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  #1  
Old 03-04-2011, 06:24 AM
snipes040 snipes040 is offline
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Question LED soldering question

ok so I have a 2001 ford ranger and I want to solder some LED behind my hvac. I have a voltmeter but have no idea how to find out which side is positive or negative? Also once I solder the negative lead to the resistor can I just solder the resistor to the socket or do I have to use another wire?

thanks I am a total noob when it comes to electrical.
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Old 03-04-2011, 09:13 AM
pooleo pooleo is offline
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Default Re: LED soldering question

Try the LED plug ins. I put some on my HVAC panel, and it worked great. There is a plastic sheet that has blue color on it. You will have to sand down the white behind the red coloring tho. very easy and quick.
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  #3  
Old 03-04-2011, 10:15 AM
snipes040 snipes040 is offline
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Default Re: LED soldering question

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Originally Posted by pooleo View Post
Try the LED plug ins. I put some on my HVAC panel, and it worked great. There is a plastic sheet that has blue color on it. You will have to sand down the white behind the red coloring tho. very easy and quick.
I actually did use plugin blue LEDs for my cluster however the HVAC has smaller bulbs and I can't even find LEDs in that size. My cluster bulb size was 194 where as my hvac bulbs are 34 i believe. Any ideas?

I live in canada nad looked at canadian tire and the auto parts stores but they don't carry 34 bulbs in LEDs.

thanks
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Old 03-04-2011, 10:19 AM
pooleo pooleo is offline
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Default Re: LED soldering question

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Originally Posted by snipes040 View Post
I actually did use plugin blue LEDs for my cluster however the HVAC has smaller bulbs and I can't even find LEDs in that size. My cluster bulb size was 194 where as my hvac bulbs are 34 i believe. Any ideas?

I live in canada nad looked at canadian tire and the auto parts stores but they don't carry 34 bulbs in LEDs.

thanks

what year is your truck? I used the 194 equivilant in mine. Do they have different sizes for different years...?
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Quote:
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  #5  
Old 03-04-2011, 10:45 AM
snipes040 snipes040 is offline
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Default Re: LED soldering question

They must cause mine is a 2001 an they are differen size bulbs... Is there any way I could swap out an hvac from a truck that has 194 size bulbs ?
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Old 03-04-2011, 11:58 AM
buggman buggman is offline
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Default Re: LED soldering question

I think the newer trucks use a #74 T5 base bulb for the hvac panel illumination.

They're tiny suckers, but I found led plug-ins in white for them... currently trying to mod different colored led's in them.


To figure out which side is +/-, just turn on the parking lights, pull the hvac out to get to the back side, unplug the bulb holders & probe each contact on the hvac panel.
If your meter reads -12.xx you have the probes backwards, if your meter reads 12.xx you have the probes correct & whatever color probe is touching the contact will be the correct polarity, ie red = +, black = -
Make sure to test BOTH bulb holder contacts on the hvac as they're not always going to be the same.
Mark each side with a sharpie & you should be good to solder (if you really, really, really have to)
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Old 03-04-2011, 12:08 PM
snipes040 snipes040 is offline
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Default Re: LED soldering question

ok thanks buggman and soldering the LEDs is my very very last option. So if I decide to solder them I will have the positive leg of the LED soldered to the hvac panel and then the negative leg soldered to a resistor and the the other end of the resistor soldered to the hvac panel right?
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Old 03-04-2011, 01:00 PM
buggman buggman is offline
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Default Re: LED soldering question

You could solder directly to the back contacts of the hvac panel like that, just make sure to brush on some solder flux onto the contacts & tin them with solder first... that will make soldering the led/resistor to the contacts easier.
Also, try not to heat up the contacts too much.

You can use the resistor on either leg of the led, it should work just the same. I usually solder them to the short (negative) leg on my projects just to keep everything consistent.

If you want to give the plug-in led's a shot, let me know too.
Here's a pic of what they basically look like:

As soon as I have time, I'm going to mod some of the ones I have with red, green & blue led's to see how they turn out.
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  #9  
Old 03-04-2011, 02:31 PM
snipes040 snipes040 is offline
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Default Re: LED soldering question

k cool thanks for the info I appreciate it! Also where would I find these LED white bulbs here in canada?
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  #10  
Old 03-04-2011, 10:50 PM
buggman buggman is offline
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Default Re: LED soldering question

ebay.ca ?

A well stocked auto parts place should have them, don't overpay for them though...
If they're crazy expensive just let me know & we'll make a deal.
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  #11  
Old 03-05-2011, 05:31 AM
snipes040 snipes040 is offline
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Default Re: LED soldering question

ok thanks a lot for your help buggman I will take a look around at some auto parts stores and see what they have.
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