DIY: LEDs (Part I)

[SVOboy]

See here: http://crxmpg.com/domelight.html

[SVOboy]

I'll fix this tomorrow, my pictures are wigging out. Suffice it to say it looks awesome.

[Compaq888]

why not just buy a special LED made for dome lights. It has like 9 LEDS. All you have to do is just switch it with the bulb. Also going with more LED's will waste more power. When I change from a bulb to an LED I try to use the fewest number of LED's while maintaining the same brightness or better brightness than the original bulb.

Going crazy with LED's will give you almost no difference than the original bulbs. Same thing with using resistors on a LED turn light. No point in using the same amount of power if you're switching to LED's.

I got myself a grounding kit for my engine bay and switched to LED's for the rear brake lights(all of them). My lights are brighter, my car doesn't moan anymore when it tries to start, it starts better, and probably other things I haven't noticed.

I'm not being harsh, I'm just saying if you want fuel economy you got to cut out the bling.

[rh77]

SVOboy - Nicely done old chap. Where did you get the bread-board and components, Radio Shack? Also do you have basic schematics for DIY'rs? It sounds like a fun mod. I really want to do it to my turns and brake lights, if they're bright enough. With a large array, I think the power of numbers might be worth looking into.

Originally Posted by Compaq888

why not just buy a special LED made for dome lights. It has like 9 LEDS. All you have to do is just switch it with the bulb. Also going with more LED's will waste more power. When I change from a bulb to an LED I try to use the fewest number of LED's while maintaining the same brightness or better brightness than the original bulb.

Going crazy with LED's will give you almost no difference than the original bulbs. Same thing with using resistors on a LED turn light. No point in using the same amount of power if you're switching to LED's.

I got myself a grounding kit for my engine bay and switched to LED's for the rear brake lights(all of them). My lights are brighter, my car doesn't moan anymore when it tries to start, it starts better, and probably other things I haven't noticed.

I'm not being harsh, I'm just saying if you want fuel economy you got to cut out the bling.

I believe the bulbs you mention have built-in resistors within the bulb assembly to achieve the same results, and use the same amount of power. SVO's setup looks to be a lesser-expensive DIY setup that saves money, looks good, saves energy, and looks like fun to put together.

As for the engine bay grounding -- I did this on my EVO and frankly didn't notice a thing. Now on older cars with deteriorating wiring and connections, a grounding kit might be a good idea to boost current flow. Otherwise, that's more bling.

[SVOboy]

Going crazy with LED's will give you almost no difference than the original bulbs. Same thing with using resistors on a LED turn light. No point in using the same amount of power if you're switching to LED's.

Well, firstly, I am sure that even with more LEDs I am using less power nonetheless, because the difference is very large. And in any case, the dome light had been so worthless in the past that I have left the bulb out and not used it at all, but presently, I find it very useful, I can actually see things to pick them up without bringing a flashlight to the car, so I'm glad it's brighter than it was before.

why not just buy a special LED made for dome lights. It has like 9 LEDS. All you have to do is just switch it with the bulb.

That's no fun and it's not good practice for someone intending to make custom lights all around including something I have planned for the taillights that I'll have to check about legalities on,

[SVOboy]

Where did you get the bread-board and components, Radio Shack?

Yep, but the LEDs I got off eBay. So yeah. I need more. I'm planning on buying some 1,000 resistor assortment so I have many in the future and don't need to figure it out and then go to radioshack and pay too much.

SVO's setup looks to be a lesser-expensive DIY setup that saves money, looks good, saves energy, and looks like fun to put together.

That's true, if you figure the percentage of the materials that I used it comes out to 3 dollars or so.

[Compaq888]

This is in fact a good DIY, but I would of gone with less LED's. Everything I bought have resistors too but the less LED's the less energy you waste.

As you know rh77 my car is not new. It's 7.5 years old. And you also know that nissan is not that good at completly getting the job done.

[WisJim]

I used a voltage regulator chip when I did something similar to this. Will see if I can find it and the diagrams for it. It was cheap, used little power, and kept the voltage under control to protect the LEDs.

[SVOboy]

Please do so, sir, I'm going to be doing the rest of my lights at some point in time, and I'd like a better way to have the LEDs set up to prevent from overloading.

[cfg83]

Hello -

Here's something that might serve as spare parts :

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...-LIGHT&cpc=SCH

Please note that I am NOT affiliated with geeks.com in any way (except for being a geek).

CarloSW2