Car led mod help

[aceofskies05]

I have a 2000 jetta, and I want to put leds on the front grill to make it look cool. What would be the best way to do this? rig a switch to the inside of the car?

This thread belongs in The Garage. I'm moving it there.
Anandtech Moderator hzl

 

[0roo0roo]

its hard to tell if you are joking...

 

[Colt45]

define "make it look cool"

 

[vshah]

are you sure you'll be able to handle the increased power?

 

[DivideBYZero]

wrong forum

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Tools you'll need:
volts=current*resistance
power=volts*current

 

[ViviTheMage]

bahahha, why?!

just hook it strait up to the battery and have a switch go through the firewall....

I would say post on VW Vortex, but they may laugh at you....

 

[DougK62]

Well it took me a minute to realize that you mean LED, and now I'm pissed that I wasted that minute.

 

[shocksyde]

You'd need 4 wires.

One connected to your battery's + terminal, another connected to a grounded metal part of the car's chassis. Bring those two wires through your firewall and attach to a switch somewhere in the cabin.

Then have 2 more wires go back out into the engine bay and to the grill area, where you can attach the LEDs. I hope you're not planning on using blue, because they require a lot more power than other colors and you may only be able to hook up 3 or 4.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Unless it's built into the LED, you WILL need a current limiting resistor or the LED will fry. Hence my earlier post. Some LEDs (particularly the ones made to replace bulbs) do have the appropriate resistors already in place.

 

[shocksyde]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
Unless it's built into the LED, you WILL need a current limiting resistor or the LED will fry. Hence my earlier post. Some LEDs (particularly the ones made to replace bulbs) do have the appropriate resistors already in place.

Not if he wires 3 or 4 in series. I pulled out my dash assembly and replaced the regular white bulbs with clusters of 4 blue LEDs in series. No resistor used and they're still going strong after 2 years.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: shocksyde
You'd need 4 wires.

One connected to your battery's + terminal, another connected to a grounded metal part of the car's chassis. Bring those two wires through your firewall and attach to a switch somewhere in the cabin.

Then have 2 more wires go back out into the engine bay and to the grill area, where you can attach the LEDs. I hope you're not planning on using blue, because they require a lot more power than other colors and you may only be able to hook up 3 or 4.

It is ILLEGAL to display blue light from the exterior of a non-emergency vehicle. It is also illegal to display non-white light from the front of a non-emergency vehicle (the only exception being for amber-colored side-markers and turn signals).

ZV

 

[jtvang125]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: shocksyde
You'd need 4 wires.

One connected to your battery's + terminal, another connected to a grounded metal part of the car's chassis. Bring those two wires through your firewall and attach to a switch somewhere in the cabin.

Then have 2 more wires go back out into the engine bay and to the grill area, where you can attach the LEDs. I hope you're not planning on using blue, because they require a lot more power than other colors and you may only be able to hook up 3 or 4.

It is ILLEGAL to display blue light from the exterior of a non-emergency vehicle. It is also illegal to display non-white light from the front of a non-emergency vehicle (the only exception being for amber-colored side-markers and turn signals).

ZV

Don't forget yellow foglights as well. And if I'm not mistaken Ca allows yellow headlights too.

 

[jtvang125]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: shocksyde
You'd need 4 wires.

One connected to your battery's + terminal, another connected to a grounded metal part of the car's chassis. Bring those two wires through your firewall and attach to a switch somewhere in the cabin.

Then have 2 more wires go back out into the engine bay and to the grill area, where you can attach the LEDs. I hope you're not planning on using blue, because they require a lot more power than other colors and you may only be able to hook up 3 or 4.

It is ILLEGAL to display blue light from the exterior of a non-emergency vehicle. It is also illegal to display non-white light from the front of a non-emergency vehicle (the only exception being for amber-colored side-markers and turn signals).

ZV

Don't forget yellow foglights as well. And if I'm not mistaken Ca allows yellow headlights too.

 

[theslickvik]

First impression "WTF" Secondly, LEDs require lot of time and tweaking. If you have the skills then pm me

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: jtvang125

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: shocksyde
You'd need 4 wires.

One connected to your battery's + terminal, another connected to a grounded metal part of the car's chassis. Bring those two wires through your firewall and attach to a switch somewhere in the cabin.

Then have 2 more wires go back out into the engine bay and to the grill area, where you can attach the LEDs. I hope you're not planning on using blue, because they require a lot more power than other colors and you may only be able to hook up 3 or 4.

It is ILLEGAL to display blue light from the exterior of a non-emergency vehicle. It is also illegal to display non-white light from the front of a non-emergency vehicle (the only exception being for amber-colored side-markers and turn signals).

ZV

Don't forget yellow foglights as well. And if I'm not mistaken Ca allows yellow headlights too.

Technically yellow is not approved for on-road use for headlights. I'd forgotten about about fog lights though, you're right that yellow is allowed for fog lights.

ZV