Lil help with dome tappin

[orionlion82]

Originally Posted by aljenkins88

well now that we figured that out. Does anybody have a clue about how to get an led Map light bulb to work. The polarity is reversed from what it needs to be? any comments or suggestions?

the domelight maplight is connected to the constant hot + and the constant ground - as far as i know. same as teh constant ON position for the domelight. the fader ground is for the door position domelight only from what i know.

the way to see whats what is to check it with your multimeter.
find positive on there, and positive on the light and make the connection. negative to negative.
make sure you know how to identify this on the LED/circut, and make sure you have the right resistor.

[aljenkins88]

the problem is the way the bulb fits in the socket. When you have a regular bulb it will llight reguardless of direction, ect. but with an Led bulb you have a positive and a negative.

[orionlion82]

Originally Posted by aljenkins88

the problem is the way the bulb fits in the socket. When you have a regular bulb it will llight reguardless of direction, ect. but with an Led bulb you have a positive and a negative.

I understand you have a bulb that you suspect it reverse polarity as you have said

(not sure how this is possible, you would think not- but...)

LED's have anodes and cathodes.

see this article:

http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/led.htm

if the bulb assembly is somehow pre-prepared and is reverse polarity, you have two options:

a. make sure that the entire circut of the lamp assembly really is reversed or not as you fear. it might be good.

if you find it reversed:

1. reverse the polarity of the connections in the socket if you see it possible.
(i dont have one in front of me and this could me a very bad thing so be very carefull)
this could lead to confusion in the future, so proceed with due caution and mark it as such if you find the need (and the actual possibility without a short/open circut)

2. reverse the polarity of the lamp assembly if possible instead of # 1.

[aljenkins88]

ok now we are on the same page here. I think I may have to break out the soldering gun later. haha

[orionlion82]

Originally Posted by aljenkins88

ok now we are on the same page here. I think I may have to break out the soldering gun later. haha

just make sure that if you reverse the polarity of the socket it does not short anything. that very well might happen. look very carefully.

if the bulb is backwards, you can allways buy a new one for cheap if it dies from reverse polarity.

if you mess up and short the system - (the GEM/computer, which is attached to the lighting in the car) its big bucks.

[aljenkins88]

thats what I am a little wary about. Maybe I should just put the stock filament bulbs back in?

[orionlion82]

Originally Posted by aljenkins88

thats what I am a little wary about. Maybe I should just put the stock filament bulbs back in?

if you dont have a multimeter to check the bulb out or one that can do diodes and all, just put it in.

if it does not work or blows, you know its reversed and you should try another manufacturer or bulb type, or make your own that suits the application.

i havnt looked at my domelight assembly in a few days so i dont recall weather it would be feasable or safe to reverse anything. this is what would risk your computer if you got it wrong..

i recon its cheaper and easier to sacrifice a bulb to see.

[aljenkins88]

its definately reverse polarity I have checked.The neg on the assably goes to pos. on the bulb and vice versa. Im just trying to figure out how exactly to modify the domelight. Im thinking it may be easier to make my own bulb out of a superflux LED or something of that nature.?

[orionlion82]

Originally Posted by aljenkins88

its definately reverse polarity I have checked.The neg on the assably goes to pos. on the bulb and vice versa. Im just trying to figure out how exactly to modify the domelight. Im thinking it may be easier to make my own bulb out of a superflux LED or something of that nature.?

for the maplight LED's covert1 mentioned that high power LED's would have too high a heat consideration in that specific application.

that in mind- you can make your own as long as you provide that it does not get too hot. (heatsinking and not running it at full power)

for the maplights, i would use three 5mm instead of a high power single.
for the domelight i would use 5 or 6.

make sure to calculate the resistors correctly for the circut you build and away you go.

[aljenkins88]

http://www.oznium.com/prewired-superflux

I was thinking about these. They distinctly mention that heat is not an issue. Any comments?

[orionlion82]

okay, i just went and checked.

to clarify:
your bulb assy. likely has the correct polarity. (for a normal socket)

the SOCKET has reverse polarity for the maplights.

again the negatives are switched and faded and all that- and the positive is constant hot. its just a wacky ford thing.

i would roll-rour-own.

[orionlion82]

Originally Posted by aljenkins88

http://www.oznium.com/prewired-superflux

I was thinking about these. They distinctly mention that heat is not an issue. Any comments?

heat is allways an issue.
it is an enclosed space for the most part.

as a rule of thumb:
incandescent fixtures are made to CONTAIN heat for the most part, and LED fixtures are made to RADIATE heat.

heat will make the lamp draw more current, (heat increases resistance) and it could approach thermal runaway. (not so likely, but you never know)

but more likely, heat is has the most significant impact on the longevity of an LED aside from overdriving it (which would allso create lots of heat.)

you can try it but if you cant leave it on for 45 minuets without melting the housing or damaging the wires (heat degrades wires long term as well) it could be a bust.

you have to remember that you or a passenger might leave one on accidentally, and i think the power-cutoff-battery-saver feature is 45-90 minuets...


---
i mean, its worth a careful try, but it will be difficult to get it right.
i plan on three 5mm LED's in mine sometime in the future.

i havnt had enough coffee this morning to come up with anything better.

allso, a good resource for this type of thing:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/

more specifically the automotive section:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...splay.php?f=87

I am a member there and its a very good group.

[aljenkins88]

actually you just saved me some cash I have some 5mm white Leds already soldered and wired ready to go!

[sleestak]

wow, this thread is still going! w0ot. I may get bored and take a stab at doing this again, but this time I will tap the door switches. It just seems to be the cleanest and most effective solution.

Good luck aljenkins! Hope this works out for you...be sure to post up what you did, please.

[orionlion82]

Originally Posted by sleestak

wow, this thread is still going! w0ot. I may get bored and take a stab at doing this again, but this time I will tap the door switches. It just seems to be the cleanest and most effective solution.

Good luck aljenkins! Hope this works out for you...be sure to post up what you did, please.

hello, best of luck, and do try again -

i have had preliminary sucess since we last spoke as well.

tapped the fader in the A pillar and brought it down to the floorboard as a branch circuit,

i now am in the EARLY stages of footwell lights, both front and rear, along with tastefull accent lights that fade as stock. nothing solid, just trials so far.

have to make sure NOT to exceed the original spec of the output of the circuit factoring in wire length and resistors and lights...
got one of two maplights in as well.

works well so far, i have a proper illumination of my footwells and some tastefull artistic accent lights without being "ghetto"

working on the trunk lighting now, and am about halfway through my tests with LED's in there.

just prototypes so far, nothing i would tell the world about yet.

all is smooth besides the trunklights, in which my early trials have suffered some setbacks due to shorts - from materials failures that have cropped up in a dead short. the tolerences in the body panels arent the same gap left to right and ive found that my circuits take the path of least resistance - through the body.

when you put the resistor on the negative, that tends to fry things as a short on ground bypasses the resistor and tends to give lots of ruined hardwerae and smoke. allong with a full 12V with unlimited current to the LED's

i have to work out new tools, materials and procedures to get adequate insulation that will stand up to the task.

next weekend ill have it sorted out and once i get it complete, pictures wont be less than a year or two away detailing how i did it.

[sleestak]

Originally Posted by orionlion82

...once i get it complete, pictures wont be less than a year or two away detailing how i did it.

LMAO - bastard! Sounds like you are getting along well though. Kudos!

[orionlion82]

Originally Posted by sleestak

LMAO - bastard! Sounds like you are getting along well though. Kudos!

heh, yeah, i did toy with bringing the trunklight circuit forward for a "trunk open" sort of pilot light, but it was pointless and i decided to just convert the pilot light into cabin lights and put them on the fader circuit. ive still got the circuit that i ran up there, but i am not using it for anything currently.

the fader circuit is roughly 10W, (which should be plenty of LED's if implemented correctly.) i have 12 led's in sub-circuits of 3 led's in paralell with a 1W 150 ohm resister for each.

its actually so bright ive had to take a sharpie to the LED's and tame them up a bit.

oh, and hang on, i allso forgot to include a 6 lamp cluster of 2X 3 lamps in paralell in the domelight now. that seems to work out so far as well.

[sleestak]

I put cathodes in my hatch, but I just tapped into the existing hatch light. Made it stupid simple. I ran a wire up to the front of the deck, added a quick release and then hot glued it up underneath.

The lights sit right where the hatch deck curves down, so they arent visible with the hatch open...only the light being thrown. The wires I ran along the side under the lip and tacked it with hot glue blobs, then covered the whole thing with black fabric tape and it looks pretty clean.

If you want pics, just PM me.

[orionlion82]

Originally Posted by sleestak

I put cathodes in my hatch, but I just tapped into the existing hatch light. Made it stupid simple. I ran a wire up to the front of the deck, added a quick release and then hot glued it up underneath.

The lights sit right where the hatch deck curves down, so they arent visible with the hatch open...only the light being thrown. The wires I ran along the side under the lip and tacked it with hot glue blobs, then covered the whole thing with black fabric tape and it looks pretty clean.

If you want pics, just PM me.

behind that little vent area up top?
thats where i had mine too.

should have used hot glue, and i was thinking of doing it that way...
never got to it before the LED's -sounds like you did it clean and proper though.

but ive got the LED's all installed and working in a prototype sort of way. ive still got the wires to tidy up and make proper and i dont want to do that untill i am satisfied with how it does.

allso ive seen mention of the LED domelights glowing a tiny bit even when off. i have not had that experience.

[ScreamingYellowZX3]

Hey orionlion82, I wanna do this to my car(the footwell lighting) but don't wanna blow anything. Can you help me? Thanks

[orionlion82]

okay yellow, allmost all my answers are in the thread as i figure it out for myself.

safes way is to disconnect the battery cable and observe polatiry like your life depends on it. dont ground anything out, ya hear?

what is your experience level with electrics/electronics?

if youve looked over the thread and you get it youre good to go.

if you have more questions i can lay it out for ya.

within weeks i will be digital-photography-enabled and i can do a goooood write up, because this is a really fun mod...
finally. ive been promising it for a while...

[screwdiver]

I found out what the fading wire was the hard way. My dome light stopped going on when the door was open, thought it was due to some wiring in my headliner going bad, but then i looked in my footwell one day and found that my shoe had caught 2 wires and broke them, one blue/black (dome) and one red/black (rear defrost LED). The rear defroster LED was broken for a long time until I found it.

[ScreamingYellowZX3]

I have done some electrical stuff. I have read over the thread I understand how to wire it and all, but I unsure about what kind of LEDs to use, or what kind of resistor to use( I have never really done anything with LEDs.) What is the MAX amount of amps I can safely do and not fry the GEM?? Thanks orion

[goldse]

WOW.... 3 Pages and NO Answer ???

Ok, Just to let you know you don't have to use a Relay for powering up your cathodes. Each cathode transformer draws about 0.7 amps of power at 12 volts.
So unless your running 8-9 transformers a relay is OVERKILL.

You can run 1 wire (The switched Ground wire from the dome light) to the ground of the transformer directly, Then use a Constant Hot from the fuse block under the dash. That's how I did mine when I had my focus, then I wanted the Ability to leave them on all the time so I put switches in later.

Hope this helps !

Troy.

[spots25]

to put in LEDs, you can either use a resistor, or a voltage regulator. My first dome light version burnt out, so I used a voltage regulator for V2. Also, 24 superflux led's are really bright.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...a/IMG_2798.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...a/IMG_2796.jpg