Electrical & Audio Guides
LED Bulb Replacements
If you don't understand what I mean by LED's, resistors and stripboard or you can't use a soldering iron then I'm afraid this isn't one that you'll be able to do yourself.
But for the people that do, this is simple. This is a good way to get coloured bulbs that are as bright as, if not brighter than, painted ones and get much better colours which don't fade or burn off. Albeit that they are a touch more expensive than bulbs, I think the results are worth it. For each "bulb" you will need a small piece of stripboard (7 holes X 3 holes) with the strips running lengths ways (7 holes per strip). You will also need a 430ohm resistor and very high intensity LED (around 2000mcd) of the required colour. Basically you have to build these components in series to form a replacement wedge bulb (see diagram).
I have used blue LED's on my car, which are quite a bit more expensive than the usual red, green and yellow items. Blue LED's normally retail for around £1.50 each where as hi-brightness red, green and yellow LED's cost as little as 24p! The units when complete should look like the pictures shown here and will plug straight into a bulb holder instead of a wedge bulb.
Please Note:
Unlike normal bulbs, LED's will only work when connected one way round, so if either light doesn't work the first time, simply remove the board from the bulb holder and put it back in the other way round.
