neilschelly

iTrader: (2)

Personally, I took a whole different approach to this. I wanted the blue in the temp control to stay blue, so I took off the bulb covers and made the lighting back there just white.

Then I bought some of that rose-colored saran wrap, covered it with red sharpie, and folded it up a few times. Used those sheets to cover the back of the panel where anything shone through, including the buttons and all.

Then, I decided the blue wasn't deep enough, so I did a similar thing with blue sharpie and clear saran wrap behind that part. My final change will be the colors of the LEDs that light up when you enable any of the buttons. I want them in the same deep blue, which requires me to use my blue sheet and a white LED back there.

Only problem now is that there doesn't exist a white LED that can be powered by the 2V source power used by those LEDs. I'm currently searching for a relay I can trigger with that 2V supply so I can grab 3V or more from somewhere else. It'll look very cool when it's all done though - that I know.
-N

Thwack

very cool... maybe try a large transistor.. that will work as a relay with small voltages (up to 5V i believe)

Coolguy949

iTrader: (10)

There are other ways to put LED's in cars. You can get a standard 2V LED (20 mAmp) and you get a resistor. Using ohms law you can figure out what size resistor you need. Most likely you'll need a 680 ohm one or a 560ohm.

Ohm's Law
V = I x R

Voltage = Current x Resistance

using algerbra you can figure out how to find the resitor you would need by re-aranging the equation.

Voltage/Current = Resistance

Voltage is 12 (or 13.5 if the car is running) minus the working voltage (voltage LED uses) example: 12 - 2 = 10

Current is the mA rating of the LED, usually between 15 and 20mA (for this formula it must be in hundreths (ie. 0.015 is 15mA)

Resistance is the amount of ohms resistance you need to make the LED work.

Example:
10 volts / .015 amps = 666.6

Since 667 is not a current resistor size, rounding up to a 680 ohm resistor is fine.

Hope this helps.

Coolguy949

iTrader: (10)

PS - connect the positive (+) current to the anode side of the LED (longest stem) and the negative (-) to the cathode side of the LED (shortest side).

Thwack

i think his problem is more that he needs to power, or at least activate the LED's that light up when you press the buttons with the 2V power already in place. if he were using a normal LED it would be no problem, just do a straight swap, but the white LED's use higher voltage, so he needs to power them w/ 3-5 volts, but activate them w/ a 2 volt output. then he can use a 12V current w/ a resistor to power the new LED through a relay or transistor of some kind.

neilschelly

iTrader: (2)

Thwack hit it on the nose. Transistors act as current amplifiers, but using the 2V as the trigger source would give me only 1.3V (with lots of available current) to power the LED. The white (and blue too) LEDs I've seen are all require roughly 3.6 to 3.8V.

Anyway, I know what I have to do, but it's hard to just find a pile of relays to pick and select from. Radshack has a horrible selection and the east coast doesn't have Fry's. So I've got to find a place online and hope that I can determine the specs close enough to function.
-N