first of all, HELLO!! i'm excited to ask this question here and see the feedback come rolling in.

what i'm wanting to do is install LED strips in my car under the dash for the front and under the front seats for lighting in the rear. I want to hardwire this system to the fuseblock, using an unused fuse location, so that when i start the car, power goes to a capacitor (or whatever type of device that holds a charge), powers the LEDs while my car's running and then when i turn it off, the LEDs slowly fade out and turn off as the capacitor drains its stored energy. I'd also like to have LEDs mounted under my car that only come on when I put it in park. Can someone direct me to a diagram that I can follow to do this? I'd be happy to just have the interior lights at this point but adding the exterior lighting would be an awesome addition.

Thank you!

 

Your best bet would be to just buy a LED kit designed for automotive use. These kits are also very popular for motorcycles, here are some examples. That said yes, you can roll your own. The merit to buy is you can get a full set with a remote controller including a small micro-controller for less cost than you could build something for. A simple cheap kit can be had for about $40 USD on Amazon Prime.

You don't mention a color but LED strings are pretty inexpensive. A simple Google of "led strips amazon" gets you a few dozen hits. Just look for adhisive backed strips designed for 12 volts and they are very common. Once you have a strip of the color and type you want then you can experiment with fade to off trying different capacitor values.

Ron

 

Your best bet would be to just buy a LED kit designed for automotive use. These kits are also very popular for motorcycles, here are some examples. That said yes, you can roll your own. The merit to buy is you can get a full set with a remote controller including a small micro-controller for less cost than you could build something for. A simple cheap kit can be had for about $40 USD on Amazon Prime.

You don't mention a color but LED strings are pretty inexpensive. A simple Google of "led strips amazon" gets you a few dozen hits. Just look for adhisive backed strips designed for 12 volts and they are very common. Once you have a strip of the color and type you want then you can experiment with fade to off trying different capacitor values.

Ron

hey ron! thank you for the reply. i've been browsing through Amazon all afternoon and I've found some pretty cool kits. Even a general internet search has turned up some good candidates. Speaking of color, I just want a cool white.

I may wind up using several kits for what I want to do. I've got an idea to connect the interior LED strips to the overhead dome light circuit since it comes on when the doors are opened and fades out when closed. And then perhaps a circuit for the manual switch for the overhead dome light. Sounds easy enough but also challenging. LOL

Maybe more searching and an automotive electronics manual will help me out some more.

 

hey ron! thank you for the reply. i've been browsing through Amazon all afternoon and I've found some pretty cool kits. Even a general internet search has turned up some good candidates. Speaking of color, I just want a cool white.

I may wind up using several kits for what I want to do. I've got an idea to connect the interior LED strips to the overhead dome light circuit since it comes on when the doors are opened and fades out when closed. And then perhaps a circuit for the manual switch for the overhead dome light. Sounds easy enough but also challenging. LOL

Maybe more searching and an automotive electronics manual will help me out some more.

My neighbor is real big on having a LED show on his motorcycle so for a week I helped him string LED RGB strip lights all over that bike and carefully concealed. He used a Florida Joe high end kit which was real nice and real expensive. His bike came out really sweet and then he suggested we do my bike. My bike as well as my trucks and even my guns are an extension of my taste, what I like. I even built a little mini layout using an arduino uno demonstrating how all of this stuff worked but really did not want this stuff on my bike.

Doing it from a kit is pretty easy.

Ron