serious comment or sarcastic? These wires are pretty tiny, and ive cut all the way up to about 1/4" away from the LED holder

 

Not sure what type, or where you have purchased your LED lights. I would assume that you would have gotten to the resistor by now if it did. But they are pretty small, so they kinda "dissappear". You could always test the LED for resistance with a volt meter.

 

yah they are off a strand of LED christmas lights, all wired in series, so i doubt that there would be enough power to push them all if they all had resistors. Ill take a pic this after noon to show you what im looking at. So what kind of resistance should i be seeing?

 

I knew I was going to get asked that question. I threw out the box that had the specs on it. I'll have to decode it. Give me a bit, might be able to get this answer from ozoniom.

Checked it out, you will need a 470 Ohm, 1/4 watt resistor for each LED.

 

The LED should look basically like an open circuit if there is no resistor... I believe... I don't have one handy to test...

 

Okay -- I hate to dredge this up again but, I'm ready to order a switch and I want to be CERTAIN that I get what I need here.

Here's what I want it to do and what I think I need:

I want to mount the capsule (magnetic reed switch) under the black plastic that is in the lid underside at the front (near the latch). In short, the capsule is out of sight and all wiring is kept beneath the plastic in the underside of the lid.

I'll then mount the magnet beneath the lip of the console - very near where the latch actually latches. If the magnet is strong enough, it should trigger the switch (will the magnet be strong enough through two layers of plastic?)

That said, I think I need a NC magnetic reed switch - correct? That would be one that, when exposed to a magnetic field, the wires within the capsule separate, correct? Pull it away from the magnet source and the wires touch thus completing the circuit yielding LIGHT.

The wiring will be like this:

From 'hot' wire on 12v rear seat adapter via 18 guage wire to a inline fuse holder (not sure on how big to guage the fuse)... from fuse holder to switch... through the switch... backside of switch's lead to all LEDs 'hot' wire.

From 'ground' wire on 12v rear seat adapter via 18 guage wire to all grounds on the LEDs.

Done... correct?

Please confirm that this will work out... thanks guys!!

-RP-

 

This link may help http://www.superbrightleds.com/led_info.htm
this is where I got the 120+ leds for the dash edge lighting.

 

Yes.
Depends on the LED's you're using. If they have the built-in resistors, then measure the resistance when you get them. Calculate the current (I=V/R) and multiply that times 1.25 to get approximate fuse size.
If they don't have them built in, get the correct resistors to bias the LED and then calculate your current.

 

Thank you, sir!

They do have built in resistors so, I believe I'm good there. I'll back-calculate into the fuse size (I just feel more comfortable putting one in line -- safety if nothing else).

Other than that, I'm golden?

 

Okay... I know the switch PN for the switch is the MP201802... can you provide me with the magnet PN? The links are temp links from digikey and they've expired.

Looking more and more at this -- this should be cake as long as the magnet works through the plastic on both the lid and the console. Any chance in kicking the magnet strength up to ensure function?

I'm looking at a full list of Reed magnets from Cherry on digikey -- just not sure which one is the winner for this functionality.

Thanks guys!!

-RP-

 

Where were you at a month ago! lol

 

Bump

 

x2

 

Sorry I just happened to see the post, I usually hang around in the av section.

 

My LEDs and Reed Switch should be here tomorrow -- if all goes well, I'll be doing this mod on Sunday.