Blue LEDs behind the mirror project.

[teflone]

Originally Posted by lonnie

I plan on doing this soon in white and hooking it up to my turn signals. I'll put pics up soon as I'm done. I got a question though, and there hasn't been a straight answer on here as of yet, but is it hard to get the mirrors off of a 2000 olds, because if I have a problem I don't want to be stuck with out a mirror, espeacially here in maryland. They will give me a ticket with the quickness.

No one has answered because its terribly easy..

I have power mirrors, Im ASSUMING non powered ones are identical..

Mine come off with no problem.. there is 4 clips on the inside of the mirror that clip/clamp onto the mount (power mount for me)

You just pull, some have stated to pull from the bottom..

Just give it a firm pull, the first time you do it, its hard, every time after its easy..


I usually power my mirrors all the way out so that I can get my fingers behind the plate.. then I just pull it off.. pull it straight out and off.. basically towards you..


Ive taken mine off many times, no issues.. no breaking..

[cherrington17]

I did a little research at work, and found we do carry "load resistor kits" in stock. Its just a ceramic resistor, high wattage, low ohms. I tested them, myself, and they do in fact work.

Catalog 274.0120 They run about $3 each

any radioshack carries these, and if they don't have them in stock, they can order them, free of any shipping charge...

[teflone]

Great find.. excellent.. what ohm's where they exactly ?

Thats gotta be one of the cheapest equivalents I've saw yet

[SIUlero]

^^Package says 8.

[teflone]

whoops.. I was trying to read the resistor... lmao..

its been a long day..

[Satsuriku]

good find there cherry!!

i love the fact i have a white car AND the inside on my mirrors are already painted white as my mirrors are as well makes things easier for me hahaha

[cavaliers60]

So another update. I got the switch wired up and it works. Wired up one LED strip, but it didn't work. After talking to my dad, I guess I gotta wire my ground TO the switch. but it didn't work... My switch works though. The blue light on it is bright! I'll post a pic of where I put it tomorrow. It's too dark to do it right now.

[jayson_waltz]

the led's dont light up? all you should need to do is ground the led's anywhere, run a power wire from them to the output on the switch, run an input pos. wire to the switch, and that shloud make them light up with the switch. The ground to the switch is just for the led on the switch.

[cavaliers60]

I'm not really sure what's wrong with it.... Let me get a pic of the switch... I found the other one I bought so I'll take a pic of that switch..

[cavaliers60]

So here's the switch I'm using. the black is ground, the middle red wire is power, and the last wire is suppose to be the source which I'm pretty sure it's the LEDs...

[cherrington17]

Originally Posted by SIUlero

^^Package says 8.

With the load resistors, its not the ohms that matter. You just need a really low amount (something that won't interfere with your lights) and you bridge your + and - lines with that resistor. Hence the "LOAD" resistor. It makes the car think there is a lot higher wattage draw on your LEDS then there really is.

You just need a high wattage resistor (20W in this case)

and let me restate that... these do NOT go inline.. they go better your + and - lines! and will heat up much like the light bulb itself... so keep it away from anything that could be burned.

[cherrington17]

Originally Posted by cavaliers60

So here's the switch I'm using. the black is ground, the middle red wire is power, and the last wire is suppose to be the source which I'm pretty sure it's the LEDs...

a switch like that.. the center should be your 12V power, the bottom one goes out as power to your LEDs and the top black one shouldn't be there.

When the switch is pressed down (high end is the top end) your lights will be on, because the switch will bridge the center power, to the power line to the LEDs. When the bottom is high, and top is depressed, it will connect your 12V power, to nothing, thus leaving your LEDs off. If you put a ground there, it will simply short and just not work.

[cavaliers60]

The ground is for the LED light on it though.... So Should I just run that ground to the LEDs and thats all?

[cherrington17]

the leds need to be grounded, outside of the switch.

...............switch
POWER------[ ]------Led----ground

(ignore the ... it wouldn't let me use spaces to get the word switch over the box)
the ground isn't used in the switch... UNLESS your using the switch as ground. (could use ground instead of power, technically) but the setup you have you need to run the leds to constant ground, and leave the center as your switched power.

[jayson_waltz]

The way i do it, run a wire from the ground tab on the switch to any grounded bolt. Then from the LED's that are in your mirrors, run that ground to any grounded bolt. Look to see which tab on the switch is positive input, and run a positive wire from a fuse to that. Then see which tab is positive output on the switch and run a wire from that tab to the positive input on your led's in the mirrors. This is if your switch has a led built into it, which if i understand right is what you have. Once you do it you will realize, "oh, that was really easy".

I'm getting confused by overthinking, but this ^ will work. if you still can't get it to work, listen to cherry, he knows more than me.

[SIUlero]

Source wire goes to battery (battery is the "source" of power), the other red goes to led, get rid of the black, and ground the led to a metal part of the car.

[cavaliers60]

So just disconnect the ground from the switch, ground the LEDs and run the positive from the switch to the positive from the LEDs?

[cavaliers60]

This is what Oznium says to hook it all up....

How to hook up the LED switches: The black wire goes to ground, the red wire directly next to the black wire (this is the red wire in the middle) goes to your constant power source, and the other red wire on the end goes to the circuit you are powering.


And that's the place I got them.

[cavaliers60]

Originally Posted by SIUlero

Source wire goes to battery (battery is the "source" of power), the other red goes to led, get rid of the black, and ground the led to a metal part of the car.

If I get rid of the black wire on the switch, will the LED on the switch still work?

[jayson_waltz]

^nope