LED Trunk Light DIY

[MTL-TSX]

I was asked to think of a LED solution for our Trunks and have come up with a relatively low cost idea.

I recently purchased these LEDS from Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Fantastic-Cluster-With-3pcs-Piranha-LED-9-chips-White_W0QQitemZ140206843167QQihZ004QQcategoryZ6695 2QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

These are really cheap at 1$, i bought 10. The Piranha White LEDS are normally expensive so its a really good price, also its good to go since it has its own resistor and voltage spike regulator.
You may notice their might be cheaper solutions on eBay for led strips and clusters, but i have chosen this method as i think it will be more efficient and easier to work with and wont give the trunk a ricey neon tube look (i personally think LED tubes/strips are ricey as well). These LEDS are far superior than regular 5mm LEDs

I have not implemented this yet but if you like you can purchase those LEDS to start.

My plan is to wire 4-5 of these in our trunks so it is completely lit :D

Of course, if you only wanted to do 1 or 2 that is easily done as well.

More to come soon.

[taKuto]

The current batch of these LED's vary in terms of current draw, so it's better to play it safe and run a resistor in series to drop the voltage for reliable operation.

[MTL-TSX]

Really? How much so? I have not yet checked the current draw on these as i assumed they were pretty stable. if thats the case then i might just tell others to buy the LED strips from eBay so they wont need to solder any resistors.

And since i know you're on HIDPlanet as well, i picked these up on AZdaves advice :)

[taKuto]

I've suggested to use a bundle of white LED strips previously, got no response from it. But it is a feasible idea. The only flaw is color matching, which isn't too much of a concern in a trunk. But you can pickup SMD white led strips for around 30-40 for a pair of 60cm, just use clear tape and tape them to the roof of the TSX trunk, and you're good to go.

I use the LED strips for my door light, I just adhere it to the bottom of my door panel and the ground lights up nicely.

[MTL-TSX]

Yeah i found your post on using the led strips. If these turn out to be too much of a hassle i will use the strips. And yeah since these are surplus the color matching is annoying.

[taKuto]

Even with the 3LED cluster, color matching is something to not even bother about. I've purchased four and all four of them use different LED's. Some cool white, some neutral white. Poor purchase, but again for trunk light, color matching wont matter significantly as it'd all pretty much even out with enough of these clusters together.

If you still want to pursure using these clusters, you may want to just purchase the longer clusters (9 LED?) it'd reduce your work.

[MTL-TSX]

I was contemplating getting the longer clusters but figured id have more flexibility with these. I will make a "set" for my trunk, I bought 10 so i match the colors as best as i can.

I'll see how it goes.