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anyone know anything about making yer own strings of LED lights..
since they are so small yet powerful i was thinkin of stickin one or two behind each door handle on the inside and outside of my car.. so that they would light up like the dome light does when you unlock the doors..

im aware that this would be a big pain in the *** to do.. but more than anything i mostly just wanna know what it takes to rig up yer own strand of LED lights.. i know they need a pos and a ground.. but dont they also need a lil resistor or something..

 
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You should put a resistor there to limit the current. Then just wire it all up in series.

 
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where do you get a resistor

 
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like radio shack.

 
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what kind of resistor.. whats a series.. i dont know anything about electricity cept that tazers hurt like hell.. do i just plug everything straight into the + end of the battery then ground it or will it just blow up if i do that.. what kind of fuse do i use.. what gauge wire.. do i need a relay and if so what kind..

i need this broken down step by step i dont know what im doing

i know im an idiot..

 
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Dont jump right into building stuff with LEDs... Start off by researching and learning

 
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but i want lights under my door handles

yer right though.. happen to know of any good places to learn?

 
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basically connecting things in series means you connect them into a string. and you'll need a resistor to limit the current for led or else you'll blow up your leds.

if you just want lights, why not just go get some of those neon or led tubes that you can plug into your cig. lighter plug?

 
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cuz those tubes dont fit under my door handles..

 
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Use Duct tape and stick them Under your door handles...

 
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gaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahhah god dammit that was funny as hell 2 read. goin in my sig. damn man u cracked me up


[sorry for the off topic post]

 
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They also make a kit. You are still going to have to understand very basic circuitry and have the ***** to get current from inside the door (e.g., make a hole somewhere under your handle), but it's been done.

Auto Accessory Store

 
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woohoo i made it into someones sig!!!!

ok ive done a lil research into this and so far im pretty sure i can handle this.. only problem im hitting so far is the same one ive had for a while..

i dont know what kind of relay to use.. i understand that its a "electricty1" to "electricty2" ... our cars are 12v(?) and so i gather that if you hook 12v up to a lil led light its gunna cook the hell out of it..
so i would need a relay that goes 12v-?? most relays that i find listed for automotive use are 12v-30a.. so is that what i need or do i need something else..

ive found tons of LED diy stuff for computers and stuff from wall outlets.. but everytime i get find something car related its just trying to sell me some underbody kit..

 
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You do not need a relay. A relay will eventually wear out and fail, and the idea behind a relay isn't to prevent something from being cooked by too much voltage. What you need is a resistor. Study up on those, instead.

 
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"give a man a fish you feed him for a day.. teach a man to fish and he will will be too weak from hunger to remember anything you said"

just tell me damnit *cries*

ok ok... back to google to learn more.. and thanks for the info on the relay..

 
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Off the top of my drunken head: Relay terminals - 85 and 86 are the positive and ground for the door switches (or dome light if you like); 87 runs to constant 12v (ie from the ignition harness or even the battery directly); 30 runs through a pair of 470-Ohm resistors (if you're using blue or white LED's) each one leading to an LED on each door.

 
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I have wired lights for my outside door handles. If you are still interested, here is what you need to do:

1) Buy the Lights.
At the time I did this, I used cheapo lamps from Radio Shack. They are small red dealies that barely fit under my door handles, but they worked. However, I would recommend the Varad ILK series LEDs. They are available on CarDomain. I like them because a) they are 12v compatable, so you don't need a resistor, and b) they have a base you can mount somewhere and then bend the LED leads, allowing you to "aim" the LED to some extent. This would be nice for your door handles. If only I knew about these things sooner! -sigh-

2) Buy a Relay.
You WILL need a relay for this project due to the way our Civics are wired. The problem is the dome light wire (along with alot of other things in our cars) is negatively switched. This means that the wire you will be tapping into will have a negative charge. So, what you'll want to do is get a relay and tap the dome light wire and the 12V constant wire in your steering column harness and use that for the switch on the relay. This makes running wires to your lights a lot easier!

3) Tap The Wires.
The wires youll need to tap are the 12V constant (meaning it gets a constant supply of voltage from the battery regardless of wether or not the car is on... or not) and the dome light wire. The 12V constant is a yellow wire (i think) that is in your steering column harness. To get to it youll have to remove the plastic panels around your steering column. The dome light wire is a green wire with a yellow stripe (i think) that runs down your A pillar and into a gray harness near your hood release lever. Unless you take out your seats to do this, be prepared to contort yourself into some pretty weird positions because you will be spending a lot of time under your dash there and its not very comfortable.

4) Hook up the Relay, Part I.
Ok now you should be ready to hook up the circuit on the relay that will act as the "switch". The two wires you need for this are the ones that you just tapped. I would recommend using some quick disconnect plugs to attach the wires to the relay. This will give you the "cleanest" possible connection and saves you from having to solder and whatnot. You can get those at radio shack. Anywho, connect the 12v constant and the dome light wire to pins 85 and 86 (i think) on your relay.

5) Hook up the Relay, Part II.
For this part I would recommend you use the relay to switch the positive wire on your lights, this way you can ground your lights right at the door handle and not have to run so much wire. So, what I did is i placed another tap on the 12v constant wire just before it connected to the relay, and ran that wire back into the relay. Kind of weird but i needed a positive power source and it was right there so... yeah. Then, from the last terminal of your relay, you need to run wire(s) that split off to go to either door. Im sure you can figure out how to run them and get them into your doors. This is the creative part. Use zip ties to make things more neater.

6) Finally, Install the Lights.
Almost there! Find a DIY on how to remove your door panels, there are some good ones on this site or you can google for one. Once you have your panels off, feed your positive wires through your doors out to your handles. At this point youll need to start thinking about exactly how you want to set up your lights. This will depend on what lights you got, etc, but your wire is now at your door handle, so you should be able to figure out how you want to set up your particular lights. For the ground, I used a bolt near the bottom of my door, its about a 1ft run from the bolt to the door handle. So now you should have a pos (switched) wire at both door handles and and neg (ground) at both door handles. All that you need to do is attach these to your lighting product and you should be set!

Remember, as others have said on this thread, if you buy normal LEDs you will need to include a resistor in your circuit so you dont fry them. This is why i like those varad ones, they were designed to be used in cars.

Anyway I hope this will be of some assistance to you. If anyone can improve on this, please speak up. I am not a master electrician and this was one of the first projects I did on my car, but it has worked wonderfully for me for several months now.

 
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I jumped into it and turned out okay

Read my blue glow needle diy in lighting; it explains how to connect leds.