leds in custom trunk
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=58104
Printed Date: April 27, 2024 at 6:59 PM
Topic: leds in custom trunk
Posted By: tim828
Subject: leds in custom trunk
Date Posted: June 20, 2005 at 10:40 PM
I m going to be doing a fiberglass trunk peice and going to hide bout 20 leds in it. what i need to know is how do you go about wiring 20 lights together on 1 switch. could they even be wired on 1 switch. I do have a battery in my trunk so i thought maybe could just get power from there. I do have some electrical experience but not 12 volt. hope sum1 can help.
Replies:
Posted By: Teamrf
Date Posted: June 21, 2005 at 1:11 AM
What kind of LEDs are they make sure you get the resistance right on them or you will just blow them when you put 12volts to them
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Posted By: tim828
Date Posted: June 21, 2005 at 9:35 PM
they are the leds that you can buy off ebay. they supposedly come with resistors. i am wondering how do you wire 20 lights on one switch. is there some kind of distrubution block for leds? also can i get my power direct from battery or do i need another source.
Posted By: customcarchris
Date Posted: June 21, 2005 at 11:39 PM
If each LED has a resistor, then just run two wires, a power and a ground. Hook the resistor to the positive side of the LED and to the power wire. Hook all of the negative sides of the LEDs to the ground wire. The LEDS will be wired in parallel, but with a resistor to each one.
LEDs consume very little power, you could have hundreds on a single small wire. Put a switch on your power wire and you have them all switched.
As far as power, any 12 volt source will work. These few LEDs won't take much power, you could even hook them up to your trunk hatch light switch so they turn on when you open the trunk.
Posted By: customcarchris
Date Posted: June 21, 2005 at 11:45 PM
Forgot some important points, in case you might wonder. The resistors don't have a polarity, they can go either way around. LEDs are, the positive is the side with the longer leg, and if you look inside the glass of the LED, the metal parts are split, but not evenly, the side with the small half is the positive.
Just from experience, when you place your LEDs, aim them across the trunk and not close, LEDs are very directional and will show a big "dot" instead of even lighting if they are too close to the lighted subject.
Hope you can use this info, I found some of this out the hard way, and that was no good.
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