I've been working on this for a few days now. I originally soldered in all the LEDs and popped the unit back in the max. I turn it on and POOF! They all burn out...so obviously I need a resistor in the circuit somewhere. Looking at the board it appears the stock lights were wired in parallel, but I know wiring LEDs in parallel isn't a good idea unless you can give each one it's own individual resistor but there will never be enough room to do that. I suppose I could switch the wiring to parallel by alternating the orientation in which I mount each LED, but then I still need a resistor in the circuit somewhere and this board controls all of the headunit's functions so if I put a resistor in the circuit the entire board itself may not get sufficient power. I know someone has done this but I forget who...can anyone help me? I'd appreciate a quick response, my mom has been screaming at me telling me to finish so I can pick up for our company we're having tomorrow. Thanks!

 

i was thinkin of doing that too
yeah use resistors, when i did my guages with LEDs i wanted them a bit brighter so i tried one without a resistor. it got red melted a bit and then POP pretty loud. if that happens inside ur HU i think ur lucky if other stuff didnt melt with it
i would probably solder some thin wire to each end of the resistor, and one end to power and the other to the LED so then you could have the resistor further away somewhere like a hollow. i want to go in there and do mine
i also would think about using a demmel, i would look at how careful i could be or any extra plastic i could cut out to make some room. i dont mind cutting some insides up to make room as long as you can never tell

 

hey, once you figure it out maybe you should do a write up!

 

Yeah I was thinking about using a dremmel but the problem is I don't have one. I do have a drill but I don't know if a drill bit will be a bit too much for the plastic. Also I don't think it's really possible to use only one resistor. I think the best way is to put an individual resistor on each LED then use the drill to widen the holes in the plastic so the LED and resistor will both fit (i'm thinking of setting it up like the hazard/defrost mod where one end of the resistor is soldered to the positive lead on the LED but the other end of the resistor is free, and the negative lead for the LED goes to power. The only thing I'm struggling with now is what size resistors to use. I don't know much physics and am unsure of how I would calculate which resistors to use if the LEDs are in parallel but I am giving each LED it's own resistor. Would you just calculate it as if it was only for one LED? If I did my math right I will be using 10 resistors for the 10 LEDs (6 on one side and 4 on the other and they feed off of different power sources) and each resistor would be 330ohm 1/4watt. Does this sound right? For some reason that seems like way too much resistance to me but I could be very wrong. Any help with this?

 

it's already been done guys. I bow to Igobuk. I couldn't even get the screws off the brackets of the Bose.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=378940

 

Thanks for the link, it was informative and helped. I still need to know what size resistors to use though. I just did my hazard button with a 3mm LED and 470ohm resistor and it blew less than 1 second after I turned it on. I really need input on what resistors to use for the hazard/defrost as well as the Bose headunit. Putting it all together is the easy part for me but having the right materials is another. Help please! My leds are 3mm, 2volt, 30ma (prob will wanna put 25-27ma to be safe). Any suggestions for resistors?

 

for 3.5v LEDs i used 470ohm resistors and theyre bright enough.
calculator
there is another realy good site with mountains of info but i lost the link. arg

 

yes i found out the hard way 470ohms is what you need i was running a 330 they all blow eventually arggg

 

My bad, I forgot to solder the other end of the resistor (I must have been too excited or something!). Now all is well and they look great! So the hazard and defrost are done, now it's time to tackle the Bose headunit (again!). I'm going to use 330ohm in the headunit since it will be running more leds than just the single led in the hazard and 2 leds in the defrost. It should be fine I'd think. I'm giggling like a little school girl right now because my interior is startin to look hotttttttttt. Will post pics when it's all finished! Thanks for the help guys!

 

someone do a write up please!!

 

I'll do a writeup once I'm finished!!! (which will be sometime tomorrow)

 

It's all done and it came out great! Will have pics up sometime tomorrow!

 

oooooooooooo