Making LED strips?
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=87588
Printed Date: May 06, 2024 at 3:46 AM
Topic: Making LED strips?
Posted By: 65stang
Subject: Making LED strips?
Date Posted: December 21, 2006 at 3:51 PM
How would one go about making LED strips like these StreetGlow ones. I wanted to do a couple for under dash and under rear seat lights, but I dont really want to pay 25 bucks per 6" tube. What materials would one need. ------------- 
'65 Mustang Coupe
'84 Nissan 720 King Cab
Replies:
Posted By: ill-logix
Date Posted: December 22, 2006 at 10:21 AM
You could try to etch your own boards, but after it is all said and done you wouldnt be saving much money if any. Unless you do a bunch of course
Posted By: eleterequest
Date Posted: December 22, 2006 at 10:42 AM
You could do it with LEDs and heatshrink tube. Bend all the leads comming from the LEDs at 90 degrees, then solder one LED to the tips of the leds of the previous LED, putting heatshrink on the excess leads.
Then hit an animal store and pick up some clear tubing made for fishtanks, and run your LEDs in there.
Good Luck, although should be a pretty simple thing to do.
Posted By: compudude86
Date Posted: January 23, 2007 at 11:38 AM
eleterequest wrote:
You could do it with LEDs and heatshrink tube. Bend all the leads comming from the LEDs at 90 degrees, then solder one LED to the tips of the leds of the previous LED, putting heatshrink on the excess leads.
Then hit an animal store and pick up some clear tubing made for fishtanks, and run your LEDs in there.
Good Luck, although should be a pretty simple thing to do.
i agree 100% with allanbutton, this is what i did, and im doing my second install of this for a friend, if you would like, i can take some pics for you guys of the finished tubes. the only thing is i doubt aquarium tube is big enough, you want to take your led to your local hardware store plumbing aisle, and look for the clear flex tubing, and make sure it will fit both your led and some wire. ive gotten a few rolls for $3 each. just solder your leds (with resistors, of course) onto your wire, heatshrink the "hot" or "live" side of your your wires well, you almost dont need to worry about shrinking your ground side. IMPORTANT STEP! plug your light strip into a 12v computer power supply, and make sure everything works, otherwise youll pass the next step and find a major problem too late. now, slip your wires into the tube, and take a glue gun and seal your ends off. you have a pretty decent light strip now, and the clear tubing should help carry and diffuse your light, making it more even than the leds alone. enjoy!
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