Evening guys

 

Seen as my car is off the road till I replace the broken ignition barrel, and I've had to pull apart the dashboard, I've decided to replace the lights in the control pods with red LEDs. Everything seems to work as far as I can tell, but the lights are really really dim, and I'm starting to think I've made a mistake with either my LED's or my resistors. I'm hoping someone can help.

 

I was under the impression from reading the guides in the FAQ section that I needed 5mm LED's and some 470 Ohm resistors. The resistors and LED's came from Maplins. The resistors I'm using have the colours yellow violet red on them. The packaging says 1/4 W 5%. The LED's have no markings on them.

 

When I attach them without the resistor they light up really brightly, but get pretty warm so I guess they wouldn't be safe like that.

 

As you can no doubt tell electronics isn't my strong suite!

 

Any help would be great.

John

You need a resistor on an led to prevent overheat and complete destruction of the led. Place the resistor on the long + leg of the led. They then will only light one way when plugged into the dash or pod.

Yellow violet and red is 472 ohms so should be fine.

Thanks for the input groover. The way I have them set up is with the resistor soldiered in place of the long leg, and like I said they work when plugged in, they are just really dim. Maybe red isn't a great colour to use.

 

Cheers

John

Should still be bright, have you made sure the dimmer is up full on the dash? What are all the colours on the resistor, you may have too higher resistence making them dim.

 

Also and i have had this in the past with red leds where the positive and negative had been reversed in the led and the long leg was on the - leg, is your led clear so you can see the diode shape in the dome? long leg + should be the small filament in the led.

Edited November 7, 201213 yr by groover

Resistor colour code

 

 

Bill Bloggs Raped Our Young Gladys Behind Violets Garden Wall

 

Or

Black 0

Brown 1

Red 2

Orange 3

Yellow 4

Green 5

Blue 6

Violet 7

Grey 8

White 9

 

So Yellow = 4

Violet = 7

Red is the third band so that is the multiplier = (2) x 0 or in other words 00

 

so resistance is = 4700 ohm not 472 ohm

 

or if you like 4700 ohm = 4.7k ohm

 

which is why your LEDS are so dim!!

 

470 ohm = yellow violet brown

 

However

 

Ohms law states I = V/R

 

so for decent current (I) through the LED to get full brightness (say 20mA) at voltage (V)

 

then 0.020A = 12/R or in other words R = V/I

 

therefore R (resistance) = 600 ohms

 

Nearest evivalnt 680 ohm

 

Which is BLUE GREY BROWN

 

but yeah 470 ohm (YELLOW VIOLET BROWN) (a couple extra mA) would work well enough so go for it

 

Wattage = 12V - approx 1 Volt (voltage dropped across the LED so 11V x .02A = 0.22W so 0.25 W or greater is fine

 

Hope that explains it

 

Rich

Edited November 7, 201213 yr by dicky96

Jackpot dicky! I misread the color codes on the back of the packet and was using 4700 ohm resistors! In my defense I'm colourblind :P

 

That should sort it out I'm sure.

 

Cheers

John

i was working from a 5 band resistor where band 4 the multiplier, but it does make sense that the ohmage is too high, 4700 i im surprised you got any light at all lol

 

Send me an EMAIL groover@300zx.co.uk with your address i have hundreds of 470 and 520 resistors, i will send you a pack.

 

Cheers

Graham

i was working from a 5 band resistor where band 4 the multiplier, but it does make sense that the ohmage is too high, 4700 i im surprised you got any light at all lol

 

Send me an EMAIL groover@300zx.co.uk with your address i have hundreds of 470 and 520 resistors, i will send you a pack.

 

Cheers

Graham

 

Do you happen to have 2 EL strips? lol

So basicly You want something like this yes?

 

1) https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/P-9kRelQsLVB6s-7gBR1a9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink

2) https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/DiU2zqFxzBpIRfhTSGVJL9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink

Do you happen to have 2 EL strips? lol

 

No i have about 5 :biggrin:

No i have about 5 :biggrin:

 

:huh:

:huh:

 

Haha.....he might be referring to the ones he has from me :rolleyes: :headvswal :nono: :rant: :xxx:

 

Spoilt for choice in this post for appropriate smileys, so here's another :biggrin:

Im not sure You asking about this but...

 

1) You buying this LEDs (the one on right side) - https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aXFAIPDbFBM4ti9SnxTZx9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink

2) Remove little bulb from oryginal housing + remove new LEDs from housing. Put LED and oryginal housing together - https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cWjxAC0D2OnC6aJTq0gR6dMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink .

 

TA DA :tt2: ! Thats it :) - https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/P-9kRelQsLVB6s-7gBR1a9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink , https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/DiU2zqFxzBpIRfhTSGVJL9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink .

Edited November 8, 201213 yr by Draxan

don't forget that there are another 4 on the underside of the clocks that also illuminate them...

don't forget that there are another 4 on the underside of the clocks that also illuminate them...

 

I think this is more of a pod thread.

 

So as not to confuse, not everybody as these on the clocks that shine back although the mould is there for this purpose on every set :biggrin:

Edited November 8, 201213 yr by phutumsch

 

So as not to confuse :biggrin:

 

LOL.. you just confused me.... :D

LOL.. you just confused me.... :D

 

I refer to these :biggrin:

 

Cleaning the sink at the same time??

WOW...!!!! Lol thank feckbi failed maths.

OK I popped a tutoria in the FAQ storage section - All you need to know about LEDs

 

Hopefully this may be of help to anyone messing around with LED lighting on their car

 

If you like it feel free to add it to the tutorials section permanently

 

If not I only wasted about an hour of my time lol

 

Rich

Edited November 8, 201213 yr by dicky96

Cheers for all the info everyone. I re-did the first pod with different resistors, looks loads better now! Gonna do the second pod tonight.

 

Got sidetracked removing the Indiglo dials from my dash, but gonna fit a load of red LED's in there too. Maybe even a strip light.

 

Sadly when the Indiglo dials were fitted they were glued down to the old dials and have damaged them. Anyone have any ideas where I can get a new set of dials? I can pick a whole dash cluster off ebay for about £40 so i might just do that.

 

Cheers

John

Get yourself a set of Uk clocks if you can, no need for a speedo convertor then and led them up

 

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i have a Set of S1 Jap spec clocks for sale

Thats cool Mark, is it for a TT or NA? Mines a NA. That said my speedo and water temp gauge are spotless, its just the RPM and fuel gauges that are screwed. Would they be swappable?

 

John

they are for TT but the units them selfs are the same

RPM/Fuel/temp drop right in .. Speedo >> i would do is just check your speed against GPS/Satnav but you supposed to do this

when u have fitted EL lights or been playing with them anyways

 

£34 Posted m8 .. Paypal is ( Mark@drcorc.co.uk )

 

 

Mark

Mine is an N/A and i have UK clocks ( TT) the boost gauge obviously doesnt work for some reason :biggrin: