I just got some LED sidemarkers and I wanted to hook them up in my apartment to see how they work before I hook them up to the car. What can I use to test them out? Also, there is one red wire and one black one. I assume the red one goes to the power source (red wire for parking lights, in this case) and the black one is ground. Is this correct?

 

thatd be correct. and the car battery will work fine. you need 12-14v DC current. wherever you get that; AC-DC inverter, one of those big brick batteries, whatever, the car battery is just the easiest.

 

just open your hood and touch the wires to the battery.

black/ground to - and red to +

 

even easier...

use the yellow and black wires from a HDD power cable this is a 12v DC line.

m

 

I used a Christmas lights thing to do it. I'm doing a custom LED just haven't finished.

 

I used to use the car battery for testing until I found an easier way. Just go to Radio Shack and get a 12V remote battery. Here's the link to the part. It's about the same diameter as a AAA, but about half the length. It's what I use to test the shift light kits I make.

-Chris

 

as do I I thought it was a camera battery, whatever, it works nicely, I also have a 3v watch battery that will run most LEDs without the need for a resistor. wont find these around the average house though I dont think, I didnt have them lieing around anyway.

I did have a jumper battery which is nice, but bulky.

 

hook up 2 AA's or AAA's and a 9V. Im sure u have that somewhere around the house. If not go to your car and use the battery!