How do you hook up LED lights? lots of them

[Garrett Powered]

I never done it. Do you just solder them together an wire them up?

 

Or will they be dim if you use a lot?

[J]

i'd like to know this also, i'm going to make a version of the DTS tails for my lumi

[Garrett Powered]

I hooked up three in a row and hooked it up to a jumper pack.

 

I got 20 super-ultra bright red and 5 ultra brite white total.

 

So I took 3 reds and soldered them together like this +YYY-.

what happened is they lit up then they got dim after a few minutes they barely were putting any light.

[pwmin]

i'm def no expert, but you usually use resistors.

[cutlass1991]

You DEFINITELY need resistors. First you need to find out exactly what LED you are going to be dealing with and make sure they are all the same. Most distributors that sell LEDs will have spec sheets to go along with it. You really only need a few specs though, including the Forward Voltage, Forward current, and the optimum output in milliwatts. Here is a calculator that is very useful for this type of thing:

 

http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

 

 

Keep in mind that this calculator will give you resistor values that may or may not be standard values that you can get a radio shack. Remember that you can always add resistors in series to get the value you need. For example, say I needed a resistance of 56 ohms.. They don't make 56 ohm resistors, but they do make 47ohm and 10ohm resistors so they can be connected in series to make a 57ohm resistor which is close enough. Also, most LEDs have a pretty good tolerance if you are off +/-10 ohms or so, just try to get it as close as possible with what you have to work with.

 

 

 

When soldering LED's, make sure to use a low heat iron. I'd probably use a 30 watt. Get the High Tech Silver-Bearing Solder with a 0.015 diameter. It's the easiest to work with.

 

LEDs can only take contact from the iron for 3-5 seconds generally because they are so sensitive to heat. This really shouldn't be a problem if you are using small diameter solder, but just remember to do it as quickly as you can.

 

 

The most important thing to know about soldering LEDs is that they must be connected the right way, that is to say the two leads coming out of the LED can't be reversed. The cathode is the short lead and there may be a slight flat on the body of round LEDs. If you can see inside the LED the cathode is the larger electrode. Remember anode is positive(+) and cathode is negative(-).

 

 

 

Don't forget heat shrink tubing to make the project look clean.

[SimonStern]

I put two blue LEDs in my regal with a 470Ohm resistor on each one (I believe that's what I used) they run from direct 12v, I have them running through a relay so they come on when the car shuts off (LEDs dont take much current about 20MA a piece), makes a nice addition to car security .