DIY LED Dome Light (updated 9-15-09)
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DIY LED Dome Light (updated 9-15-09)
My little Honda Del Sol was in need of a brighter dome light. I went from regular bulb to a manufactured LED replacement to finally one high brightness one that I can even read with.
Bit of Caution
These LEDs do get HOT. Normal opening and closing the doors do not allow the LEDs to get very hot. Just do not do what I did and leave the car door open for several hours. The hot glue and epoxy melted into the lense of the dome light and the LEDs got heat damaged. They still are bright, but not as strong as they where.
Tools/ Items Needed
Tools
- solderering iron
- solder
- Helping Hands would call it a must have for this
- hot glue gun (extra stick)
- 9x white special square type multi chip LEDs Very High Brightness ( I used 50,000 MCD 140* 100mA) I recommend these. They are what I used. $18 for 30.
- 3x 22 ohms (red red black) 1/2 watt resisters.
Soldering LEDS
Solder LEDs in rows of 3. The Idea is to curve the LEDs joining the legs together wile the side of the LEDs are touching.
On these LEDs the positive anode is the strait leg. The negative cathode is the blade/heat sink fin thingy.
On these LEDs the positive anode is the strait leg. The negative cathode is the blade/heat sink fin thingy.
Solder the Rows Together
Line them up so that they are side by side and solder the inner negatives together at the end.
This might take a few tries to do.
This might take a few tries to do.
Attach Ground
Solder a piece of wire for the ground connecting all of the negatives of the LEDs
Adding Power
Bend the end of the resister like as show in the picture and clip a part of the end leaving a little.
Clip off every other power connector on the first LED in each row.
Solder the bend end of the resister to the led keeping the resister as close to the LED as possible.
Twist the ends of the resister together with a piece of wire and solder together.
Clip off every other power connector on the first LED in each row.
Solder the bend end of the resister to the led keeping the resister as close to the LED as possible.
Twist the ends of the resister together with a piece of wire and solder together.
Adding Hot Glue for Preventing Shorts
Apply hot glue to the bottom of the LEDs covering all of the pins.and exposed wires of the resisters.
Testing
12 volts is what a car uses if you have a 12v wall wart use that for testing. If you don't have a spare or a available 12v DC power supply. A simple 9 volt battery will provide enough to power the light, but it will be dim.
Comparison to Other LED Car Light
This is the LED car light that I bought compared to the LED light that I made.
So far size wise it is bigger.
I need to get a better picture from inside the car, The digital camera does not snow much in the dark even with how bright this light is.
I did try using it as a headlight on a 4 wheeler. It worked better then I thought it would.
So far size wise it is bigger.
I need to get a better picture from inside the car, The digital camera does not snow much in the dark even with how bright this light is.
I did try using it as a headlight on a 4 wheeler. It worked better then I thought it would.
Afterthought
After looking at this light I have thought of a few more ideas for using it.
- desk light replacement
- trunk/ boot light
- flashlight
- reading light