Making LED lights

[bobs409]

Has anyone here made LED tail lights from scratch?

Radio shack's website lists alot of LED's but they operate on 2.2 to 2.4 volts. Would need a way to cut the vehicle voltage down. Anyone know how to do that? (lots of diodes and resistors and such I suppose)

I know alot of us here like to build our own stuff and doing these would not only be fun but might be alot cheaper than buying already made. And you would get exactly what you want without settling for what someone else has made.

This would be great for those stepside fans that have been asking for LEDs too!

[67cst]

hey bob, i bought some 1157 led bulbs, they are a direct swap, you just plug them in and i think they have something like 12 or so led's, they look awesome and each bulb costs around 9 bucks

[obsesive23]

I have used lots of LED's in several different applications, you need to take a look at the voltage coming in if it's 12 volt then string them toghter till you get close in volts. Stinging them together meaing pos to neg and continue till you get what you need. This is the way I have done them many times. Becarfull I have burt up many LED's doing this I'm sure there is a better way but this is how I did it. There are many different LED's from colors to intensity make sure you pay attention to the ones you get. Good luck and hope this helps.

[71swb4x4]

I bought 12 volt LED's at my local radio shack. They had a whole drawer of them.

[68C15]

what ever you do, do not put them in series. if one goes bad they all go out. kind of like the old style Xmas lights.

[bobs409]

Thanks guys, I'll have to see if I can get 12 volt LED's then. I didn't see any on the website.

If they are available, should be a snap to making your own tail lights. Buy or make a circuit board to mount them, (trimming to the shape of the light area) and wire it up.

Sounds too simple though. There must be a catch somewhere...

[Orange '71 GMC]

Don't fool with Radio Shack - you will have more money and confusion tied up in one spot quicker than you can figure it out.

Buy them off of eBay from this guy. I have made several purchases with him, and they are excellent quality. Most of his Buy It Now auctions even come with the resistors for 12v applications. And I dare you to compare the prices to Radio Shack.

LED's aren't that bad. Just use a resistor, and solder your connections. And remember, they are polar (+/-) sensitive.

[bobs409]

Well, I bought 1 12V LED ($1.29) from Radio Shack today to see how it would look and there is no way these can be used for tail lights. Not bright enough.

These are more of something you would see in an older stereo, or toy or something such as that. Would be perfect for a warning light on the dash or ??? but that's about it.

[68w/sbc406]

Originally Posted by 68C15

what ever you do, do not put them in series. if one goes bad they all go out. kind of like the old style Xmas lights.

me being an electrician i agree 100%. it also decreases the power the farther you go down. never done it with LEDS but if you wire to light bulbs in series the second one will be alot dimmer. i went to a shop in portland that delt in circut boards and small electronics and bought 2 white leds (the same that come in the led flash lights) and they knew exactly which resistor i needed to drop the voltage from 12 to 2.2 or what ever it was. i put them in my roll pan for licence plate lights and it works great. i asked a cop if they were legal and he said that he could read my plate better than other cars with stock lights.
P.S. Radio Shack sucks. they never know what you need and send you some where else to get it. JMHO

[Putter]

Radio Shack...You've got questions....They've got minumum wage kids that really don't want to work and have more questions than you do.