Until a few decades ago, LEDs were only used as indicator lights. But today, thanks to its characteristics, versatility and beautiful glow, LED technologies are gaining popularity in the field of lighting every year.
Consumers are increasingly switching to the use of LED lamps and fixtures, as well as LED strips, which have found their application in advertising and decorative lighting, which is actively used by designers around the world.
In addition to the design purposes of interior lighting of premises, LED strips have become quite widely used in the automotive industry, to enhance the standard illumination of cars. Some manufacturers of modern cars already install LED backlighting in the dimensions and dashboard in the basic configuration of their models. However, for many car enthusiasts who want to give their vehicle a unique look and add functionality to the standard interior, trunk or body lighting, this is clearly not enough. Therefore, they resort to self-tuning their car, using LED strips, with the help of which additional lighting can be installed in the most unusual places, even where it was not there before.
The choice of LED strip
Depending on where it is planned to install additional lighting, in the cabin or on the outside of the body and what effect the car owner wants to achieve, and you should choose the type of LED strip.
When tuning cars, self-adhesive tapes are most often used. They are distinguished by the size of the lamps:
- SMD 3028 (3mm x 2.8mm);
- SMD 5050 (5mm x 5mm).
The second characteristic of tapes is the density of LEDs per meter:
- SMD 3028 has 60, 120 or 240 LEDs;
- SMD 5050 has 30, 60 or 120 LEDs arranged in two rows.
The power of LED strips per meter varies from 4.8 to 28.8 watts. This indicator is very important, since the choice of a resistor or a power supply unit depends on it, the power of which must exceed the power of the tape by 20%.
Another parameter that you need to build on is moisture protection, which can be:
- IP 20 (tape has no insulation);
- IP 65 (weak moisture insulation)
- IP 68 (fully insulated).
To implement the most daring solutions, in addition to monochrome, you can use RGB tapes, for color control they use a special power supply and a control panel.
Installation of LED strip on a car
For a successful device of additional lighting of the car, you should perform the following steps: 1. Determine the place of installation of the LEDs; 2. Cut the tape only in the required places; 3. Qualitatively carry out its connection to the on-board network.
There are two ways to connect the LED strip: without interfering with the electrical circuit of the car and with a tie-in into it
When laying the tape, you need to choose segments of the desired size, which are cut at the bend points and are sequentially connected with wires by soldering through connectors. In this case, it is necessary to strictly observe the polarity, however, in the event of an incorrect connection, the LEDs will not fail. If the backlight does not work, you will need to check if it is connected correctly. The soldering points are treated with silicone to prevent water ingress. The LED strip is connected via the controller (in a car - 12V) to the power supply using an adapter into the car's cigarette lighter. To do this, wires from the LED strip are soldered to the standard telephone charging, while one wire is fixed to the fuse, and the second, bypassing the stabilizer, to the right iron ear.
To implement the second method of connecting the tape, with an insert into the electrical circuit of the car, you only need two additional wires. In order not to mix up the polarity, it is better to use the red and black wires. Red is soldered to the "plus" of the tape, black - to the "minus", after which the soldering points should be treated with a sealant. The black wire under the casing is led to the negative terminal of the battery, and the red one, through the toggle switch, to the positive terminal. The toggle switch is installed in the passenger compartment so that it can be easily reached.
