cheesy9999

I want to put from indicator lights in for my neons, fog lights, subwoofers, etc. I have a 18 gauge power cable running from the battery to the cabin for various things (neons, relays, etc). It is protected by a fuse at the battery with a 10 amp inline fuse. If I am going to install these little LEDs with resistors (approx 500 ohms) do I need to put a smaller fuse on them? I noticed the resistors get fairly warm (but not HOT).

Anyone have any clue or am I asking at the wrong place?

Subrage

iTrader: (6)

led dont take much power (off hand i cant tell you how much power it takes to blow them). you can run a 1k ohm resistor it might be a little dimmer(if any) but probably wont get warm.

you wont be near 10 amps of current through the led. you will be down near 12mA's

EDIT: its late for me i might not be making any sence

cheesy9999

That's true, I guess my real question is, is there any chance of these little resistors getting hot and starting a fire? I tried both 560 ohms and 1k ohms and they look the same about the same brightness. I might as well use the one that heats up less.

Subrage

iTrader: (6)

use the biggest one you can that wont make the led dimmer. and you will be cool

WhiteRabbit

resistors are meant to get hot. thats how they work, by taking the extra current that you dont want and turning it to heat. thats how you dumb down teh voltage so you dont fry your LED's, dont worry abotu those. if they get too hot they will spark and pop, and i would be shocked if that started an engine fire (unless you have gas leaking all over your engine [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/IMG] )

you should be fine. think of how hot your engine is compard to those resistors!

cheesy9999

This is true, the engine is MUCH hotter than little resistors, but I was worried because they were going to be in the dash area.

I actually put the lights in yesterday, and they look pretty cool. I also made a switch panel on the lower part of the dash (next to the power outlet) with 4 switches.

top to bottom:

Blue - Interior neons: neons are wired to the switch
Blue - Exterior neons: realy for under car neons
Yellow - Fog lights: relay for fogs
Red - Subwoofer amp: wire comes from rear of HU to switch then on to trunk where the amp is
Flashing Red - security system indicator: I will be getting a relay to take power off of accessory wire from HU to turn this light OFF when the car is turned ON using a relay (but it's fake...I don't have a security system [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG])

I love wiring up my car [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG] I'll post pics soon. I'm planning on also tapping into the overhead lights and putting a relay on the neons so that my neons turn on when I a) open the doors b) unlock the car (with keyless entry) c) turn on the overhead lights for any reason