Thursday, September 13, 2007 - 02:32 pm, by: David Henderson(Hendo)
It depends what LED you are using. The resistor determines the current (mA) flowing through the resistor. A standard LED wants about 15 mA, a really bright $4 LED wants up to 30. They are all a bit different, check a jaycar/dick smith catalogue. To determine what value to resistor, use ohms law.
for example: for a LED with a forward voltage drop of 3V (a really bright one): car voltage: 14.5V- LED voltage of 3 = 11.5V (We are finding the V over the resistor, and as it is in series with the LED we subtract the LED voltage)
then R= V/I = 11.5/30mA (0.03A, different for each LED) = 380 ohms
Hope that made sense. keep in mind the harder you drive a LED (more mA) the shorter its life. And wrap LEDS in opaque sticky tape to help the light diffuse}
Rob Andreacchio Goo Roo Victoria Supercharged VT Calais & 1991 JZZ30
Monday, October 29, 2007 - 01:10 pm, by: Antonio Hunt(Carajo)
Looking through the forum I found the DIY on changing the colour of the AC lights. When I came around to picking up the LEDs form Jaycar I was trying to decide which size and brightness the sales person suggested these little LED strips that have a resistor built in. He said just wire positive and negative 12v and your away.
Because of their length and the space they were going, I cut it down to just two of the LED. When cutting them up you cant use just the little tabs to connect the wires to. Each of the two LEDs on the outside connects to the strips that the tabs are on (series). The one on the left is on the positive and the right to the negative. So when cutting them to just two LEDs connect the negative to the negative tab or just near the LED where it meets the strip and the positive to the other side of the second LED.
Here is a pic of the strip to light up the buttons
I then connected the other end of the wires to the connection for the original lights.
Finished pictures
These strips can be put just about anywhere, I have since done the light around the cigarette lighter and the ignition. I haven’t used them in the electric window buttons I used normal LEDs.
Monday, October 29, 2007 - 01:53 pm, by: Alan Chow(Alanchow)
Very interested in the way you've done this Antonio. Seems very easy to do. So i will need 3 strips for the LCD. How about the buttons surrounding the A/C.
Also do you have a part number for this? How much does each strip cost?
Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 08:21 am, by: Antonio Hunt(Carajo)
the ones in the picture are for the buttons and i used another 3 for the screen. you probably could get away with two depends how much work you want to do with running wires. i think the code is ZD0474 according to the web site. do a search for LED Strip, the only down fall probably is that they are $6.95 each. but with jaycar the more you buy the cheaper they are. i think of it as paying a little more to have them ready made and less time and thinking about how and to where to run wires as clean as possible.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - 08:30 am, by: Antonio Hunt(Carajo)
No mate, 3 for the lcd screen and 3 for the buttons, 6 in total. In the second picture there are three LED strips, they light up both the top and bottom buttons. If you try the other ones let us know how you go
Friday, November 02, 2007 - 04:55 pm, by: Antonio Hunt(Carajo)
this guy used foil and heat shrink around the two ends. i was thinking if i had enough heat shrink over the ends end wiring of the leds it may protect it???? see how i go
Saturday, November 03, 2007 - 12:20 am, by: Alan Chow(Alanchow)
I did angel eyes at the start of the year with hesham. Found that over time the spike from the starter motor killed the LED's even though the resistance was at the right level.
Also today i wired up the gear surround with the jaycar bits i bought. Had to modify them to take off the surrounding casing to get it to fit. (waterproof casing is hard to bloody get off). Here is a dodgy photo of it. Note that it may look blue but it is really really white. It is also really really bright
Here is a photo of the angel eye install i did earlier this year. I bought an ebay cold cathode ring that should fit a few weeks back. Will fit it and let you guys know how it turns out.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007 - 02:52 pm, by: Christian Zimmer(Zimmi)
Its where Alan and his mum go to party!!
LOL.
Looks really good Alan, I love it how your inteior has 2 completely different styles. Hopefully we can meet up and you can show me how to change a few of the lights.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007 - 10:27 am, by: Antonio Hunt(Carajo)
Hey Alan what do you think of those modules that you used? i was thinking of using them in the wheel arches behind the wheels to light inside of the wheels up. What do you think?
Wednesday, November 14, 2007 - 11:56 am, by: Alan Chow(Alanchow)
The Modules i used are ok. They didn't quite fit in the gear surround so i had to trim it down. But they're definately water tight. Would be perfect in the wheel arch.
Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 10:02 pm, by: Daniel Gottke(Dr_s0arer)
hey Antonio and everybody else i read this a while back and sourced out the LEDs Antonio used for his and brought some and have just completed doing the blue conversion myself as i had to replace my old Lcd screen and figured i might aswell do it at the same time so here is some more pictures using Antonio's method for anyone else interested in doing it.
James Collenette Tinkerer Derbyshire 2.5TT Factory 5 Speed R154 and LSD
Tuesday, July 10, 2012 - 06:22 am, by: James Collenette(J800pan)
I think i may have to give this ago, i did a similar thing a couple of years back and managed to sort the lights out on the buttons but the display was very dim, so dim you cant see it illuminate until dusk and then only just! At the time i tried loads of different LEDs still being left with the same issue. After seeing these pictures i may have to give it another try!Im only after a stock look, nothing crazy...