Vehicle interior lighting
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=71001
Printed Date: April 27, 2024 at 8:41 AM
Topic: Vehicle interior lighting
Posted By: ingolf
Subject: Vehicle interior lighting
Date Posted: January 17, 2006 at 7:21 PM
i have a dodge dakota, and the interior lighting is pathetic at the very least. only one dome light, and its visibly starting to wear and isnt as bright as it was the day the truck was made. so basically i want to swap out all of the oldstyle glass bulbs, dome/door/ and theres a bulb under my 4x4 panel that lights up when its engaged. if i were to just remove the glass bulbs, pop in some leds with resistors, am i good to go?
thanks
Replies:
Posted By: sparkie
Date Posted: January 17, 2006 at 7:28 PM
If you intend to use LED's for dome lights then they need to be very bright ones. You may want to check that the lights are receiving 12 volts. Put your meter leads across the lamp contacts. If the voltage is less than 12 volts then the lamps will be dim. You could also retro-fit the truck with an aftermarket dome light.
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sparky
Posted By: ingolf
Date Posted: January 17, 2006 at 7:58 PM
in your opinion what is better for interior lighting, led or glass bulb?
Posted By: total_overkill
Date Posted: January 18, 2006 at 3:13 AM
I love LED's. Have about 45 tied in with the interior lights. What you want probably is a LED dome light\Festoon. Really easy swap. https://search.ebay.ca/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&from=R10&satitle=led+festoon&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&bs=Search&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1&coaction=compare&copagenum=1&coentrypage=search&fgtp=&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D3&sadis=200&fpos=ZIP%2FPostal&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi= I added these ones kinda like limo lighting. Also swapped out the originals on floor, glove box, and added festoon in dome. Totally happy. Love the color intensity. Added these at the top of the windows on all 4 doors. 
------------- 40 grit has saved my life sometimes =[
Posted By: ingolf
Date Posted: January 18, 2006 at 12:06 PM
right on, thanks alot.
i like that way yours looks. what is your cardomain name?
Posted By: total_overkill
Date Posted: January 18, 2006 at 9:37 PM
Dont have a public profile there But also the same Total_overkill
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40 grit has saved my life sometimes =[
Posted By: ingolf
Date Posted: January 19, 2006 at 11:09 PM
well i just ordered 100 125,000mcd led's
:)
Posted By: total_overkill
Date Posted: January 19, 2006 at 11:30 PM
Get some of these for holders there awesome ( meatal ones anyway ) https://www.oznium.com/led-holder I even bought Xmas tree lights at the dollar store and used them to a fairly good degree. Just replaced bulbs with LEds and added a resistor. ------------- 40 grit has saved my life sometimes =[
Posted By: ingolf
Date Posted: February 01, 2006 at 9:34 PM
so i finally got my led's.
pretty much 10 days shipped from hong kong.
so i will be installing them this weekend. it will be on a completely separate switch/circuit.
these are interior ambience for basicly seeing better inside the cab at night.
so i decided i dont want them wired to my headlight switch becuase i dont want them on when im driving. so i will be picking up i guess 5-10 mini switches to toggle the zones on and off (front seat, back seat etc).
what would be the best way to wire these, parallel, series? and i guess its a no brainer to run it all to my fuse panel, and would say a 15/20 amp fuse be ok, or is there an actual calculation i can do?
thanks
Posted By: total_overkill
Date Posted: February 02, 2006 at 7:31 PM
A 15 20 amp fuse would be lets say Overkill =]. Leds draw very little. persay you had 18 leds in one zone, like the back on one switch. You could probably get away with a 1 amp fuse easily. Keeping them seperate from vehicle wiring is always the best idea. Messing up there can be a pain in butt. The easist way I found to wire multiple leds is series you end up with less wire. So when you wire up 3 it goes WIRE, resistor - LED1+, -LED2+, -LED3+ WIRE and four would be WIRE, resistor - LED1+, -LED2+, -LED3+, -LED4+, WIRE The resistor can go anywhere on the Neg side on the positive side, even wired in the middle of the LEDS. If the voltage is close enough you might not even need to add a resistor when wiring up an array of 4 leds since the voltage required for 4 is about equal. So might look like WIRE, - LED1+, -LED2+, -LED3+, -LED4+, WIRE Areally good way to test them is a variable power supply and alligator clips for 12V soource. And a lithium battery to ensure the led itself is working. ------------- 40 grit has saved my life sometimes =[
Posted By: ingolf
Date Posted: February 02, 2006 at 9:43 PM
WIRE, resistor - LED1+, -LED2+, -LED3+, -LED4+, WIRE The resistor can go anywhere on the Neg side on the positive side, even wired in the middle of the LEDS. where you say that it could go in the middle, if i was in series. would that cause the led's before the resister to intake alot more current then they should be? causing a burn out, or am i thinking wrong
Posted By: audio_excess
Date Posted: February 04, 2006 at 5:45 PM
https://www.oznium.com/forum/images/diagrams/10.gif
Here is a diagram or correct series wiring for LEDs
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Always a Pleasure,
AE
Posted By: total_overkill
Date Posted: February 04, 2006 at 9:25 PM
Same thing but visual. They started on pos side also. No resistor added in that diagram but 4 might not need 1. U say potato I say potatto,
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40 grit has saved my life sometimes =[
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