LED diagram request

phil said somethin earlier about wiring them in series, then wire the series in parallel or somethin.
and i'm oblivious as to how this would end up lookin.
so help would be appreciated.
thank you in advance

you have 3 leds to start, right? ok, good. so we'll call the 1, 2, and 3

take the positive of 1 and wire it to the negative of 2. take the positive of two and wire it to the negative of 3. now what wires do you have free? the negative of 1, and the positive of 3. run power to these, no resistor is needed. now repeat steps one thru three with a new set of leds. again, run power to the set of three, as you did the first. now you just made 2 series circut (negative to positive sets) and ran it paralel.

Capisce?

Code:

C = long lead on the LED (positive) c = short lead on the LED (negative, ie ground) - = connection | = connection --------------------      -Cc-Cc-Cc-     |          |      -Cc-Cc-Cc-     |          |      -Cc-Cc-Cc-     |          |      -Cc-Cc-Cc-     |          | (12v+)      (12v-)

thanks phil

sorry addictedtoiceled, i'm a visual learner

addicted yours is wrong i do believe. you have power runnin to both ends. one should be power and one ground. am i correct?

Phil wrote:

Code: C = long lead on the LED (positive) c = short lead on the LED (negative, ie ground) - = connection | = connection --------------------      -Cc-Cc-Cc-     |          |      -Cc-Cc-Cc-     |          |      -Cc-Cc-Cc-     |          |      -Cc-Cc-Cc-     X         |     |          | (12v+)      (12v-)

switch goes where X is?

Cuz you a w a n k s t a

dbismyname wrote:

addicted yours is wrong i do believe. you have power runnin to both ends. one should be power and one ground. am i correct?

by run power to these i assumed you know negative goes to negative, and positive to positive lead...

j/k

banned from SG wrote:

Phil wrote: Code: C = long lead on the LED (positive) c = short lead on the LED (negative, ie ground) - = connection | = connection --------------------      -Cc-Cc-Cc-     |          |      -Cc-Cc-Cc-     |          |      -Cc-Cc-Cc-     |          |      -Cc-Cc-Cc-     X         |     |          | (12v+)      (12v-) switch goes where X is?

That's similar to my diagram except mine uses 4 LEDs in series with 3 sets in parallel.......

so PTCruzr, in that diagram, ur not using resistors at all?? and if you use a seperate resistor for each LED, wouldnt it be brighter?

thier are no resistors, as for brightness. its not much of a difference, i cant tell you which is brighter. i see no difference when i do it either way.

Note: in the diagram he shows 4 red leds in a series. I know for a fact that this will not last long. the voltage of 4 red leds is less than 12 volts, so over time you will blow your series, and you will have to disect your series. your best bet when using red is to run 5 of them in a series.

Steber wrote:

thier are no resistors, as for brightness. its not much of a difference, i cant tell you which is brighter. i see no difference when i do it either way. Note: in the diagram he shows 4 red leds in a series. I know for a fact that this will not last long. the voltage of 4 red leds is less than 12 volts, so over time you will blow your series, and you will have to disect your series. your best bet when using red is to run 5 of them in a series.

Sorry, I should have mentioned that in my diagram the LED's that I used were 3 volt LED's. 4 of them in series works perfect. If using lower voltage LED's you would want to increase the quantity accordingly.

Steber wrote:

thier are no resistors, as for brightness. its not much of a difference, i cant tell you which is brighter. i see no difference when i do it either way. Note: in the diagram he shows 4 red leds in a series. I know for a fact that this will not last long. the voltage of 4 red leds is less than 12 volts, so over time you will blow your series, and you will have to disect your series. your best bet when using red is to run 5 of them in a series.

If I create a series using resistors and I don't use enough voltage, will it kill the series also or will I be protected that way? Also, what is a good hot 12v + wire to use in a vehicle? If I go straight to the battery, whats a good fuse size to use? Thanks!

[quote="Lord Zog"]

Steber wrote:

Also, what is a good hot 12v + wire to use in a vehicle? If I go straight to the battery, whats a good fuse size to use? Thanks!

yes a wire direct from the battery is the best power source use a 15 amp fuse unless ur running a real lot of accesories

Lord Zog wrote:

Also, what is a good hot 12v + wire to use in a vehicle? If I go straight to the battery, whats a good fuse size to use? Thanks!

GlowinPontiac wrote:

yes a wire direct from the battery is the best power source use a 15 amp fuse unless ur running a real lot of accesories

Not a lot.. Just about 5-7 LED's per front light harness and 4-5 for each rear light harness. Maybe more later for a drink holder, glove box, and a few other things, but it's gonna only be blue LED's..

Is it okay to run more than one set of wires from a switch? Like 2 sets, one for the front and one for the back on one switch or is that overkill for the switch? thx!

GlowinPontiac wrote:

yes a wire direct from the battery is the best power source use a 15 amp fuse unless ur running a real lot of accesories

15 amp fuse for a couple led's? i think not. thats waaaaaaay too much for some puny led's. or are those super led's that draw a million amps each go with like i dunno a 5 amp fuse. it would be pleeeeeenty.

so if i run three of phill's LEDs in a series like ADDICTED2ICELED said then i wont need resistors right? or would it still be a good idea to run resistors? is there any difference in the light output if i have resistors or not?

If you get the right resistor it will help make your LEDs last longerr but you can run them without. I however am not running them without I am using resistors with all of my series that i have put it so far.

alienyoungjr, are you using a seperate resistor for each LED or one per series? if i get resistors they will be the ones that are included with the LEDs ordered from phill

I am useing one per series, I also have ones form AutoZone that have them one per LED but there covered up so i don't know there color code.

So...I could run a series of say 4 blue LED's with one resistor to save them?

Like

Power, resistor, LED LED LED LED ground???

for best glow and LED life, should i use one resistor per LED or one resistor per series?

I can;t answers your question bigd9247, you will have to try it yourself and see what you think is brighter. But for the longest life possible you should always go with the manufactuers recommendations.

for Bobberrific: my series are series of three LEDs and if you do series of four you may cut down the voltage too much and reduce the brightness of the LEDs. Typically blue and green LEDs are around 4v and you car puts out around 14v running and close to 12v not running, you should set up your series for the 12v setting cause who knows how often you car will actually reach the 14v for a continuous time.

With series circuits you take the voltage and divide it by the items you have in it so four LEDs @ 12v = 3v for each LED and typically blue and green LEDs are 4v min or max i;m not sure it just depends on your LED that oyu bought. The quickest way to get this LED stuff done is to purchase LEDs with the resistors added on like Phils. I am useing some LEDs that i saved from my bro's wreck that ruined the front bar but i removed all the LEDs and I was able to figure out how they ran the stuff.

If you need anyother let me know