i was looking on http://www.superbrightleds.com/leds.htm and i was looking at them what mcd do you guys recommend for tail lights i dont want them to be blindingly bright and i dont want them to be dim i want them to be just right any recommendations?

 

5000mcd probbaly

 

check the group deal forums you can get leds a lot cheaper from the user on ebay cwtick or something ive ordered from him a few times and his prices are great and you get free resistors alot of orgers have been satisfied with him

 

what mcd did you get pavel do you remember? and how did they look?

 

i didnt do my tail lights i would like too i have done my interior in red and then over again in blue and added leds in the door pockets also

so im not sure about tails i know that jm5464 has probablly the nicest tails on the org and his were all done with leds so you might want to get in touch with him
i do know that for led tails they recomend red not white so you dont get a pink tint but as far as what mcd for tails i cant help

 

I got the LED's from the same guy, they were 4,000 MCD's and they came with 470 ohm resistors.

This is how they looked on my Bose headunit with the stock bulbs circled in red. They are very bright but I would imagine you'd need a good bunch to fill up the whole tail light and or signal lenses.

Hope this helps.

 

i'm curious if this can be done with aftermarket single din receiver?

 

i opened my pioneer reciever's face up before too see and the leds were little tiny things that were attatched to the buttons... not saying it cant be done just unlikely since the faces on aftermarket ones are sooo thin even 3mm leds would be tough to fit

 

5000mcd RED! Not "white" (makes tailights look pink)
I ordered mine from cwtick on Ebay.

 

good info pavelsmax, i am interested in changing the color. i don't see anything smaller than 3mm LEDs. i guess i will leave it at that.

 

If you want to change the LEDs in your CD player face or any other device that has extreamly small LEDs, try using cell phone LEDs. They sell them on Ebay in a variety of colors. I used these when I did a color change in my old Nokia 5165. They would definatly work in aftermarket CD players. Ive been meaning to change the purplely blue color of my Pioneer 9400mp to white, but, have not had the time yet. I had the face open once before and the LEDs looked Identical to the ones inside cell phones.

 

JetBlackMax83 I PMed you this, but, just in case anyone else was interested here it is. If anyone has any questions let me know.

It took alot of research and planning because I used over 600 LEDs total and did not want to solder a resistor on each one. So, I had to learn about Ohms law and all that stuff to get the proper amout of current to the LEDs (so I wouldnt burn them out). That way I was able to use about 16 large power resistors. It made it much more simple. I probably spent at least 6 months total. I spent most this time reading and researching though.

To hold all the LEDs in place I drilled holes in florescent light fixture covering:


Here are the tail lights full of LEDs, ready to assemble:


I used 5000 MCD Red Leds for my parking/brake, 8000 MCD white for reverse and 3000 MCD amber for turns, however if I did it again I would use more powerful amber ones (bright sun makes them hard to see). They are all 5mm. I ordered them from cwithk on Ebay, but, I don't think he is around anymore.

Here are some pics of them in action:
The brake lights use the same LEDs as the parking lights they just get more current when you hit the brake so they get brighter.
Parking Lights:

Turns and Parking:

Reverse and Parking:


More in progress pics at:
http://www.bassmintaudio.com/maxima/...ght%20project/

-Justin

 

That looks awesome. Can you show a pic of the lights while braking ? Did you have to wire anything differently or do the LED's just get brighter on their own ??

 

I don't have a digital camera right now. I borrowed a friends when I took those pics and I was by myself so I couldn't push the brake pedal, so unfortunately I don't have any brake light pics.

It did require quite a bit of extra wiring though. I used 3x more resistance for the parking lights. when you hit the brake it sends more current through another set of resistors. I used diodes to prevent the current from back flowing (so the parking lights don't come on when I hit the brake).

Heres a diagram:

 

Yo those LED lights are awesome, I would pay good $$$ for a set of those.

 

i bought leds off some dude in japan about 3 weeks ago, i havent seen them yet.... owell theres always cellephane

 

good info jm5464. thanks.

those are intense tail light mods you have there.

 

wow i didnt think about cell phone leds great idea what are they listed as on ebay im having trouble finding them

 

I can't find them anymore on Ebay either. I did buy them a couple years ago. Mabey all they sell now are those stupid flashing keypads. Ill look around and see if I can find another place to get these LEDs.

 

Ok, found them. They are called SMD LEDs. Just search for that and whatever color you want on Ebay. There are not that many sellers though, so, you may have to try to find them on an LED website or somthing.

-Justin

 

dont mean to ***** your thread but does anyone have a link or list of what bulb numbers fit some of the interior lights? Im looking to get leds for the door lights and also in my gauges. I have a 96 so i think they r a direct swap

 

thanks alot guys just ordered 100 LED's 5000mcd red For my general car stuff then once im done with that and have some LED experience ill hit up the tails JM5464 Looks SICKKKKKKKKK GREAT F'ING JOB DUDE thanks for the pm by the way and thanks for all your help it was very informitive

 

great thanks jm im gonna pop my faceplate apart this weekend check out how hard the modifaction will be and prolly ordered a bunch

 

How about fabricating a set and selling them to me?

 

I would definatly be willing to do it, but, it will not be cheap. The job requires expensive parts (about $200) and many hours of labor (haven't figured out yet). Ill do some research and run some numbers and get back to you.

 

I will be doing a write up hopefully within the next week, so, check back with me if your interested. It will be posted on the forum too.

 

Not a problem, I totally understand the costs that go into this.. most of which are towards the hours not the materials. PM me a price, so we can work something out.

 

The doors, glove box and gauges all use 194's.

Doors = 1 each
Glove box = 1
Gauges = 5

Total 8 bulbs.

The dome light has a tubular shaped bulb and the map light has a little twist out bulb. The domelight one you can replace with one of these from superbrightleds.com



The map light you can replace with a hyperwhite PIAA bulb of the same size or something similar.

 

Igobuk, I have been searching. It appears that 97 is not a direct swap on the gauges. I’m curious why you are planning to 194 bulbs on your gauges?

another question, are you using 5mm 4000mcd white LED on your center panel and 3mm 4000mcd white LED on the window switches.

 

hey jm5464, you know how you used the same leds for parking and brake lights, it would have also bin possible to used diff leds for parking and braking and to wire the parking lights to like 5000mch leds and the brakes to like 7500mcd or something right?

you leds are wired in series right so say one of you LEDs dies (knock on wood) does that mean its gonna act as an open circuit, and the rest of your leds wont work or have you done something to prevent that?

sorry for the questions, just tryin to learn as much as i can. thanks

 

i would assume then you should buy 12,000mcd RED led's for the tails... so when you hit the brakes they will grab peoples attention at night.

JM5464: what size resistors did you use on the parking lights and on the brake light circuits??

thanks,

Ant

 

It would have been possible, but, 5000mcd parking lights would be way too bright. That is what I use for brakes. I just dim them down for the parking lights by adding 3x the required resistance.

No, they are wired parallel for exactly that reason and LEDs don't like to be wired in series unless you are multiplexing them, but, that gets very
complicated.

 

It depends on how many LEDs you’re planning on using. Because I used so many 5000mcd was plenty (they're as bright as the stock LED 3rd brake light on the spoiler). The amount of resistance you need depends on the number of LEDs you plan on running off one resistor (how much amperage is required to light the LEDs, but, not too much) and you must be sure that the resistors can handle the amount of wattage you will be running through them. Basically to figure it out you must understand Ohms law and Amperage x voltage = wattage. Off the top of my head I don't remember the amount of resistance or size of resistor I used for each set of LEDs.

 

95-97 are definitely direct swap 194 bulbs. It's when they went digital in 98-99 that are not direct swap 194's, those are #74 and are also available as LED's from superbrightleds.com so those are sort of direct swap also.

As for my LED's elsewhere I used the following...

- 3 mm 4000 mcd in the window switches, hazard, cruise control, defroster, Bose headunit and coin holder.

- 5 mm 4000 mcd in the security light and A/C controls

 

very good info. thanks.

 

does anyone know how many bulbs are in the guage cluster? Also, im looking to just replace most of my interior and some exterior lights with some LEDS. For bulbs such as the turn signal, and the reverse lights would the 1157 bulbs work? [IMG[http://www.superbrightleds.com/store/html/images/115x-r24.jpg[/img]

Sorry to be a pest about all the bulbs...