Underseat Led Diy
09-17-2006, 10:38 PM
#11
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I'll be doing this shortly. Might I suggest a few things to those who would do it... Use a piece of pastic for the surface, and a heat gun to mold it. Use LED holders to mount the LEDs and fasten the plastic to the seat. Also, to conserve power and make the LEDs and resistors last longer, put 2 LEDs on 1 470 ohm resistor. Optimally for our cars, 3 LEDs and a 150 ohm resistor will put out the most light for the least power.
09-18-2006, 07:19 AM
#12
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There were a few things I *could have* done differently, but I got my LEDs off eBay prewired with a resistor and about a foot of wire attached. (eBay - PlasmaLED) I didn't want to spend anything else on getting other parts, and I don't have a heat gun, but it probably would look better if you did get something like that.
DTN, you don't have underseats and yet you still got 2nd at NOPI?? fing02.gif
DTN, you don't have underseats and yet you still got 2nd at NOPI?? fing02.gif
11-22-2006, 01:36 PM
#16
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How did you get it so bright? I am using 4 lights under the seat, 2 to each 150ohm resistor, I wired them into the cigarette lighter, I'm using red LED's, the brightest Radioshack had. On underside of dash have 3 all on one 150ohm resistor, but no where near as bright as your setup. Is it because I am using the cig lighter or are Red LED's just less bright cause of different in wave length of red light?
11-22-2006, 04:14 PM
#17
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Your first mistake was using radioshack stuff. Use RS as a last resort only, it's cheap and overpriced. Go on ebay and order like 20 "super/ultra bright" 3mm LEDs for $10. Use 9 under each seat and make sure you sand down the tips until they're flat so they shine 100 degrees instead of 20 degrees.
Radio shack stuff sucks, and it's getting cheaper. I bought a bridge rectifier and a bunch of diodes and about 1/4 of it was inop.
Radio shack stuff sucks, and it's getting cheaper. I bought a bridge rectifier and a bunch of diodes and about 1/4 of it was inop.
11-22-2006, 05:17 PM
#18
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^^ Yeah, don't get anything from RS, such a ripoff.
I got a set of 30 prewired 5mm LEDs for like $20 or so. Really nice that it was all prewired too!
On each side, I have about 5 or 6 LEDs under the seat, not shaved, then under the dash, I have about 4 or 5 shaved ones. I took a dremel tool to mine to shave them down.
It's not super bright, but it looks really good at night. During the day you can't even tell that they're on except for the fact that you can see a hint of whatever color on your feet and on the seat adjustment handle.
I got a set of 30 prewired 5mm LEDs for like $20 or so. Really nice that it was all prewired too!
On each side, I have about 5 or 6 LEDs under the seat, not shaved, then under the dash, I have about 4 or 5 shaved ones. I took a dremel tool to mine to shave them down.
It's not super bright, but it looks really good at night. During the day you can't even tell that they're on except for the fact that you can see a hint of whatever color on your feet and on the seat adjustment handle.
11-22-2006, 05:23 PM
#19
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Man it sucked when i bought that stuff too. I drafted a schematic for sound powered LEDs, everything was calculated and should have worked right. Bridge rectifier did not work and it ruined the whole project as that was the main power supply for it. Can you immagine the frustration? Just don't trust radioshack unless you have to.