DIY LED lights help

[Rasburry]

I got bored and decided to try making a light bar for my big rock using only stuff laying around my shop.

I took apart an old flash light, connected it to an aux plug, and connected it to my receiver. Its super bright but it gets real hot. I'm guessing there's to much voltage coming out of the receiver right?

What voltage is coming out of the aux port on the receiver?

Any ideas on what resistor(s) to use? The flashlight I took this from used three AAA batteries.

 

[jondilly1974]

I got bored and decided to try making a light bar for my big rock using only stuff laying around my shop.

I took apart an old flash light, connected it to an aux plug, and connected it to my receiver. Its super bright but it gets real hot. I'm guessing there's to much voltage coming out of the receiver right?

What voltage is coming out of the aux port on the receiver?

Any ideas on what resistor(s) to use? The flashlight I took this from used three AAA batteries.

View attachment 164887

Normal receivers are 5V and that’s barely more than 3 AAA batteries. AAA are 1.5V each, 4.5V total.

 

[Senton_Prime]

Are the leds out of the actual flashlight?
Also about how old was the flashlight if thats where the led's came from?

 

[Rasburry]

It was an old LED light bar from harbor freight. Probably got it about 7 years ago.
I've also thought about using these LED strip lights and finding some way to hook them up to my rig. It says working voltage is 12 volts. Does that mean I won't be able to hook them up since the receiver only puts out about 5 volts? Or is there a way around this?

 

[Senton_Prime]

Ok so its pretty simple.. Leds are hot af to begin with.. The led's you are using are old news and very inefficient, so they are probably well below their original rating of 25% at this point.. To paint a picture for you.. the heat that those things dissipate actually cools the light source!! Weird huh!!
And no 5 volts would be fine.. They will be plenty bright and will draw less current, and last longer.. They are just rated for 12 volts

 

[jondilly1974]

It was an old LED light bar from harbor freight. Probably got it about 7 years ago.
I've also thought about using these LED strip lights and finding some way to hook them up to my rig. It says working voltage is 12 volts. Does that mean I won't be able to hook them up since the receiver only puts out about 5 volts? Or is there a way around this?

You can try using 12v leds on 5V but they will probably just be very dim.

 

[Senton_Prime]

You can try using 12v leds on 5V but they will probably just be very dim.

Trust me bro.. They will be plenty bright enough!!

 

[Rasburry]

Have any of you ever hooked up the LED strip lights to your car or know how? I've been messing with it with a little section of lights and can't get it to work.

 

[kavax]

If pulling something already made I would strictly stick to the voltage they used. In the case of the 3 AAA battery 5v is close to 4.5v. Usually the individual LEDs are only driven off 1-4v and resistors are used to supply just the right voltage. Should be plenty of online tutorials and calculators for wiring.

For 12v you could use a regulator and power from the lipo or use a smaller 3s to power it. A 12v regulator will smooth out too much and too little voltage from something like a battery.

 

[Senton_Prime]

Bro don't listen to them.. Hook them to the 5v.. They will run cooler, last longer, and still be plenty bright enough to accomplish what your looking for.. If u were trying to overvolt them then i would give u some pointers but its fine.. I promise

 

[Rasburry]

My goal is to hook the lights straight to the receiver. I want to mount them directly on the chassis so taking the body on and off won't be an issue.

While messing with the lights from the flash light I found that connecting them directly did over heat them and burned out a few. I added a resistor and it seems to be working. Not sure why.

As for the LED strip lights I've tried multiple variations, 1-10 lights at a time, with and with out resistors, no luck. Not even a flicker. When I hook them up to an outlet they work just fine.

 

[Senton_Prime]

If pulling something already made I would strictly stick to the voltage they used. In the case of the 3 AAA battery 5v is close to 4.5v. Usually the individual LEDs are only driven off 1-4v and resistors are used to supply just the right voltage. Should be plenty of online tutorials and calculators for wiring.

For 12v you could use a regulator and power from the lipo or use a smaller 3s to power it. A 12v regulator will smooth out too much and too little voltage from something like a battery.

As he stated the led did not have a set voltage.. They operate on a current limiting resistor!? I figured they would, being older

As for the led strip how are you hooking it up to the outlet?
They will require atleast 7.5 volts then if they arent coming on.. I was wrong, sorry

 

[Rasburry]

The LED light strip that I have has an adapter so I can plug it into an outlet. I cut off a section of the strip and soldered it to hook it up to my receiver.

So you think maybe there's not enough voltage coming from the receiver to turn on the lights?

 

[Senton_Prime]

U tested the part u cutoff and it works on the outlet but not in the truck

 

[kavax]

As he stated the led did not have a set voltage.. They operate on a current limiting resistor!? I figured they would, being older

As for the led strip how are you hooking it up to the outlet?
They will require atleast 7.5 volts then if they arent coming on.. I was wrong, sorry

I'm just saying if you're going to pull some circuit off of some device use the voltage they were supplying it. I didn't know if he was maybe looking to wire up his own or what. As for raw LEDs a lot of them run at well less than 5v so an LED designed to run at 2.3v is blowing up if you supply 4.5v.

The LED light strip that I have has an adapter so I can plug it into an outlet. I cut off a section of the strip and soldered it to hook it up to my receiver.

So you think maybe there's not enough voltage coming from the receiver to turn on the lights?

Right it's not like an older incandescent bulb that would be dim at at less than half of the intended voltage. Notice on the board there is a resistor. Also depending on where it's cut you may have left part of the circuit out.

 

[Senton_Prime]

I'm just saying if you're going to pull some circuit off of some device use the voltage they were supplying it. I didn't know if he was maybe looking to wire up his own or what. As for raw LEDs a lot of them run at well less than 5v so an LED designed to run at 2.3v is blowing up if you supply 4.5v.


Right it's not like an older incandescent bulb that would be dim at at less than half of the intended voltage. Notice on the board there is a resistor. Also depending on where it's cut you may have left part of the circuit out.

Yea i mean your right in the aspect of the proper way.. But you know us DYI fn stuff up and experimenting!!
Also i thought the same thing about the cut piece, totally surprised it even works! Lmao

Yea its not a raw led, i think he said it was from a flashlight lol so it does have a minimum voltage threshold.. I could be wrong, again

 

[Rasburry]

U tested the part u cutoff and it works on the outlet but not in the truck

I tested it before I cut it. It has little cut lines on it with exposed metal strips you can connect to.

 

[Senton_Prime]

This is pretty intriguing.. Ok, so this time cut both ends on the cut line.. And see if it works, might be an open circuit on the one end, see if there is a cutline with a resistor right after it?
Actually just connect the other end together and try it!

 

[Rasburry]

So the whole LED strip light is made up of segments. Each segment has three LEDs and one resistor. The cut lines go through little copper strips. The idea is you can cut through the strips and buy little connectors that clamp on to it.

I pulled apart the initial connection and saw that the wires were just soldered onto the copper, so I tried the same thing. I soldered the wires on the left side, then when that didn't work I tried the right side, I even tried the closed circuit opposite the end that I soldered to. When I closed the circuit it just turned off my ESC. It actually kind of scared me, I thought I killed my ESC for a second .

 

[Senton_Prime]

Is that a 12v strip?