Trunk Lighting for Showcar, Current regulator w/

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schfiftyfivefive

Joined Oct 9, 2011
3
So I finished my trunk display for my car, custom subs boxes and suede lining, pretty pleased. I'm in the midst of doing the lighting now, I've wired a harness straight from the battery with a relay triggered from the ignition.

I ordered a few Osram 1 amp 1.5 Vf LED chips, I plan on having about 4 of them to light up the entire trunk (they're very bright)

I've never done much for LEDs before, but I understand that I'll need a current regulator to control the brightness. If I have 4 in series, will the last 7.5v (13.5v-(4ledsx1.5Vf)) be given off as heat in the current regulator, or will I need a voltage regulator as well?
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
Depends. A linear regulator burns off the excess, a switching regulator only loses 10 to 20% as heat. You can look up "Buck Puck" or examine romanblack.com for a switch mode constant current LED driver.
 

circa27

Joined Feb 22, 2011
38
Thanks, I was researching the buck pucks, and I see they have 7 pins. I also read that the red/black are obviously power/ground, the blue/white are LED +/-, and the yellow/grey are control pins for pwm or strobe sources or w/e you might be using.

Thats still only 6 pins, and on this picture I see no color coding..?

 

Georacer

Joined Nov 25, 2009
5,182
@schfiftyfivefive

Welcome to the AAC forums.

This thread is a violation of the AAC forum rules, Chapter 6, as seen here:
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/l_tos.html
Namely, automotive modifications of any kind are strictly forbidden.
Therefore, this thread will be closed.

Please understand the reasons behind this action and bear no grudge.
Feel free to tread on the rest of the forums.
 
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