HVAC Lights

[myowneq]

Alrighty, here's one for the group.

I want to change the lights on my HVAC unit to the red LEDs. I pulled everything apart and *gasp*, the lights are soldered on the board. I have the skills to take everything apart and I'm sure I can solder the LEDs back on, but by chance, does ANYONE know the voltage on the circuit board for these lights? It would be greatly appreciated. :)

Thanks,
Timothy

[sound_xtreme]

why bother doing that?

jus break the bulbs(or just find which wire is giving voltage to em and snip it) and just wire up led's to the dimmer switch

[2fst4u]

why don't you hook it back up and throw a voltmeter on it? too easy, really.

[myowneq]

Because almost everytime I hook up a voltmeter, I blow them up. And not a little poof either, but a great big one. :D

Sound Xtreme, I like my work to look as original as possible. I don't like extra wires running all about. Thanks though. :)

[myowneq]

So,has anyone ever tried to change out these lights? I think i got an issue here.

[GoldStar611]

a volt meter wouldn't blow anything..at least it shouldn't... now a test light maybe...I've seen the lights you're talking about, just touch the pins of the LED to the bulb pins (or to the traces on the back of the board) and see which side works the led. alternatively you could see which traces are grounded (using a continuity tester)

[myowneq]

Goldstar, so far, I haven't blown this one up. *knock on wood*

On the other note, I have tried tracing using the continuity tester, that is more confusing than a bowl full of spaghetti. It seems everything is connected to everything. I know three things for sure. The grey wire is positive for the dimmer switch and the black is the ground and there are eight bulbs on that particular path.

[El_Diablo]

just use a resistor to drop from 12v

[myowneq]

Ok, update on this one. After all said and done, I ran out of LEDs after blowing a few up. Of the eight bulbs on the board, I was able to replace five. What a hell of a project. The problem I was having was how to fit the LED AND the resistor into two small holes without shorting something out. The I had to use hot glue to keep the + and - seperated.

It does look good so far, however, the blue stripe on the temp control does not light up at all now. :) Not sure what to do on that one yet. Ideas?

Thanks,
Timothy

[Ghadsphi]

Get someone with really small steady hands to do it! hehe

[GoldStar611]

oh, I thought you blew out the incandescant blubs..you're talking about blowing the LEDS..I see where you're comming from now. yeah, you may want to use only one of the positive traces and use a program to calculate the resistors needed to run the leds in parallel from that one positive wire.http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

the forward voltage is usually around 1.2v (unless you have high intensity lights, and forward current usually around 20mA check out www.lsdiodes.com)

I wouldn't try to shove everything into the original spot..use a little bit of wire and remember heat strink tubing + lighter is your friend.

[myowneq]

I think you two got me confused. :) I already figured out how to wire the LEDs into the existing system. However, if you look on the console piece on the temp control, you see the blue fade into red. During the daytime, you can tell. At night, the heat lights up, but the blue portion doesnt.

That's what I need ideas on. :)

[GoldStar611]

At night, the heat lights up, but the blue portion doesnt.

That's what I need ideas on. :)

Why not use a white led there..

[myowneq]

I would have to fabricate a blind to limit the white light from spreading everywhere. Not sure how to accomplish that one yet.

[cavaliers60]

I would have to fabricate a blind to limit the white light from spreading everywhere. Not sure how to accomplish that one yet.


wrap some electrical tape around the LED????????:huh:

[El_Diablo]

heat shrink would be better, but whats the point? LED's are pretty much aimed anyways... just get narrow viewing angle LED's ;)

[sound_xtreme]

liquid electrical tape

[myowneq]

Hmmm.. I don't know, but I'll give it a try when I'm back onshore. I've got plenty of LEDs to play with. :D