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LED switches

LED switches

  • $45 - I send temp switches, you send yours to me, you return temps. $20 additional Core charge

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What I meant by "more than just putting in a LED" was that you have to have a D79 connector to make the moon roof switch light up and you need a switch with the correct # of prongs on the back. Not sure how many prongs are needed for this.

All you need is a regular 98-00 switch. The Pre-98 switches are the ones that won't work. They are wired different, which is the reason for the different amount of pins.

Also, the D79 connector has nothing to do with the switch itself. That wire needs to run from the switch harness to a dome light power wire.

In other words, all you need from Matt R is a window switch with your color of choice. The rest is up to you.
 
I wouldn't be too confident in doing the moon roof. If someone wants to get me one from a junkyard I can give it a try.

LUCA got me a bunch of switches, pre-98 and post-98. I need to

I was part of the old GB with '99 Contour SE. Fortunately, mine still work, but I know you got hammered on the GB Rawburt. I wasn't going to bring this up on the interest check, but I will anyways: I'm not going anywhere. I'll have a guarantee. I've been on here 3 years now, I'm a mod, and I already have done 2 GBs (the Mobil 1 stickers and the gauge color changes). You don't have to worry about me disappearing with everyone's money or becoming MIA when problems arise.

CSVT1214, care to provide me with the resistor values on various colors, so I can ensure everything is done properly?

teamSVTour, what dimmer switch are you talking about? The one that dims the gauges/HVAC? Mine is just printed on the black plastic in white, it doesn't light up.


As far as the GB goes: there seems to be some decent interest in various parts. Let me get the switches are make sure I can do everything right. If so, I'll open the official GB.
 
teamSVTour, what dimmer switch are you talking about? The one that dims the gauges/HVAC? Mine is just printed on the black plastic in white, it doesn't light up.

I believe they changed for 99+. My 98 lights up but my 00 doesn't.

CSVT1214, care to provide me with the resistor values on various colors, so I can ensure everything is done properly?

Unfortunately, I've only worked with one color, red. I can only give you a value that works perfectly in that color and gives perfect light output. PM being sent in a few mins.
 
resistance shouldn't be based on "color" It is based on the particular diodes characteristics.
That is, to say, you can find a red LED that takes a 5ohm resistor, or a 55 ohm resistor. It isn't in the color.. The resistor is used to regulate voltage, and thus current, to the diode (keeping those within the specs of the diode itself.)

You can purchase 12V LEDs which would require absolutely no resistor, or you could purchase a ..7-.8v LED (just over the forward voltage required for a diode) and that would require a large resistor.

So, there is no "end all" list of magical resistor values based on color. It will depend on the specs of the resistors that you are choosing to use for this group buy.

Also.. Matt, the sunroof is not a matter of experience.. If you can do a window switch (passenger, etc) then you already DID a sunroof switch. They are identical except that the sunroof isn't lit up.. it is solid plastic. You replace the stock sunroof switch with a stock window switch to enable lighting.

The end-user would be responsible for running a wire from gauge-switched power (anything hot when the gauges light up) up to the back of his new sunroof switch(window switch) and power the pre-installed LED you supplied.

perhaps only you would need to solder on two pigtails from the LED itself to make it easier for the user to splice/solder his lead to the LED once he ran it.
 
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resistance shouldn't be based on "color" It is based on the particular diodes characteristics.
That is, to say, you can find a red LED that takes a 5ohm resistor, or a 55 ohm resistor. It isn't in the color.. The resistor is used to regulate voltage, and thus current, to the diode (keeping those within the specs of the diode itself.)

You can purchase 12V LEDs which would require absolutely no resistor, or you could purchase a ..7-.8v LED (just over the forward voltage required for a diode) and that would require a large resistor.

So, there is no "end all" list of magical resistor values based on color. It will depend on the specs of the resistors that you are choosing to use for this group buy.

Don't worry, I understand that completely. I'm just trying to keep things in simple terms.

Certain colors give a higher mcd rating than others. Sometimes you need to make up for the difference in light output by using different resistor ratings.
 
I wouldn't be too confident in doing the moon roof. If someone wants to get me one from a junkyard I can give it a try.

teamSVTour, what dimmer switch are you talking about? The one that dims the gauges/HVAC? Mine is just printed on the black plastic in white, it doesn't light up.

Yes the one that dims the gauges/ HVAC. It is not a switch per se but there is just a bulb behind the dash that illuminates the "dimmer icon" on the dash. If it it is just popping out a bulb and plugging in an LED I can handle that. I really have not looked back there so thats why I brought it up.

Also.. Matt, the sunroof is not a matter of experience.. If you can do a window switch (passenger, etc) then you already DID a sunroof switch. They are identical except that the sunroof isn't lit up.. it is solid plastic. You replace the stock sunroof switch with a stock window switch to enable lighting.

The end-user would be responsible for running a wire from gauge-switched power (anything hot when the gauges light up) up to the back of his new sunroof switch(window switch) and power the pre-installed LED you supplied.

perhaps only you would need to solder on two pigtails from the LED itself to make it easier for the user to splice/solder his lead to the LED once he ran it.

Ray is correct. The moonroof switch is the same switch as the door switch. So doing this would be just like doing a window switch. I thought I read where if you have a switch w/ 3 tabs on the back it makes it easier to connect a power wire to the switch to light up the LED. I've never done this before but its a nice touch.
 
well.. that's correct, if you are looking at it from one side..
step around to the other and you'll see that its what causes the typical "led switch" problems.

Red LEDs may put out 12000 MCDs (the measure of light output), whereas your blue that you choose to use may output 45000MCD. Even if you chose to go with 12V LEDs (built in resistor, actually) so that there is NO RESISTOR needed, the blue would be brighter, because at the CORRECT VOLTAGE to the LED, the blue one still outputs nearly 4 times the light.
This is what causes the "overly bright" look. So, the way people get around that is that they limit the voltage/current to the blue ones with either a bigger resistor, or additional smaller resistors. You've now taken your simple, no resistor needed setup and added a complexity.

Its another resistor to burn out. The life expectancy of a typical LED is not measured in the hundreds or thousands of hours like a bulb.. They are measures in the 10 or hundreds of thousand hours.

a resistor? They don't last NEARLY as long when they are forced to dissipate the wattage usually thrown at them from your typical setup on here. This is where the whole "half of mine are blown" statements come from. the LEDs are likely fine (unless they were subjected to overcurrent, IE a resistor too small) and the RESISTOR is likely blown.

It would be much simpler to find a blue LED with the light output characteristics you desire (8000MCD? 12000MCD? instead of having to use a resistor to "hide" an overly bright output. The resistor should be used to put the LED in its efficiency range (which would be its required voltage, which would output 45000MCD from above). When you use a resistor to lower the light output even LOWER than that, you may be dissipating more wattage than normal on your resistor not to mention adding one more component to fail.

Keep it simple.. plan accordingly.. and APPROPRIATELY.

This is getting long, but oh well:

Most LEDs have their characteristics specified at a current of 20 mA. If you want really good reliability and you are not certain you don't have worse-than-average heat conductivity in your mounting, heat buildup in wherever you mount them, voltage/current variations, etc. then design for 15 milliamps.
Now for how to make 15 milliamps flow through the LED:
First you need to know the LED voltage drop. It is safe enough to assume 1.7 volts for non-high-brightness red, 1.9 volts for high-brightness, high-efficiency and low-current red, and 2 volts for orange and yellow, and 2.1 volts for green. Assume 3.4 volts for bright white, bright non-yellowish green, and most blue types. Assume 4.6 volts for 430 nM bright blue types such as Everbright and Radio Shack. Design for 12 milliamps for the 3.4 volt types and 10 milliamps for the 430 NM blue.
You can design for higher current if you are adventurous or you know you will have a good lack of heat buildup. In such a case, design for 25 ma for the types with voltage near 2 volts, 18 ma for the 3.4 volt types, and 15 ma for the 430 NM blue.
Meet or exceed the maximum rated current of the LED only under favorable conditions of lack of heat buildup. Some LED current ratings assume some really favorable test conditions - such as being surrounded by air no warmer than 25 degrees Celsius and some decent thermal conduction from where the leads are mounted. Running the LED at specified laboratory conditions used for maximum current rating will make it lose half its light output after rated life expectancy (20,000 to 100,000 hours) - optimistically! You can use somewhat higher currents if you heat-sink the leads and/or can tolerate much shorter life expectancy.
Next, know your supply voltage. It should be well above the LED voltage for reliable, stable LED operation. Use at least 3 volts for the lower voltage types, 4.5 volts for the 3.4 volt types, and 6 volts for the 430 NM blue.
The voltage in most cars is 14 volts while the alternator is successfully charging the battery. A well-charged 12 volt lead-acid battery is 12.6 volts with a light load discharging it. Many "wall wart" DC power supplies provide much higher voltage than specified if the load is light, so you need to measure them under a light load that draws maybe 10-20 milliamps.
Next step is to subtract the LED voltage from the supply voltage. This gives you the voltage that must be dropped by the dropping resistor. Example: 3.4 volt LED with a 6 volt supply voltage. Subtracting these gives 2.6 volts to be dropped by the dropping resistor.

The next step is to divide the dropped voltage by the LED current to get the value of the dropping resistor. If you divide volts by amps, you get the resistor value in ohms. If you divide volts by milliamps, you get the resistor value in kilo-ohms or k.
Example: 6 volt supply, 3.4 volt LED, 12 milliamps. Divide 2.6 by .012. This gives 217 ohms. The nearest standard resistor value is 220 ohms.
If you want to operate the 3.4 volt LED from a 6 volt power supply at the LED's "typical" current of 20 ma, then 2.6 divided by .02 yields a resistor value of 130 ohms. The next higher popular standard value is 150 ohms.
If you want to run a typical 3.4 volt LED from a 6 volt supply at its maximum rated current of 30 ma, then divide 2.6 by .03. This indicates 87 ohms. The next higher popular standard resistor value is 100 ohms. Please beware that I consider the 30 ma rating for 3.4-3.5 volt LEDs to be optimistic.
One more thing to do is to check the resistor wattage. Multiply the dropped voltage by the LED current to get the wattage being dissipated in the resistor. Example: 2.6 volts times .03 amp (30 milliamps) is .078 watt. For good reliability, I recommend not exceeding 60 percent of the wattage rating of the resistor. A 1/4 watt resistor can easily handle .078 watt. In case you need a more powerful resistor, there are 1/2 watt resistors widely available in the popular values.
You can put LEDs in series with only one resistor for the whole series string. Add up the voltages of all the LEDs in the series string. This should not exceed 80 percent of the supply voltage if you want good stability and predictable current consumption. The dropped voltage will then be the supply voltage minus the total voltage of the LEDs in the series string.
Do not put LEDs in parallel with each other. Although this usually works, it is not reliable. LEDs become more conductive as they warm up, which may lead to unstable current distribution through paralleled LEDs. LEDs in parallel need their own individual dropping resistors. Series strings can be paralleled if each string has its own dropping resistor.


If you wanted to get more complex, at least get complex for the right reason.. pulsing current output beyond the max on an LED in rapid succession leads to higher light output without a dramatic decrease in life expectancy. That's for another discussion, though.

/hijack
 
stupid.gif


And FYI, RawBurt's LED's were using only 330 ohm resistors. :eek:
 
From what I can gather online:

The voltage coming in at the switches is actually 14 volts with the engine running, and 13.8 volts with the engine off.

For the forward voltage drop: 1.7-1.9 volts for red, 2 volts for orange/yellow, 2.1 volts for green, 3.4 volts for white/blue, and 4.6 for UV.

With all this, assuming a 15mA forward current, a standard switch has 2 LEDs. Using red, then I should have a 680 Ohm 1/2 watt resistor? Blue and white, 560 Ohm, 1/4?
 
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ray-awsome post!!!.

Matt- Im in just dont know what color i want to go with yet. if i send you the traction control button can you do that also??
 
Order placed for 100 white, 80 red, and 70 blue LEDs. Switches will be here tomorrow.
 
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The list: full set includes all window, locks, and defroster.


1. Rawburt (white)
2. yamaha racer 686 (unknown color)
3. hetfield (blue)
4. xtascox (red)
5. icysvt (unknown color)
6. teamSVTour (moonroof only)
7. trhlz1222 (unknown color)

Please update accordingly. Look for the official GB opening near the end of this week.
 
count me in! for red. (full set + defrost)

when do you need the money payed to you get on the list?

Also, any chance of getting you to make an LED for the light on the 98 clock?
 
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Don't worry about money yet. It's still an interest check and set-up for the official GB. I just want to get comments/questions/concerns to make sure the GB is as good as possible.
 
No need to make anything with LED's. You can buy a bulb to drop right in with any color you want.

so where can i get them then?

MATT R:

ok sounds good, ill be in on this once its offical then.
 
so where can i get them then?

Autolumination.com

#74 style bulbs. Incandescent work the best for the clock because LED's typically cause a bright spot in the center. Incandescent spreads evenly in the clock.
74_colors.jpg


I apologize if I appear to be hijacking the thread. This is not my intention. I only want to help Matt with some of the questions.
 
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