Mounting Vent Glow

What do you all use to mount LEDs in your vents?
Can the LEDs take the heat/cold that the vents will put out?
Or do you drill and mount them on the side just shining into the vent area?

All you out there with vent glow let me know please

Yes they can handle the heat/cold.

I say take out your vents and play with different mounting places, and see which works best for your specific application.

Glad you started this thread. I'm gonna take out my dash soon and put in some vent glow.

Use these:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?pro...&cp=&sr=1&origkw=LED holder&kw=led holder&parentPage=search



5 come in a pack for $1.29 at the 'Shack. Drill a 1/4" hole in the vent or anyplace you like, push the holder in and snap the LED inside - if you need directions after looking at one of these then you shouldn't even be using a screwdriver let alone doing wiring. I've used these in the vents, in the seat backs, in the bottom of my switch box - basically anyplace I put a individual 5MM LED.

PHIL: Why don't you carry a 100-pack of these bad boys? I'd buy 'em from you man.

As for heat, the vent's plastic and IT doesn't melt, and the diode is sealed inside plastic, so it's fine.
Action shots:

Thanks for the advice Aken and ImagoX, will have to take a good look around these vents for good mounting places and hit up the 'Shack

I should pester them to sell a 50-pack in a baggie or something. 5 @$1.29 seems cheap until you start using a lot of them. The damn things probably cost a buck per thousand to make.

Shoot, if they are as nice as you say they are I'd pick up a pack from Oz if they started selling for for my LEDs.

I like them because they hold the LED like grim death, but are simple to release with a fingernaill, and they're practically invisible (I bet they stick up less than 1/32"). Seriously - try pulling the LED out of the holder and the wires or diode leads will break long before those teensy clips will (don't ask me how I know that). 8)

PS - because people ask this EVERY time we have this discussion... YES THEY WORK WITH THE PRE-WIRED 5MM LEDS THAT ARE SOLD HERE. You press the holder into the 1/4" hole first, then slide the LED into the holder second. I wire the LEDs first, since they can be inserted "forwards" into the holder from the rear. Very, very easy...

ive gone both ways, with and without those holders. ive used them pretty much everywhere but my vents and i didnt use them there only because of the way i had to mount them. i needed a little bend towards the led end to get the light to go where i wanted it.

I used triple LED clusters in my vents. They gave off a ton of light and I was able to secure them with two sided tape. I just drilled a small hole for the wires.

As for thos plastic holders, Phil does sell them. Look under LED holders. The only difference is that Phil's come with the little ring incase flush mounting isn't possible and you need to surface mount the LED.

im gonna do some vent glow soon. just waiting for my paycheck and bonus pay to hit.

Well i just did some test runs and was not pleased at all with the output... How many LEDs are you guys running per vent?
I put a cathode in one vent and got some decent glow, don't know why, maybe i was placing the LEDs in a bad position or something...

Any tips are appreciated to get a clean, deep glow

Quote:

I used triple LED clusters in my vents.

Is that three 5mm LEDs together in a cluster? or is that a product i can buy...?

I have 1 nice LED and one crappy one in my vents in the Alero.. and now in the Park Ave I've got two nice Oznium blue LEDS. I looks fine to me, just make sure the LEDs have the tip shaved off (circumsize them LEDs!) so the ligths spreads a bit more and have the light focised on lighting up the vents (like the blades of the vents) and a bit of the piping behind the vent itself. If you can, shoot some silver spraypaint back there (make sure you won't be able to see it in the daytime) to reflect the light a bit more.

Thank ya, will have to see what happens when i do that. To shave them did you just use a sander or...?

Neon Mike wrote:

I used triple LED clusters in my vents. They gave off a ton of light and I was able to secure them with two sided tape. I just drilled a small hole for the wires. As for thos plastic holders, Phil does sell them. Look under LED holders. The only difference is that Phil's come with the little ring incase flush mounting isn't possible and you need to surface mount the LED.

I thought that Phil's were different. Didn't there used to be something that said that hos might not work with the pre-wired LEDS, since the resistor/heat-shrink bundle made a tight fit through the holder? Or am I thinking of a different item? Appologies of so.

I can tell you that the Radio Shack ones accept the LED from the back, so the wiring bundle never has to pass through the holder at any point. I bought them because the ones that Phil sells were too high-profile for me - I was looking for the flushest possible mounting solution with zero "bling" and the OZ ones looked to tall and flashy for what I needed them to do.

The_Mastor wrote:

Thank ya, will have to see what happens when i do that. To shave them did you just use a sander or...?

I used a grinder wheel on a Dremel. Takes abut 3 seconds to grind them down smooth (be careful to not exopse the actual diode). You can paint the end with a bit of clear nail polish if you want a cleaner "spot" effect, or leave the flat end cloudy if you want a more soft, spread-out glow - try it both ways to see what effect looks best for your instalaltion.

ImagoX wrote:

Neon Mike wrote: I used triple LED clusters in my vents. They gave off a ton of light and I was able to secure them with two sided tape. I just drilled a small hole for the wires. As for thos plastic holders, Phil does sell them. Look under LED holders. The only difference is that Phil's come with the little ring incase flush mounting isn't possible and you need to surface mount the LED. I thought that Phil's were different. Didn't there used to be something that said that hos might not work with the pre-wired LEDS, since the resistor/heat-shrink bundle made a tight fit through the holder? Or am I thinking of a different item? Appologies of so. I can tell you that the Radio Shack ones accept the LED from the back, so the wiring bundle never has to pass through the holder at any point. I bought them because the ones that Phil sells were too high-profile for me - I was looking for the flushest possible mounting solution with zero "bling" and the OZ ones looked to tall and flashy for what I needed them to do. The_Mastor wrote: Thank ya, will have to see what happens when i do that. To shave them did you just use a sander or...? I used a grinder wheel on a Dremel. Takes abut 3 seconds to grind them down smooth (be careful to not exopse the actual diode). You can paint the end with a bit of clear nail polish if you want a cleaner "spot" effect, or leave the flat end cloudy if you want a more soft, spread-out glow - try it both ways to see what effect looks best for your instalaltion.

The led holders that Phil sells work great and actually do work with the pre-wired led's.Also the led passes through the backside of those holders,just as those Radio Shack versions do.Ohh and the little plastic ring that comes with Phil's led holders actually pops on the backside of the led holder,once the led holder is popped into the hole you've drilled,it squeezes the plastic clip part of the holder against the led for an even stronger grip,probably more secure then those Radio Shack led holders.

Interesting - good info. I always wondered what that thing on the wires was in this picture:



I was not aware of that from his photos and description - I just sort of stumbled on the Radio Shack ones by accident. Thanks, Tat!

No problem ImagoX.

hot glue anyone cheap and effective stick it where ever you want how ever you want