happens. help!! i unplugged the battery and pluged it back in but still dosetn work (works with computers)

If you are stating that your LED's are not lighting up, my best guess would be (and more than likely would be correct) one of the following:

4 * 2.6 = 10.4v (if hooked in series)

Car runs on 12 to 14.2 volts.

If you ran these parallel, you fried your LED's.

If you ran these in series, one of the 2 scenarios occured:

1) You fried the first in the series, no power will go to the other 3.
2) One of the LED's is hooked up incorrectly. For example:
+-/-+/+-/+-

----

Now if it's the brake light bulb that is not working, check your tail fuse. Also, check the bulb itself to make sure that it is still working (jumper wires to the battery)

ok i bought new led's and still thing nothing lights up what do i do. I tried putting the bulb back in but that dosent light up now doh

hm the fuse is still good, any other ideas

So, you have no break lights at all not even the 3rd break light or other side?

well i hooked it up to the 3rd break light, so my side break lights work but not my 3rd break light

You probably blew those LED's as well. Are you running a resistor with those or just the LED's themselves?

I would recommend this site as well as this one. Both have basic diagrams for hooking up the LED's in the proper circuit pattern. The second has it on a toggle switch system (and the link in there for the resistor calc is dead, so...) If you aren't using a toggle switch, just cut it out of the diagram.

To determine what resistor you need, I would recommend this site.

If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

well its not just that as well, i hooked back up the normal lights, and nothing happens

If you have a multi-meter, test the socket to make sure it didn't crap out.

Also, depending on how you hooked up the LED's, it could be also that the connectors on the socket got gapped out a bit too far, not making contact with the normal bulb...

well the way i did it was just cut the wires, and then soder and use electrical tape, any other ideas, thanks a ton kardain just wanted to say as wel

You are quite welcome.

I am going to assume that you have cut the socket off to install the LED's.

What I would do at this point, is to make sure that the LED circuit works. You can just pop the hood and test it off the car battery.

If the LED circuit lights up, then you're in business. All you need to do at this point is hook the lead wires up to the wires that you are splicing to (a test light or multi-meter will be handy to find the positive wire) and you're done. Close it up and enjoy.

If it doesn't light up, then somewhere in the LED circuit is a fault, and would involve diagnosing the circuit. That will be where the websites I referenced earlier will come into play. Either the resistor is not the right size, one of the LED's are installed backwards (if in series), or you have your lead wires backwards (+ to -, - to +). In the last two scenarios, that shouldn't fry the LED.

If you have some clear pics, you can always email 'em to me, or post em here. It would always help to have another set of eyes on the problem.

HTH

well the thing is that i hooked th enormal bulbs up, i think somehow the lines are dead is that possible??

Possible, yes.

However, the LED's are drawing so little power that even if you wired them up all funky, the wires won't fry as long as the power wire doesn't make contact with any metal surface on the car while power applied.

I would go and test the wires with a multimeter or test light to make sure the wiring's still good, just in case.