no problem just put the holder in the hole first then slip the led in from the other side.or you can sand the lip off the bottom of the led but be carefull anytime you heat up a led if the contacks get hot enuff to loosen inside its going to give you issues.personally i would just verry carefully enlarge the hole in the board itself this is something you may not want to do if you dont have a spare unit around to test on.

 

And damn you tuner with your extra clear professional photographer pictures.

 

Tuner when you get a chance can you post a pic of a single RGB smd and how the connections relate i got something going on with a sheet of printable flex circuit and a trace pen.

 

Yeah I love my new T2i, haven't even scratched the surface of it's capabilities though, I've been using it almost like a point and shoot lately. Springtime I'll mess around probably.

And here's a 5mm:





And a 5050 RGB common Anode:

 

Tuner on the RGB smd are all the connections on one side of the chip?and which order do they go in?

 

I do have one tip for everyone deciding to do LED modification and that is reverse polarity protection. I don't see anyone using a 1N4148 diode or a 1N4938 diode which is a definite must have if you want maximum half life out of your LEDs. Otherwise everytime you turn on your car and the LEDs are on you risk reverse polarity overvoltage damage. Which might not kill your LEDs but it will cause them to dim quick than they would overwise. If you are unlucky that can definity kill them however.

 

Does this look problematic to you? No modification needed:

 

You can order Common Anode or Common Cathode.

The ones I show are Common Anode. The Positive connection is ALL 3 points on the one side of the SMD. Then the ground side is separated into Green, Red and Blue.

You can get this same thing in common cathode and run power to the RGB side and ground on the other. Makes more sense to have common Anode to me for any application I can think of.

Can you provide some more info/insight on this? Not something I'm even aware of TBH. I figure they're diodes so power can't flow backwards by that simple nature. Clearly I'm misled!

 

i ordered a 5'x12" sheet of Pyralux to play with and was just working on the traces and routing them before i run it thru the printer then trace the design with a circuit pen and drop in the etch.

 

LEDs are diodes but like all diodes they have what is known as a breakdown voltage. When this number is hit (usually 2V, 5V or 10V) the diode loses its ability to stop current flow and it passes current unrestricted since LEDs do not have their own resistance. This does not cause the LED to light up but it damages the LED all the same. You might not notice it right away but if you compare the light degradation of a LED that is reverse polarity protected in a car and one that is not after a year you will notice the unprotected one is dimmer. In some cases a large enough spike can even go through your system to seriously damage LEDs instantly if you are unlucky. All the switching or rectifying diode does is make sure the electricity is always going through the LED properly by switching polarity if it reaches its breakdown voltage (which is lower than any LEDs max reverse voltage) or shuts the current down when it encounters a reverse current. This ensures max brightness of your LED for as long as it can last. You will never see a quality LED replacement bulb without a switching diode, rectifier diode or dual postive current Integrated circuit (too complex so I don't use IC's). I just notice no one is using them here and am giving a piece of advice that is all.

 

Also I do have the connections to get you 3mm 360 degree LEDs in Blue, Green, Yellow and Red. If you want.

 

Perhaps...I"m planning on doing my scheme like this: White climate control backlight, and blue indicators. I've got some 5mm 360* on order, I'll modify them into the stock housing and see how that turns out.

 

Great info thanks for taking the time to break this down for me man! I will have to get my paws on some of these, different rating for 5050 smds than for the standard 3 and 5mm ones?

And where would you recommend I get them from, doesn't matter?

Thanks again, can these be applied to the ground side of the circuit? ie. I have already wired my 5050 RGB SMD's into all my window switches, can I just install one on each of the 3 main ground runs at each window switch OUT and be ok?

 

Bump

 

What on earth is with all these random bumps CJ??!?!!!? Are you having a case of the Noobs? Should have a doctor check thout out mang

 

A 1N4148 will be fine for 3 chip 5050 SMDs. I always attach to the ground side when I do mine so you should be fine. Just make sure if you attach to the ground side that the black strip is on the side opposite of the LED. If you attach it wrong the LED will only light up when the lights are switched off. Also, the master switch is already equipped with protection IC so you do not have to worry about that as for the rest of the window switches They are probably attached to some relay or something of the sort for protection however, if you just want to be sure like myself as said before you will be fine with a 1N4148 fast switching diode which you can get from ebay. I think the best value you can get is from a ebay vendor named thaishine.

 

i hate searching thru pages for reference so i bump them to the front.and yes i do need a doctor

 

I am not using the stock Circuitry due to the auxillary ground circuit. Also, seems the G35's master switch is wired in series or something cause I can't hook up normally to all powers at the SMD's or they all dimmed like crazy. I had to add resistors for each and run power in parallel.

I did'nt do much testing to figure this out cause I didn't care it was faster to just wire it the way I knoew would work.

So will 1 of these diodes on each ground line work? that would mean 5 3 chip SMD's all spliced together into 3 ground lines. Then ONE diode per ground line.

 

I just ordered 100 of them, just unsure of how many SMD's they can work for/allow current for. 5 chips seems like a decent amount for one of these

 

i think if you did 1 5a 1000v diode on the main ground trace you would be ok.thats all we used to use when we rebuilt alternator rectifiers to reduse the back current draw when it wasnt charging

 

If i'm taking it in correctly though, the small amperage rating of these little led/smd's requires a FAST switching and relatively low rated diode. Something like what you're talking about would probably allow enough current through, no?

i dont know a lot about this stuff though, in either case, I've got those bad boys coming so if I need something else or need to install more than one in line, or whatever, LMK Shin. Luckily the Window switches have been the only component SMD install so far, the rest has been Ribbon strips which have worked out way better than expected.

 

FOR THOSE BUYING FROM SUPERBRIGHTLEDS.COM - USE CODE RETM11 TO SAVE AN EXTRA 5% --- Used it this afternoon.

 

RE619 also works for 5%

 

Thanks guys! lol i never read the banners..... DOH

 

Worked on a few things... Replaced the LED in the clock for my security:


Replaced the light in the key ring with a blue LED (looks more uniform in person):



Replaced all the lights in the climate control and hazard button. (bulbs also look more uniform in person) but it looks like some of the buttons are a bit dim... Will change the 3 drop in's with 360° LED's in the near future.

 

u start your car with that screwdriver?

 

Its just a blank ignition key that I made for the car today.

 

ok that makes more sense, I suppose.


Nice job on the LEDs. My recent order came today so I'll be doing my CC soon...but now to re-do keyring and shifter with more evenly distributed light...

 

LMAO looks like you jacked someone's car and LED modded that bish!

 

LED that bish yea! then sea foam it FTMFW yooooooooo!

 

SuperBrightLEDs 74-CWHP3 Cool White Drop in bulbs:


Autolumination Super white Drop in bulbs;

 

Have you done the radio yet? I just ordered a dozen more white 360* 5mm LEDs from SBL and will do my stock non-Bose within the week... just curious if you had a chance to do yours yet

 

I did this a while back... my mood light...

 

BEFORE: Drop in LED's




AFTER: 360* Led's

 

360 LEDs are insane! Did it to my 99's manual CC finally, WOW. And something I found to dim the indicator LEDs since they're hella bright...sand them a bit, and put a thin layer of white-out on it. It'll still show through, but be a nice softer shade of blue than the "give you a migraine second coming of Jesus" blue otherwise.

First LED setup with bright azz indicators:


Will post the "after" when I get home this evening in the dark garage. Did the change during lunch today, super easy...and the indicators are still absolutely visible during the day, but like I said, not as blinding during the night.

 

Yeah Shinjiduo really come through on that one, it's a bloody revolution.

And the blinding indicator lights are the reason I've never modded one since my first one. It's really just not necessary. I actually prefer the OEM red/orange indicators the Maxima has stock anyways, just the perfect brightness and colour. Offsets all the blue.

 

The CC indicator lights in mine were all green, save for the orange on the defrosters, which I kept.

But like I said earlier, the blinding is greatly reduced by sanding and white-out applied to the LED itself.

 

Here's the "after"... LEDs sanded and thin application of wite-out applied to them...



Not sure if the difference in the indicator lights really shows in the pic...but in person its perfect. Color still there, but not blindingly bright. Love it

 

Nice dude! White out was a good idea, are you worried about it melting though? I would think it'll be ok but I always worry about those things. Hot glue especially, with it's relatively low melting point.

i've been using plastic epoxy for a lot of stuff lately to be on the safe side. great technique man thanks for sharing!!

 

All white out is just paint. I'm not at all worried about it melting or anything, no. I actually used a paint pen we have @ work, but white out is more available commercially.

Honestly, I wasn't sure if it would turn out as well as it did. I just took a spare LED and sanded it until it was cloudy all around. Powered it with a 9V and resistor, was still too bright...so I was like "sure what the hell". Let it dry and it was perfect!