I'm still working on this, but also a tablet and Raspberry Pi head units, so if you are wondering, I'll have the technique perfected this weekend. The light right now is too bright (to me) so I'm going down to the Ford house today and look at the new Mustang's light output. Once I see the brightness, I'll adjust voltage and light diffusion to look more like the new cars do. I'll then finish my writeup and hopefully it will help someone down the road.

 

Ok guys. Who on here is an electrical guru? I need help finding what resistor I need to bring car running voltage of 14.0 volts (avg), down to 11 volts. I have quite an assortment of them, but I didn't get a chart with them, so I'm confused on what # resistor. Anyone know how to figure this? I've got a LED voltage calculator, but I'm still confused on this. Thanks, hopefully somebody know. When I have this info, I'll solder in the resistor, and these lights will be completed. I need to drop the voltage to get it down to the brightness of the 2015 Mustang.

 

*Disclaimer*: I don't do this for a living. I've taken some electrical engineering classes, but they were very basic.

I think you'll also need to find out the current at that light. Then you can find the voltage drop across a given resistor. V=I/R

 

Hope this helps

http://electronics.stackexchange.com...led-resistance

 

Thanks for the site. I've never seen this place before, as there are a lot of others that I haven't seen also. I appreciate it.

I was playing around tonight and found one box with resistors in it. I tried one and it keep the 14.3 volts but dropped the amps down to mlA's. I'll try another tomorrow, once I find where I set my container with all the different ones in it. The light output was great with this resistor, but I'm still going to try others to make sure I have it right.

 

Subb'ed

 

AK I had the same problem what we did was add a relay switch with a 4700uf capacitor. Works like a charm.

 

I think you need to build an actual voltage divider circuit instead of adding a resistor inline.

 

That is perfect. Thanks John. I appreciate the info. I have those lights together and will install them in the spring. I did the bench work, and all is up and seems about the right amount of light output from the COB lights. Removing the trim from these lights really improved the even output of light. It makes the lights more intergrated than leaving the outside trim on them.

I just started on the Raspberry Pi adaption today. I have everything from the tablet install still together, so I'll just adapt the Pi to the rest and see if it works like I want it to. I already have the full tablet build, with swc's and amp integration. I hope that I can make this into a worthy endeavor. I'm thrilled with the tablet idea, and have decided to install it into my F150. If the Pi system works good, I'll use it instead of the tablet. Should be a great mod if it works like I'm hoping.

 

Has anyone run across this before? THis has to be the way to go for a thin light, where needed, like the gills in our headlights. I'm going to order this in white and see how it works out. It is so thin, and puts out a perfect amount of light, so it is worth a try. Here is the link to this light. It is called an Electroluminescent panel and is reduced to our 12 volt systems. I'll be the guinea pig on this item.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Electrolumin...-/272058051415

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-x2-Electroluminescent-Panel-EL-Tape-Back-Light-12V-6-Colors-Inverter-/272058048551?tfrom=272058051415&tpos=top&ttype=price&talgo=undefined
I'm going to go with the second one, from the same company in white. $12 a side, should be a price most of us can afford, where as the new headlights are ridiculously priced per pair.

 

That's pretty **** cool

 

It's some neat stuff. You can get it in sheets (expensive for the 8.5x11) or strips like I showed. They have a narrow strip, that would make a very neat item for the door panels, and if this works, way have to consider this for something on that order.

Cavero: Is your's the Ingot colored Stang? I was looking at some pictures you listed and it look like that was referenced to you. If so, where are you located. I noticed around the 4 strut studs, on the top of the tower, were rusting a little. I was just wondering where this was at. Nothing else in the pic had any discoloration, just there. lol Just wondering.

 

Wait...rust on my Stang?! Surely you must be kidding

Which pics are these you're talking about? My car's Tungsten w/ silver stripes, and about 4200 miles from you (in VA)

 

Today I was looking at something about valve cover painting. It showed some pics of the engine bays, and the one I thought was yours showed some discoloration on the 4 nuts on both sides. Of course it might be the way the pics lighting was. I didn't mean to imply you didn't take care of your car. I'd never do that,

 

LOL, yeah that was my thread. Those were my old strut mounts that were rusty. I've got new ones now

 

Your most welcome AK. Glad I could help you.
Oh and dude don't waste your money on those EL strips. They aren't nearly as bright as what you already have. Check out my dash. You'll see just how bright they are.
They usually are used for cosplay like Tron suits and what not.
I have some. They give off a very soft glow and use converters (little black boxes).
I'd youtube them before buying.

 

Hey, thanks VGM. I already bought these so I'm going to play with them a bit. If they don't work for what I want, then, I'll have to get creative and use them another way. lol. I appreciate the heads up though.

I did view one video on Youtube that showed these, and they were fairly bright for what they were. As much as the new Mustangs put out for light on the gils of the 2015, these seem like they might work for that. I wanted to see how these were in actuality, so I ordered 2 strips for grins. We'll see how the work when they arrive.

I am going to take one of the inverters apart and see what they are made from. I couldn't find a schematic what was good enough to follow, to make them, so I will wait until they arrive to see how they are put together inside.
With all the electronics supplies I've managed to procure this summer, I'm sure I have enough junk to make these up without buying more down the road. lol.

I have to quit doing stuff like this. It is getting silly with how much stuff I've collected since being on this site and people and myself coming up with ideas. lol

 

Hey buddy. Since you've already bought them a little warning. Do not and I mean do NOT power the inverter without plugging in the EL tape/panel. You'll destroy the inverter. Went through 2 of these because of this and the wait times from China are beyond ridiculous. Good luck.

 

Ok VGM, that I'll remember for sure. Why didn't you mention using this long time ago? I know you talked about it here, but when we were doing things earlier, you never mentioned using it. I remember asking about it, but the price what ridiculous at that time. Hmmm. Anyways, thanks for the heads up. I saw 2 days ago, a video where a guy used this on his ceiling of his van. It gave off the coolest light and looked really good. Have you seen that. It is fairly bright actually in his case, but that could be from the quanity of the sheets he used. I don't quite understand how all that would hook up yet, but I asked for information from him, so I hope he'll respond.

 

I'm sure I talked about it. I use these El panels in my dashboard to simulate the ring that the 2010s have.
You attach them to a 12v source and your good to go.

Where did you ask about them? I must have not seen that thread.