RussMaxManiac

I tapped into the power wire for the stock led (signal wire), when I hook up the new LED to a ground, it makes the stock one lite up constantly as well as the new LED. So I have NO idea why its not working. If you connect the led straight to both parts of the stock LED it will not work. Anyways, any advice would be good on this. I took pics of the assembly and will post them in a little while..

mdeal

iTrader: (2)

What are you talking about?

RussMaxManiac

Alarm LED....That's what.

RussMaxManiac

Here are the pics of everything. Maybe you guys can figure it out...

http://www.5thgenmaximas.com/russmaxmaniac/leds/

edadams

The facrory led might be negativly activated, that is why when it is grounded they both light up. Also check to be sure of any polarity issues with the new led's.

RussMaxManiac

I know teh polarity on the LED itself was right. But the issue was with the stock one. I had no idea how to get the darn thing to work. I tried different ways none worked. Now that you mentioned about negativly activated. What I might try next is hook it up to the other side of the stock LED THE + THAT is the one that you do not ground to make it work, then ground out the new LED, and if it comes on and works, that means I got it. But why still did it not work by connecting it to both sides of the stock LED? Hmmmm...this is getting weird.

pinakbet

when you connect the new LED to the stock one it does not work. do you arm the alarm and wait for the new and old led to blink? I kinda wanna try this out... just bought parts this mornin' Also, do ya hafta enlarge the hole for the LED?

bp

RussMaxManiac

You do not actually replace the STOCK RED led, your adding on new ones.... Anyways, just connecting it to the connections, the new led, it won't work. So I have no idea..

Y2KEVSE, why not tell us how you did it with some help? You seem like you are not helping here!!

theMax

By creating another grounded connection you might be shorting the alarm signal. try and hook up the additional LEDs in series or parallel with both of the existing LED wires. (and polarity as was said before)

Y2KevSE

iTrader: (13)

Compare your picture to my picture and you will know why.

Max_5gen

iTrader: (2)

- Otherwise they wouldn't light up

No, nothing weird here. The normal LED is essentially pn diode which is current controlled device, not voltage controlled as a lamp for example. It simply means that what IS important for the LED is the current which goes through it and direction of that current. The voltage on the LED itself is determined by it's VAC and can vary from one LED to another at the same current level. If you connect both in parallel usually only one of them would light up. To light up both you'd need to connect resistor 510 Ohm - 1kOm in sequence with additional LED and then connect one end of this circuit to the alarm terminal on the clock socket and another end - to the "+12" or "batt" terminal. This'd increase load on the output stage of the alarm LED circuit but it'll be fine. Just don't connect the LED directly from "+12" to the ground/alarm terminal without resistor - the current through the LED increases exponentially with voltage and you'd burn it for sure. In case of alarm terminal you'd have two competitors - alarm LED output stage and your LED. The strongest element will survive and it's not necessary alarm output .

BTW while you have your clock assembly opened and in case if your clock is going ahead about 10sec/week (as was mine)you can easily fix that by soldering small ceramic variable capacitor 22-47 pf to the empty holes with capacitor symbol just above stock alarm LED and adjusting it to desirable accuracy.

After all just curious - what are you trying to achieve with that LED? .

Mike.

RussMaxManiac

Well give me a more detail info on how to hook up this resisitor and led with the orginal one. I don't want to disconnect the orginal one. I am just adding extra's...... Anyways, let me know..

RussMaxManiac

Help?!

Max_5gen

iTrader: (2)

Sorry, I was busy . You just take that resistor and connect to one leg of the LED. This'll give you two-end circuit made of LED and resistor. Then you connect one end of that circuit to "batt" and another to the "alarm". If you're lucky the LED will light up at the same time as alarm LED if not - just switch the ends of the circuit, probably you put LED in wrong polarity - it is diode, as I mentioned. Good luck.

Mike.

RussMaxManiac

You are not making complete sense.

This is what I get so far. I have a resistor, I also have the 2 leg led. I connect the resistor up to one leg of the LED (which leg? the + longer one or the shorter - one?). Once that is done, then I connect which side to what? I have to get the signal from the stock led as shown in those pictures somehow. So explain to me how I hook this part up...

Dustyroads

Russ, I'm pretty sure what he is trying to say is that you need to connect the resistor to the (+) lead of the LED. Now attach the resistor to +12V and the (-) lead of the LED to the Alarm output. I'm pretty sure that is what he is getting at, but I'm not sure it is going to work. I guess it is worth a try though. Hope this helps!!

Greg's2kGLE

Russ, where are you going to put the new LED?

RussMaxManiac

Same place where Y2KEv's are.. I might find some room in the rear for the other 2 as well...

Max_5gen

iTrader: (2)

Here is diagram:

.51-1kOm LED
+12("batt") 0----[===]------|>|----0 "alarm"/ground

or like this, it doesn't matter which element is the first in sequence:
LED .51-1kOm
+12("batt") 0----|>|------[===]----0 "alarm"/ground

if you connect right end to the ground your LED will be ON all the time, if you connect it to the "alarm" it'll light up at the same time as the stock alarm LED.

Mike.

IceY2K1

iTrader: (3)

I love it when electrical DORKS try and explain something to NON-electrical DORKS!! I don't count myself as an electrical DORK, but more of an electrical FORCE-FED computer DORK.

Russ,
If you reply to his post you can see the picture he was trying to draw.

Anyways, it's yellow-with-red stripe POWER wire, to stock red LED #1, to the resistor, to new clear LED #2, to green-with-orange stripe GROUND wire. You can put it an pretty much any order. I don't know about the resistance value, I just assume Mikes is correct.

If it doesn't work try flipping the new LED #2, since it is a diode and they only work in the direction of current flow as Mike said.

RussMaxManiac

Thanks guys for the help. I will see if I can get this working tonight if I have time. Btw, I had electronics class for 2 yrs in college for my degree... :P Just haven't used any of that knowledge since 1996! So I kinda forgot!

Max_5gen

iTrader: (2)

I was reading this thread from the beginning and noticed that discussion is getting in the expensive direction. I mean that even poking around with the LED can burn something at the other end of that clock connector - you don't disconnect your battery every time you work with the car, do you? Battery can provide HUGE value of current - more than 100 amps for some time. I know, that there are fuses etc but they mostly to prevent car's wirenig from melting, not from our mistakes. There are some capacitors too, which can provide enough current to burn something like alarm LED output stage even with disconnected battery and eventually lead you to your nearest friendly Nissan dealer. Just be careful and good luck!

Mike.

IceY2K1

iTrader: (3)

If it doesn't work or you blow a fuse, email me and I can help more.

Also, you shouldn't need the resistor.