airbrush said:
okay...all technical info isnt really necessary (led voltage, regulator 7810, resistors), all of that is fine.
If you want us to help you make the brake lights turn on brighter than the normal brightness, this info is extremely necessary.
I know how to make the whole thing work if i wanted all of the LEDs to brighten when brakes are applied, but thats not what i am after. Just the center section to light up brighter.
How? By adding more regulators?
If a 7810 isn't overloaded, then its output voltage will be 10 volts. The LEDs will be a certain brightness with 10 volts feeding the resistors that are in series with them. When you have a single 7810, it is probably overloaded causing a low output voltage. Your LEDs go brighter with two regulators connected because the 2nd 7810 shares the current so the 1st 7810 isn't overloaded anymore, and the voltage rises to 10 volts.
If you add 100 or more regulators all in parallel like you have both of yours, their output voltage will still be 10 volts, and the LEDs will be at the same brightness.
You need an electronic circuit to increase the brightness of the LEDs, and we can't properly design one for you without the necessary details.
So what i'm starting to understand from this is that both of the outputs are hooked up to the center section that i want....which would work if the one output wasnt also powering the rest of the LEDs. So I need to isolate this somehow?
Yes, you need to isolate the center section of LEDs from the others so that you can change their brightness. You have them all connected together now.
We will help you do this when you give us the important details.
I copied a 7810 manufacturer's recommendation for capacitors and warning about connecting their outputs with only one powered: