Wow....I really want to learn to do this. I can do soldering and and the fabrication. I just need to learn the electronics to know what parts I need and things like that. This would be a project once I finish the exterior of my car. Around how much do you think per side with all the parts involved?
It cost me around $90 per side. There are over 150 35000 mcd LEDs per side.
Dude...your GF/wife helps you working with the car? otherwise please clip those nails! :eek:Looord have mercy !! LOL !
Anyway, if I´m not wrong you can get a bunch (like 50 of them) of LED's off eBay for $10 shipped. You can probably get the "breadboard" there too, if not, there´s always radioshack. I´ll stand corrected if I´m wrong but I think all there is to it is, you have to do the math and add the individual voltages of the LED´s you will be soldering in series, up to 12V, and if more sets of LED´s are needed (which of course you will) all "sets of 12V" are soldered in parallel. If the added voltage of your sets exceeds 12V, they will be dim. If it´s lower than 12V, you need to use a resistor to lower the voltage to the same "amount" to prevent overheating and/or premature failure of your LED´s
LOL she does help me alot, but those claws are mine. I cut all my nails but my thumb nails. I do alot of mobile electronics work and long thumb nails really help out. Your description of how to is correct, though you can go slightly higher than 12v if you want. I used strings of 6 LEDs with a small resistor on each string.
I thought this thread was dead. Glad it´s not, your tails look great!
did you use white or red LED´s?
how did you secure the breadbords to the housing? crazy glue?
I used red and yellow LEDs. Clear did not give me the color I wanted. I used hot glue to mount the boards and to seal the housings again. Has held up well even in 110 degree heat, but if I do another set I am going to use epoxy to mount and seal everything.
PS: For anyone who wants to give this or other LED projects a go... here is a VERY handy tool. It will even design your array for you.
LED Calculator/Array Designer
