so I just blinded myself a little
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From: NV
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so I just blinded myself a little
Meet this little guy. I plugged him into a used 9v battery and got some eye damage it was so bright. Its a 1 watt LED I was gonna use for turn signals, but on 14v I imagine it will outshine the headlights. The only other problem is in about 10 seconds that thing was burning up hot. These pics were taken in my room with sunlight shining through the window. 
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From: NV
Rep Power: 811 hmm actually i just thought of something...if i use that for signal only in the front, it prolly wont get hot enough cause it is flashing and not very long usually. i'm gonna make a prototype and have someone test it out.
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Rep Power: 260 well, if you use it the back won't the same principle apply? it is always on when the lights are on but at a lower voltage and when it is flashing it uses more voltage so it will be brighter. wouldn't that make it okay to use it up front?? mybe i am missing something?
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From: NV
Rep Power: 811 well this is not an actual bulb. its an led on a circuitboard with + and - connections. the front signals have two filaments and separate wires for each one. so the parking light is the low filament. with the custom one I would make the big bright led only flash with the signal and then put some smaller leds around it as parking lights.
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From: NV
Rep Power: 811 what is SMD? the place i get mine they are just naked leds that need resistors and stuff. I'm building the bulb assembly and pieces from scratch. the so called led bulbs that you plug in are terrible. they are just 5 or 10 tiny leds that you can barely see. which is why i'm making better ones 
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Rep Power: 308 SMD = Surface Mounted Device. No leads as such, solders direct to PCB.
I plan to build some markers/signals for the side mirrors. Those look like they may work well.
I plan to build some markers/signals for the side mirrors. Those look like they may work well.
Last edited by CraigW; Feb 19, 2006 at 06:41 PM.
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From: NV
Rep Power: 811 the problem is it gets really hot. i'm not sure if you're supposed to be cooling them somehow or maybe just not use em for long periods. they are mounted to a small heat sink but stll get hot in a few seconds.
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Originally Posted by gearbox
hmm actually i just thought of something...if i use that for signal only in the front, it prolly wont get hot enough cause it is flashing and not very long usually. i'm gonna make a prototype and have someone test it out.
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From: NV
Rep Power: 811 uh well if you knew me at all you would know I would sell it to the tester at cost and refund the money if anything went wrong.
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Originally Posted by gearbox
uh well if you knew me at all you would know I would sell it to the tester at cost and refund the money if anything went wrong.
Wish I had a Turbo 
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From: NV
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Originally Posted by juanotejano
sorry I forgot sarcasm doesn't come through so well via text.
ya haha i think thats what the popo uses around here except in bar form. those things you can see a mile away.
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Rep Power: 304 i believe that reason its getting hot is because theres too much wattage running through the LED. you'll have to put some type of resistor at the + end of the led i believe (soder). i'm betting the LED will burn out and pop if you left that 9V hooked up to it. if you wanna see, than just leave it attached to the battery for a bit and see what happens.
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From: NV
Rep Power: 811 ya lol i'll try that eventually but the thing is i calculated the resistor needed and it only requires 18 ohm which is like nothing. and when i tried with the resistor first it got so hot i had to disconnect it. i'm sure the resistor got ruined too with that heat. so i'm thinking it doesn't need one since usually leds pop in a couple secs if you dont use a resistor. i think 18 ohm is not that much and actually that was calculated with 15v assuming the alternator was running. 9v i'm sure didn't damage anything.
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From: Lost Angels
Rep Power: 302 Luxeons run at around 5 volts, and you use a resistor to limit the current. You have to use a wire wound resistor for these. It's normal for it to get hot.
I have 5watt luxeons in the form of flashlights. The entire aluminum body is used as a heatsink. Even then it gets quite warm after a few minutes.
When ever possible, heatsink the LED's.
I have 5watt luxeons in the form of flashlights. The entire aluminum body is used as a heatsink. Even then it gets quite warm after a few minutes.
When ever possible, heatsink the LED's.
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From: NV
Rep Power: 811 hmm i'm a little confused. whats a wire wound resistor and radioshack has em? the resistor i calculated was 18 ohm which doesn't seem like much for 14v alternator.
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From: Lost Angels
Rep Power: 302 Most resistors are carbon film. Wire wound resistors are used in applications where they get hot in order to dissipate the current that you are dropping across them. Basically a carbon film resistor will at some point burn, a wire wound will not. It's made to get hot. Rat Shack MAY have some, but their stock of parts is maybe 1% of what it used to be.
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Rep Power: 336 Try Mouser or Digikey...for those WW resistors...
9V to an LED....You only need forward voltage on LEDs plus little more...its a diode...so the forward resistance is very low when its on....typ. less than few ohms depending on MFGs......so putting 9V battery to an LED is a bad idea for 1W LED...
P=V^2/R...or P = IV
P= Power in watt, V in volt, I in Amp, R in Ohm.
9V to an LED....You only need forward voltage on LEDs plus little more...its a diode...so the forward resistance is very low when its on....typ. less than few ohms depending on MFGs......so putting 9V battery to an LED is a bad idea for 1W LED...
P=V^2/R...or P = IV
P= Power in watt, V in volt, I in Amp, R in Ohm.
Last edited by Devani; Feb 21, 2006 at 12:11 PM.
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