how to hook up led's

[02silverep3]

I was wondering what stuff I would need to hook up a led in my car. Of course the led, but how do I get power to it. Do I need a toggle switch and a resistor to get power from my battery. Or can I tap off the interior lights. I am using this because I put limo tint on the guage cluster wintow so you cant see in it without some lights behind it. The normal red lights arent bright enough for daytime use. So I need the LED to light it up. Any help would be great. Thanks

[Brettnyt]

... why the hell did you put limo tint over your guage cluster....?

[DrunkMonk]

limo tint huh?.. not like 20% tint, but limo tint... hmm i definatly have to see a day/night picture of this.....

oh, and to answer your question

step
1: open fuse box and find fuse labeled 15and unplug it
2: At gauge cluster slowly remove limo tint..
3: replace fuse #15
4: realize what a bad idea that was.. and your done. pieceocake

[Z26]

Originally posted by 02silverep3
I was wondering what stuff I would need to hook up a led in my car. Of course the led, but how do I get power to it. Do I need a toggle switch and a resistor to get power from my battery. Or can I tap off the interior lights. I am using this because I put limo tint on the guage cluster wintow so you cant see in it without some lights behind it. The normal red lights arent bright enough for daytime use. So I need the LED to light it up. Any help would be great. Thanks

:'(

WHY?

[02silverep3]

What I have done looks so sweet, your going to regret talkin crap because as soon as you guys see pictures your going to go do it to. Just imagine, during the day when you look at it it's all black, then when you turn you car on the LED lights up behind the glass and wahla, there it is. And at night same thing but when you turn you car lights on the LED goes off. It looks really good. If your lucky i'll post pics then all of you can do it to your car and say it was your idea:) by the way I didnt ask for a smart ass reply, if you dont know the answer dont reply. Thank you

[ATRIOT]

(psssstt. I think he's a vampire and only drives his EP at night)

Just kidding, post pics then we shall pass judgement on your sorry ass. :D

Pm Recognition or Ocelaris, those two seem to have done alot with LED's in their interiors.

[recognition]

So let me get this straight, you want 'extra' leds to shine onto the instrument face?
or
brighter leds from behind the guages?

Leds from the front would be easiest. Having them switching on when you turn your ignition on,

You'll need the correct resistor for the supply and led type. (Assume 14v for your supply)
use the resistor calculator here.

Then find a switching positive and tap into it with your led and resistor, and then earth it.

Let me know if you want greater detail!

Your idea sounds interesting! I'd like to see how it turns out, I got some more little projects I'm working on... :)

ATRIOT thanks for the reference!:D

[sniperSI]

Yeah, I Know what that kid is doing, You can see it on some new lexus's and acuras, its pitch black then it lights up goes black again when the cars off, cool idea, but You could of used something less then limo tint, 20% or 30% would of been fine, you wouldnt of been able to see the cluster either way because there is NO light at all behind the tint. Like when you have tinted windows at night and you turn your lights on inside the car, you cant see shit out the windows, it's all reflected. I bet if you change the tint it will work the same w/o extra lights and w/o, ripping your dash open.

[oogy-boogy]

Hmmm...neat idea. I'd like to see the finished results.

I've also done the led Mod that Ocelaris posted up (as well as Recognition) and it's sweet, but quite labor intensive. I'd be willing to help you out as well....

Drop me a pm..

[02silverep3]

I thought about doing it with lighter tint but, some of them actually apear to be grey rather than black. And with the whole light issue I think I would run into the same problem even if I used a lighter tint. Also I ripped off the tint because the next day I could see little bubbles in it and duing the day it kinda looked like crap. Does anyone have any other ideas on how to tint the plastic. Do you think that the smoke spray would work, would the spray be compleyly transparent, or would it blur. Any help would be cool. Later

[chubbychu]

can you see in during the day?

[priest6479]

Well if a cop pulls you over in the middle of the day and asks you if you know how fast you were going, you can safely say no.why didn't you just use a can of black Krylon?

[02silverep3]

I didnt use black krylon because it isnt transparent. And yes I can see it during the day, that is the whole point of the LED. It lights up the the space between the plastic window and the guages, SO I CAN SEE!!! Gees if I new this was going to be so contriversial (i have no idea how to spell this) I wouldnt have mentioned it hear. Later