LED lights

[fret face]

HI, i was wanting to put LED lights under my pickguard which i just made from perspex but i didn't know how to go about it. I'm not very good with this stuff, but i no th basics of circuits and stuff. But anyone who has done it or knows how to please help.

1. How to i secure them in the cavities?
2. what sort of battery do i need to use?
3. if i have about 10 - 20 lights in one circuit how dim will it make them?

any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.

[hartke20g]

make sure you get the lowest voltage LEDs you can find. if you get lucky, you can just put them all in series connected to a 9V without sacrificing too much brightness and without having to use any resistors. as for holding them in place, what i did was drill a hole in the pickguard just big enough for an LED and i hot-glued it in place. but i don't know if that's how you want the LEDs held. i'm guessing since you have a perspex pg, you can just leave them in normally, since the wire should be able to suspend them inside the cavity.

*when buying the LEDs, try to get them at voltages where all of the voltages added together = more or less 9V. you can even add a pot to control the amount of power going through the circuit (if you have LEDs that = less than 9V total- dim them at the beginning and then go full power after the battery's lost some of its charge).

[Son of Magni]

The forward voltage of a LED is mostly determined by it's color and ranges from about 0.9 to 1.5 volts. You're going to want to do a series/parallel circuit if you want that many LEDs. Maybe 4 groups of 4 for 16 LEDs. Then add a current limiting resistor and a control pot if you want.

[HELLonWHEELS]

At radioshack they sell LED's with built in resistors that are very, very easy to install. To dim the lights are you would need is a potentimeter(same as your volume or tone knob). A 9v battery should work fine.


Lights installed in cupholders on my friends car.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/3/web/2499000-2499999/2499240_16_full.jpg

[CCR90]

If they were 9 volt LED's you could run them all in parallel and they'd be all the same brightness. I bought 100 LED's off ebay for like 10 bucks shipped, good deal. They were 3 volts so if I want to put them in something wire sets of 3 in series then parallel them together and run a resistor from the battery to the LED.

I jsut drilled a hole and popped the LED's in, as long as they fit snug there's no prob.

[fret face]

ok, thanks guys for that quick response, it has helped alot.

[fret face]

just another quick question,
where does the resistor go in the circuit?
, thanx.

[HELLonWHEELS]

You can get lights with built in resistors its much easier like that.

[hartke20g]

resistors always go before what they effect, so in front of the LEDs.

[AG]

SoM's suggestion of 4x4 series/parallel is a very good one. Do that.

[Patrick O)))]

At radioshack they sell LED's with built in resistors that are very, very easy to install. To dim the lights are you would need is a potentimeter(same as your volume or tone knob). A 9v battery should work fine.


Lights installed in cupholders on my friends car.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/3/web/2499000-2499999/2499240_16_full.jpg

Pimp'd

[moghes69]

At radioshack they sell LED's with built in resistors that are very, very easy to install. To dim the lights are you would need is a potentimeter(same as your volume or tone knob). A 9v battery should work fine.


Lights installed in cupholders on my friends car.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/3/web/2499000-2499999/2499240_16_full.jpg

where does he power those from? i've been thinking of doing something like that to my car.

[HELLonWHEELS]

where does he power those from? i've been thinking of doing something like that to my car.

Those lights were wired directly from the power supply although when we added the neon under seats we were forced to add another battery to make a separate circuit. So if your just going to have a couple of lights go straight into the power supply, if you want a lot of lights your going to have to make a separate circuit.


http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r305/ToyotaMatrixXR/Toyota%20Matrix%20XR/S5000297.jpg

[moghes69]

i just need to find the power supply and get a few blue LEDs. i think i might have a few in the ac ducts and do that whole cup holder thing. and i'll get a switch mounted on top of the gear shifter for them. (one of those helicopter ones with a flip up cover).

[HELLonWHEELS]

The power supply runs to your cig lighter so you can just follow the wires

[moghes69]

good call... i think i got it now.

[Peg Dizzler]

At radioshack they sell LED's with built in resistors that are very, very easy to install. To dim the lights are you would need is a potentimeter(same as your volume or tone knob). A 9v battery should work fine.


Lights installed in cupholders on my friends car.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/3/web/2499000-2499999/2499240_16_full.jpg

No way.. is that a Geo? :-O

[HELLonWHEELS]

No way.. is that a Geo? :-O

Its a toyota Matrix


Am i missing something here:confused: