Ok, so i'm interested in making my own LED strips to be put under the dash, the seats, and maybe in the rear behind the rear seat (cargo area, i don't know what you wanna call it). So my question is, should i buy a couple high-output LED's to put under each seat/place or make my own strip of better than regular LED's (non-high output but not just normal ones either)? Would the high-output LED's be enough to light up the floor space in front of them? My plan to make a strip would consist of melting all of the LED's into a clear ruler and hooking them up from there. and repeating that as many times as neccessary to have enough light for my liking. Let me know what you guys think. if any of you have done it before? Or any better ways? And if I were to use the ruler method how would i Know how large of a resistor to use in series with each "string" of lights? Should the LED's be hooked up in parallel or series? Lots of questions here. Let me know if you need anything else from me. Thanks a lot!
Kev

please don't tell me to jsut buy some. I realize I can do this but it's easier for me to just make them and not to mention the fact that I have a certain appreciation for doing things by myself.

 

anyone...? No-one ever done custom LED's?

 

I have done them i redid my whole truck with LED's from all of the switches to the front floors and the rear floors. I bought blue LED's off of ebay that came prewired with a positive and a ground and had a resistor sodered on to it alrdy so all i had to do was attach the power and ground. All the floor led's i wired to a switch in my dashboard if you want you can check them out on my car domain in my signature.I used led bars for the fronts (no pic on car domain) and the led's i bought off ebay for everything else including the rear floor. I glued them on to the seat track, 2for each seat so 4 in total and pointed them to the floor the look really good. I did have a problem with all the power need i had a 16 gauge power connecting 4 led's and 2 led bars and it was melting up on me because of to much power (dumb move on my part should have relized) i replace it with a 6 gauge wire which is getting the job done real good. As for your resistor problem i dont know because like i said the led's i bought has resistors and everything pre solderd on.

 

Thanks for the input. I'd really like to make them myself though. Do you know if the ones you have are high output? (for the ones on the floor) or just a bunch of small regular LED's strung together? thanks
Kev

 

I looked up the transaction and this is what the description is:

Pre-soldered on 25cm cables with resistor for 12-15 volts
Long lasting (Over 100,000hrs,) Low Power Consumption, IC Compatible, Outdoor/ Indoor Lighting
Each LEDs Intensity: Max:13,000mcd
Material: InGaN
Emitting Color: 5mm Blue
Lens Color: Water Clear
Viewing Angle: 60° Beams to cover more area,not pinpoint spotting!
DC Forward Voltage: 12V-15V
Forward Current: 20mA

 

andthere actual single led's not just a bunch of them put togethor

 

oh, hmm, maybe i will into buying them. lol. that sounds a lot like what i'm looking to make. How much did those set you back if you dont mind my asking?
and btw, i looked at ur pics, holy ****! that's a lot of upgrades. How hard was it to get all those LED's into the dash like that? Sweet looking car though! Mine has a red interior so i'd get red lights. Better on the eyes anyways methinks

 

Thanks! The led's i bought were from china and i hate buying from them but thats all you can find on ebay is china dealers so. The wiring was a bitch but worth it lol, alot of soldering and im a newbie solder. I actually had to buy 4 led bulbs for the hvac controls because the led's just couldnt light them up good.
Heres the links:
The blues i bought: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-30PCS-12V-Wired-5mm-Blue-LED-Wide-Viewing-F-Ship_W0QQitemZ120128118609QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBI_El ectronic_Components?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

Heres the red version: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-30PCS-12V-Wired-5mm-Red-LED-Wide-Viewing-F-Ship_W0QQitemZ120128112700QQcmdZViewItemQQptZBI_El ectronic_Components?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116


The hvac bulbs just incase you were wondering (they come with 2 hvac needs 4 so i ordered 2):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2pcs-168-194-2825-5-Power-LED-Spark-Blue-Wedge-Bulb_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713Q2em153Q2el126 2QQcategoryZ33713QQihZ009QQitemZ190270636430QQtcZp hoto

in red:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2pcs-168-194-W5W-Refractor-5-Power-LED-Red-Wedge-Bulb_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713Q2em153Q2el126 2QQcategoryZ33713QQihZ009QQitemZ190270065707QQtcZp hoto

 

HVAC bulbs? Would those be the ones behind the dash? i dumb w/ that. and how bad was it taking out all the panels to get at the lights? Im thinking of doing that, but due to the age of my vehicle (1992) I wanna make sure it's not gonna be wayyy too intensive before i start. Besides the fact that my step-dad hates every add-on i wanna put on it, im sure taking all of the interior panels out is not high on his list...
And looking at the lights you bought, i'm thinking I will make them myself, lol, I'm an electronics student (and really SHOULD already know this...) but o well. next time i'll do my research. All you gotta do to make your own LED's like they did is use ohm's law to figure out how big the resistor value has to be to put on each LED. and the LED's can prolly be found at radioshack. I'm gonna look now actually.....and im real good at soldering plenty of practice there my friend.

 

The hvac bulbs are the ones used in the heating and ac controls. As for taking the panels out it wasnt hard the blazer dash trims comes out in like 4 screws then you just pop out all the switches. The switches them self like the 4x4 controls and wiper controls just clip togethor so flat head screw driver and unclip them exposing the insidesthen go from there. But yea im a computer enginnerring major freshman and im taking 2 electric classes dc/ac and circuit anaylsis and im learning about all that crap now. It was just easier 4 me to buy them off ebay lol.