led

[Sharperblade]

Hello, I've been poking aroud looking for LED's to illuminate my trunk. So far I've actually learned a decent amount about LEDs, but still have a question. I've found some 1500 mcd LEDs with a 120 viewing angle. Could someone please tell me how many of said LEDs would be needed to sufficiently light my trunk? Thanks! =)

 

[Torben]

Hello, I've been poking aroud looking for LED's to illuminate my trunk. So far I've actually learned a decent amount about LEDs, but still have a question. I've found some 1500 mcd LEDs with a 120 viewing angle. Could someone please tell me how many of said LEDs would be needed to sufficiently light my trunk? Thanks! =)

A bunch. Not trying to be a smartass (OK, just a little) but we don't know anything about your trunk. (er...I am guessing you're from North America and that you mean a vehicle's storage compartment. Or do you mean clothes trunk? Tickle Trunk? Elephant trunk?)

You'd have to say whether you are looking for mood/style lighting, or good illumination. Also, what colour are these LEDs you have? Some colours appear brighter and easier to see in than others. Some colours are easier to focus on (blue is hard to focus on, red is easy). Also there is the size of the trunk, the shape (do you want all the corners lit?) and you might need to take into account the interior colour of the trunk--if it's bright colours you'll need fewer LEDs to get the same apparent brightness.

I would suggest you repost your question with more information as a new thread in one of the electronics forums on this site, as this forum is for discussion about the site itself. This thread is a 2-years-dead thread about whether the site needs a chat room.


Torben

 

[DigiTan]

Yeah, I've worked with white LED clusters as bright as 10,000mcds each, and I couldn't see less than 8 or 10 replacing the stock lighting. The original bulb is just that bright. Now superbrightleds.com does make light bars ($12.95) and light strips that do exactly what you're wanting. And they run off 12V. If you already have a lot of LEDs, I won't talk you out of using those if they look like they'll work.

 

[gramo]

The most powerful 5mm LED's i've ever stumbled across are **broken link removed**, the have three chips in one 5mm package, and run on 100mA

They throw a very even and clear light pattern over 90 degrees, and needless to say, they are extremely bright.

I reckon one of those in the center facing down will throw enough light around to light the whole boot (? not sure if your talking about the car or not) up

 

[Hero999]

They're not that expensive either. Maplin and Radio$hack sell normal white LEDs for much more than that.

 

[Sharperblade]

Hey guys, thanks a ton already! Ya, i was talking about my car, basically what I want is to replace the weak little bulb in there with some nice new LEDs for functional lighting such that it'll reach the corners of the trunk, rather than a bright white spot and the rest of the trunk being black (white). Then i also want to be able to flip a switch and have Red, Green, or Blue accent coloring. I'm not looking for a blazing green trunk, but I want the LEDs to be bright enough such that its noticable. I could go either way, going with RBG or individual LED's. The main idea behind the project is for it to add a cool effect to my trunk, without eating a hole in my wallet. So i'm generally staying away from strips as they tend to be expensive, but I'd be open to suggestions if anyone knows of any cheap ones thatll get the job done. Thanks again!

 

[Ubergeek63]

or if you want more light with less money and work you could use a Cree:
**broken link removed**
to get 170Lm per LED instead of 8LM (they are advertising 13LM but if you look at the product page that is the typical no the min)