how would i go about doing this ..im making a switch panel for my car which will have toggle switches in it can the leds be wired in one side of the switches so when i flip them on the leds come on or will the 12vdc burn them out?

 

You really need to figure out what diodes need to work with the LEDs, cause too much or too little power will not let the LED work. This is kinda like hardcore wiring, but pretty easy with the right tools and a steady hand. Check out the tech articles section, there's a page on wiring LEDs.

 

whoa,, cool thanks for the fast reply ..imma read that and hopefully get started on that panel tomorow!

 

What he should have said was you need resistors. An LED is a diode, so you'd be spinning your wheels adding another diode to the circuit.

 

LED = Light Emitting Diode

Yes, an LED would literally melt supplied with 12v.
You need to get resistors, which simply convert the
power from 12v to whatever is needed (usually 2-3v).
To do this you would need something like a 600ohm
1/2watt resistor. This would be soldered inline with
the + lead of the resistor..
Example:



**Note: you'll need a resistor for each LED..
And also remember, LED's ARE polarity
sensitive, this means you can't hook up - to the + lead
and + to the - lead. Figuring out which side is which is
very simple actually.. All you do is look in the LED, and
inside there's two pieces of metal, one attached to each
lead, the lead with the smaller metal piece is the positive side.
Example:



Hope this helps :-D

 

thanks wild streak !
but i aleady got it all done . i didnt go with leds ...well i kinda did but not like i was thinking to start with... i just found these toggle switches that have leds made into the top of them ...you can find them at wal-mart I thought they looked ok so i got some ..they look pretty good in the panel

 

ill take some pics of it in the car tommorow looks pretty good i think..and it was a very very simple mod.

 

LOL... really sorry about that. Yes I meant resistors.

 

They do make 12V LED's that cost only a penny or two more than the regular ones (they have an integral resistor), then you don't even have to mess with external resistors. I know you can get them from Newark Electronics, not sure where else though.