I have a question regarding the side markers, on the
front bumper. I already have some clear JDM ones and
I'd like to add LED lights to them. Radio shack sells
some 5mm 3.6v LEDs and I'd like to put four in each
lense, but I'm wondering if that would be too bright.

I figured I'd get the LEDs, resistors, and the LED holders and just drill holes in the side markers.

Any ideas?

 

4 wont be too bright. radioshack doesnt have the brightest LEDs around. Ive put 32 in a reflector a few times.

Id reccomend trying superbrightleds.com for your needs, the 6000mcd@30degrees would be my reccomendation.

holders dont really help, as for any holder Ive seen they require access to front and back of mounting sheet. you only have access to the back. I reccomend using silicone from home depot, good hold, good seal. just drill the hole, put the LED in and seal it in.

 

I just pick up about 30 5mm 10,000 mcd, I don' really know what this number is. Any idea?

I'm planing on putting 4-5 in each side marker. I'm going to put them in my clears when I get them using 470 ohm resistors and just silicone like you recommend. Thanks ares.

 

thats brightness. in microcandellas. might be sketchy on the details, but I think they shoot it onto a graph, find where 50% of the light is, and thats the angle, then they measure the light output at that point.

 

How do you determine what ohm resistor to use? Say you are using 10,000 mcd as oppose to 6,000 mcd LED's? What happen if you increase the number of LED's in a chain, say you used 10 instead of 5? Do you need to increase or decrease the ohm resistor? Thanks

 

the mcd USSUALLY doesnt really effect the voltage they require. so 10,000 is same as 6000(in this case their the same led with a different output pattern, same amount of light over a smaller range, =more MCD)

you cant do 5 or 10 white.

ignoring the details, a white led uses 3.4volts each, in series you add the volts, and the car can only support 12-14volts. so beyond 4 you cant supply enough volts. if you wanted 2 vs 3, youd have a higher ohm for 2, your restricting current more. for details go here, takes the guess work out of it.

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...Bowden/led.htm

 

Thanks for the link Ares. Last question for you, if you're using LED's for brake lights, parking light, do you still need resistor? or is it only needed for use in turn signals?

 

depends what your doing exactly, all of those bulbs have 12volts from the car, which is too much for any LED, so yeah theyd always need a resistor. my bulbs already have the resistors in them of course. but yeah if your doing anything yourself, you need to take the current down.

 

what gauge wires are we looking at?

 

22 works fine. Ive never found smaller than that. LEDs are pulling hardly any current.