I purchased a 9 led festoon led light for the dome light and was not happy at all... so I decided to make my own. I searched ebay for the brightest white LEDs I could find. I found some with the following specs:


Material: InGaN
Emitting Colour: White
Lens Type: Water clear
Reverse Voltage: 5.0 V
DC Forward Voltage: Typical: 3.4 V Max: 3.8 V
Luminous Intensity: Typ 50,000+ mcd
DC Forward Current: 25mA
Viewing Angle: 20±5degree


They are by far superior to all others I have seen... the highest mcd I could find was around 15,000 and these are 50,000mcd each !!! I put 12 of them so my total mcd for this light is 600,000 !


Please see attached picture to have an idea of what the custom LED light looks like... all it is, is a pcb cut to the right shape, the ends of my original festoon bulb soldered on the pcb, 12 leds, and 4 resistors (on the back).


The total current draw is around 120mA so it is way below the original bulb... and the resistors do not heat up. I have 4 resistors because I connected 3 LEDs in series per each resistor. The resistor was calculated to allow a 25-30mA draw for each set of 3 LEDs.


Although I am a wannabe photographer, I took horrible pictures... sorry... I did not have time to use my DSLR so I took the shots freehand with a little Sony.

 

sheeeeit, thats some heavy LED-age...

sheeeeit, and god said let there be light...

sheeeeit, make me one...

(couldnt decide which to say)

anyway, considering the LED festoon bulb that i got from superbrightleds.com broke, and now im back with the ugly organgey stock lighting, i might have to try this one out...

 

My LED festoon light bulb broke as well... maybe because I soldered 3 additional leds onto it, anyhow it seemed like an internal connection was real flaky... it goes on and off randomly or if I put pressure on it... anyhow I now have my custom light ;-)

Try it out... but test it before installing to avoid a short circuit...

 

I like! I had to fab my own dome light as well, mostly cause I just like messing with LED's. A really good idea I've found was going with the bright whites for the dome light, and reds for the map lights. That way you're not blinded by the light- revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night.

 

those are brighter than my HIDS'!

i hope they wont melt your plastic cover..will they?

 

ditto on shitty 9 LED festoon bulbs. its like a white square under my plastic dome cover. boo

 

I need that Sun shield you have there to protect me now from the bright light

 

Ichecked to see whether the LEDs or the resistors heated up at all and they do not... anyhow the light is on only for short periods of time so it should not be an issue. The reason why I put groups of 3 LEDs in series was to minimize the heat dissipated by the resistors.

 

Wow! I think sun tan lotion and shades might be a good idea before entering your car. lol

 

the whole point of LEDs are that they are high-efficiency, low-heat light sources... they give off basically zero heat, and unless you use really-small-ohmage-and-not-enough-wattage resistors, you should be fine... heat is the last thing i'd be worried about...

 

Good work that looks awesome.

 

clean ;p

 

aruffell, I'd would also like to upgrade the lights, can you give me the seller info. Which type etc. You can PM if you don't want to post on this thread, but I bet afew other members would also like to know. Thanks and good job.

 

Very nicely done! PM sent to ya aruffell.

 

freaking bright!


I just wonder what the lifetime is on those things..

 

I don't mind sharing info on how I did it at all... very simple really!

The eBay store I purchased the LEDs from is:

http://stores.ebay.com/Light-of-Vict...FQ3aSLLRQQtZkm

I purchased the white 5mm, 50,000mcd LEDs. The resistors they send you are for 1 LED at 12V so I calculated the resistor I needed for 3 LEDs in series.

The dome light was 4 sets of 3 LEDs in series.