iamsuperbleeder
New Member
So I've been on a mission to make an LED 3rd brake light for my 2006 Toyota Tacoma, partly because I just can't really ever shake off the need to tinker with things and partly because all of the aftermarket ones I've found online are WAY overpriced for what they are, and they just look cheesy in my opinion.
My first design was made in haste, and was a complete flunk. Technically it worked, but it was a bad design from the beginning. Basically it was 30 LEDs all wired together in parallel. They lit, but obviously that many LEDs in a parallel circuit is just a bad idea to begin with. Needless to say, running them all off a single resistor got that resistor EXTREMELY hot VERY quickly...
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After doing a little more research, it seems that making the circuit into 10 parallel circuits of 3 LEDs in series is the best idea. So I started over and that's exactly what I did, and put everything on a single board instead of two split boards like the original design.
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My issue NOW is that A) the 10 220ohm 1/4watt resistors get a little warm after about 20 seconds of power applied, and B) I think I used the wrong ohm resistors to begin with... I originally thought the LEDs were rated for 3v, but I misread and they're actually only rated for 1.9v... I should have used 470ohm 1/4watt resitors...
So if there's 3v getting to the LEDs that are only rated for 1.9v, how long can I expect them to last? Also, is this what's possibly heating up the resistors? I realize that heat is a byproduct of electrical resistance and it's to be expected, it just seems they start to get warm rather quickly.
My first design was made in haste, and was a complete flunk. Technically it worked, but it was a bad design from the beginning. Basically it was 30 LEDs all wired together in parallel. They lit, but obviously that many LEDs in a parallel circuit is just a bad idea to begin with. Needless to say, running them all off a single resistor got that resistor EXTREMELY hot VERY quickly...
**broken link removed**
After doing a little more research, it seems that making the circuit into 10 parallel circuits of 3 LEDs in series is the best idea. So I started over and that's exactly what I did, and put everything on a single board instead of two split boards like the original design.
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**
My issue NOW is that A) the 10 220ohm 1/4watt resistors get a little warm after about 20 seconds of power applied, and B) I think I used the wrong ohm resistors to begin with... I originally thought the LEDs were rated for 3v, but I misread and they're actually only rated for 1.9v... I should have used 470ohm 1/4watt resitors...
So if there's 3v getting to the LEDs that are only rated for 1.9v, how long can I expect them to last? Also, is this what's possibly heating up the resistors? I realize that heat is a byproduct of electrical resistance and it's to be expected, it just seems they start to get warm rather quickly.