Noob here;
I purchased a kit to change out my regular brake light bulbs in my car to replace them with LEDs, which came with 50w 6ohm resistors to be wired in parallel. The instructions indicate that the resistors should not touch plastic to avoid melting and they should be mounted to metal to dissipate heat. What I'm wondering is this; if they're going to generate that much heat, does that mean this resistor is providing too much resistance?
I measured the resistance of the old bulb and it was about 1.5 ohms The LEDs showed zero resistance, so wouldn't that suggest that the resistor could be as little as 1.5 or 2 ohms, or one-third the resistance they sold with the kit? I'm replacing a 10 watt 12v bulb so the power consumption is comparatively small and I'm thinking the resistor is overkill - which is causing the heat. If it were a lower resistance, wouldn't it generate less heat?
I also understand that if a resister with too small a resistance is installed it could cause a fire so maybe the kits are sold with these 'heavy duty' resistors to ensure there's no safety issue.
I'm not looking to redesign anything, just want to wrap my head around the limited knowledge I have of electricity.
I purchased a kit to change out my regular brake light bulbs in my car to replace them with LEDs, which came with 50w 6ohm resistors to be wired in parallel. The instructions indicate that the resistors should not touch plastic to avoid melting and they should be mounted to metal to dissipate heat. What I'm wondering is this; if they're going to generate that much heat, does that mean this resistor is providing too much resistance?
I measured the resistance of the old bulb and it was about 1.5 ohms The LEDs showed zero resistance, so wouldn't that suggest that the resistor could be as little as 1.5 or 2 ohms, or one-third the resistance they sold with the kit? I'm replacing a 10 watt 12v bulb so the power consumption is comparatively small and I'm thinking the resistor is overkill - which is causing the heat. If it were a lower resistance, wouldn't it generate less heat?
I also understand that if a resister with too small a resistance is installed it could cause a fire so maybe the kits are sold with these 'heavy duty' resistors to ensure there's no safety issue.
I'm not looking to redesign anything, just want to wrap my head around the limited knowledge I have of electricity.