LEDs questions

[acexl]

oka so i am planning on changing my turn signals with LEDs so far my question is do i wire them directly or not? and what kind of pigtail do i need 2 prongs or 3 prong?

[Ryan]

I'm not sure, I was just thinking of buying raw ones and wiring them in series with resistors to match the resistance of the bulbs....bad idea? Too much current?
So I would assume two, pos and neg, as this is DC not AC. And the bulbs are reversable, whereas LED's are not, so you're gonna have to observe which terminal is what...
Assuming I understand the concept of pigtails:). Not sure exactly what that word refers to, but I would assume the number of connectors?

Edit. I'm completely stupid, I missed the part about "turn signals" haha... sorry
And could you not just pop off the turn signal and see how many connectors there are?

[Mooneggs]

are you talking about front turnsignals or rear turnsignals?

[acexl]

so like ryan said yes the pigtails are the connector i suppose,

and moonegg the front turn signals, i was told by a helpful member i would need 3 prong pigtail cuz the turn lights are also used as driving lights, but thats hard cuz i cant fring 2" diameter leds with 3 prongs pigtails any where any one has any idea where i could look


those are the ones i wanna use , as u can see it only has two prongs (cables/ connectors), are those cables one for the electricity and one for ground? or are they both for electricity? if i want them for turn signals only can just connect the ground and the repective turn signal cable and the led will work?

[Dark_Rider2k3]

well for current to flow it has to have positive and negative, so one is positive (electricity) and the other is negative (ground)

[acexl]

well for current to flow it has to have positive and negative, so one is positive (electricity) and the other is negative (ground)

so basically if i take the led and connect the wire for the turn signals to one cable and the cable to the runing lights in the other cable it wont work right? but i can pick one or the other right?

[Ryan]

I wasn't aware that turn signals were affected by running lights
Just put the negative wire from the signals to the negative terminal on your LED's, and the pos to the pos and see if it works before you screw it all back together. You can't mix pos and neg in diodes, (Light Emitting Diodes) because the original purpose of a diode was to only allow current flow in one direction, so you have to match the terminals correctly, because if you don't the diode will block the current flow which will equal no light emitting.

[acexl]

oka one stupid question, but kinda important Lal (not really) can i like attach both thr running light and the turn lights cable to the positive cable in the LED's, and the just connect ground cable to ground cable to the other end ? or will that like cause major damage like i fear... sorry im really new with this things

[Ryan]

I'm not sure what you're asking.
Can you have the turn signals and running lights on the same positive? I would think not. They would both blink with your signal. They are on seperate circuits for a reason.
The same negative? I would say thats possible, but I don't know exactly how the relay works, if the actualy relay is before or after the LED (aka on the way to ground or on the way to the LED's). Why not just keep them to their original connectors? Someone else would know better than I, like Mooneggs, I think he's done lots of playing with wiring.
The worst damage you can do is either fry the LED's or short out the running light or the blinker circuit, most likely wrecking it.

[Mooneggs]

I wasn't sure what he was asking either...

the picture... where exactly are you trying to install these? in the fenders?

[acexl]

no im installing them in the mesh on the side holes of my dumper, i have decided to give up the running lights its not like i use them either way

a question for mooneegs, do the civic projectors have turn signal in them?

[Mooneggs]

a question for mooneegs, do the civic projectors have turn signal in them?

yes - I never hoooked mine up though - I preferred my car overall to still be an mx-3 not a honda...

[Urbanconcept]

no im installing them in the mesh on the side holes of my dumper, i have decided to give up the running lights its not like i use them either way

Just one word of advice. You can do this, but since these LED's were intended to be used as a running light and not a signal, your signals will flash faster. The reason for this is that the LED have a lower resistance than the regular bulb. This will cause your car to believe that there is a bulb that has burnt out. Do a search, another member has posted a pic with some info on how to disconnect this feature of the turn signals. (I had the link saved, but my comp crashed so I'm not sure where the info is anymore). One other method is to wire up a bulb before the LED light and hide it somewhere (increasing the resistance so your car still thinks that everything is ok).

Hope it all works out for you.

[Mooneggs]

to urbanconcepts point you can run the hidden bulb or you can buy a higher wattage bulb for the rear turn signals. I have been running LED's in my front signals for years and the higher wattage bulb in my rear turn signals evens out the load

[Ryan]

whats wrong with resistors? A resistor is simply a load with no purpose aside from minor heat dissapation and impedance matching.