door handle led wiring

Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Lights, Neon, LEDs, HIDs
Forum Discription: Under Car Lighting, Strobe Lights, Fog Lights, Headlights, HIDs, DRL, Tail Lights, Brake Lights, Dashboard Lights, WigWag, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=110407
Printed Date: May 13, 2025 at 8:33 PM

Topic: door handle led wiring

Posted By: carte90
Subject: door handle led wiring
Date Posted: January 06, 2009 at 1:45 PM

After fighting my 1997 F-150 Reg Cab for about 7 hours trying to pull a whopping 3 wires I got everything I wanted all hooked up and put everything together only to flip the switch and become frustrated and dissapointed. I recently aquired a couple LED strips that fit under the doorhandle of a car and they are optix brand (by street glow). I ran the power from the 12v constant wire behind the radio, then to a toggle switch and then from one light strip to the other. I think I messed up when I got the bright idea (or actually not so bright) to wire them in series. I figured if anything they'd be dim. Not true, infact they aren't anything but extra weight at the moment. So I set off to do a little trouble shooting and found that at the switch I have power to ground on both sides, at the far end I have power to ground from the power-in wire and on the power-out (ground) I have nothing. In series that is right isn't it? the loads use up the total voltage? Anyways, I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction
Below is a picture/diagram of what is going on.

posted_image

Replies:

Posted By: KPierson
Date Posted: January 06, 2009 at 4:42 PM

The first thing I would do is remove one of the LED modules from the series and see if the other one lights. I wouldn't think they would run run on 6vdc but I could be wrong. LEDs are discreet components (unlike a resistance based incandescent bulb). Discreet components don't follow the same rules and regulations as normal bulbs (ie Ohms Law - because they have no resistance). Therefore, when you wire two discreet components in series you can't count on them only getting half the voltage.

They also may both run at 5vdc and have an onboard voltage regulator. If you don't put a little over 7vdc to a voltage regulator they don't always work that well - especially if there is a brown out detection circuit monitoring the power supply.

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Kevin Pierson

Posted By: carte90
Date Posted: January 06, 2009 at 10:34 PM

I guess then I would be best off just running the extra wire to put them in parallel right? Do you think thats how they were intedend to be powered?

Posted By: KPierson
Date Posted: January 07, 2009 at 5:42 AM

They are intended for 12vdc systems so yes, they are intended to be connected in parallel, not series.

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Kevin Pierson