Source for BULK LED purchases

[Ford_Forgotton]

If you have ever been on my personal website ( www.forgotton.net ), you will notice Im a big LED fan. I've added them to my running boards, changed my door switches, and also my cruise control lights.

Radio shack sells a VERY limited supply of LED's and they are NOT cheap. Nor do they have the colors or sizes or quantities that a project may need.

E-Bay to the rescue!

Visit THIS EBAY STORE !

The seller "ubiditnow" is actually in Hong Kong at the source of the worlds LED supply. I have been buying LEDs in bulk quantities from this seller for a couple years now and have NEVER been disappointed in either quality OR price.

The LED's ship via AIRMAIL and usually arrive in under 7-10 days if you paid the day of the auction via PayPal.

Look for auctions that have free shipping, or a CHEAP auction (99 cents?) with shipping in the higher value range. Ebay sellers occasionally LOWBALL the actuall value and charge a HIGH shipping rate in order to BYPASS the E-bay auction fees. (Ebay doesnt get a percentage of the shipping costs, only auction cost).

Your typical LED is a 5mm size (also known as T 1-3/4). This is the LED most people are familiar with. They are about the size of a pea.

The smaller 3mm LED's are used in your Door switches, and can be made to fit in your cruise switches. These are about HALF the size of a pea.

MOD AWAY!!

 

[95_stroker]

Daryl,

I love the look of this;
hope you dont mind that I linked your pic here....

How is it on eyestrain at night?

Bummer that my OBS doesnt have the lighted door switches.

 

[Ford_Forgotton]

You'll notice I havnt changed the cruise switches or the dash yet in that picture. Those cobalts are at FULL BRIGHTNESS too.

*I* personally have never felt a need to turn them down, others however think they are too bright. Im suprised, because I have night sensitive eyes and prefer things darker too.

I need to get these linked, but here is what it looks like now with a blue dash also!

 

[Ford_Forgotton]

The door switches, headlight switch, 4x4 switch, and cruise switches have BLUE LEDs in them.

The dash I removed and used nail polish remover on the BACKSIDE to remove the GREEN color, and then repainted with a blue marker. Same with the HVAC controls.

The AIC I had to order special SMC LEDs to change the buttons from green to blue. I can also do the display if I want to.

The radio is a panasonic DVD player and it has a blue CD load light, but the buttons are green. I think I can change them to blue if I opened it up.

What I have sitting on my bench is new accessory switches that I swapped out the LEDs in, and a blue digitial 5 way airpressure display for my airtank and airbags. Your gonna LOVE those pics when I take them

 

[wideopen]

Those look cool

 

[95_stroker]

I must admit, they look great. I just had LASIK done and my eyes are a bit photosensitive right now, (wear sunglasses at night kinda sensitive) but I dont know how long that will last.

 

[Max Power]

In my opinion that looks SO Much better then green. In this day and age I don't know why automotive manufacturers don't have user selectable colors.

 

[Ford_Forgotton]

Scientifically, GREEN is the easiest color on the eyes. This is why NIGHTVISION is green. They could actually make it any color they wanted. But the human eye can see more "variation" in green than any other color.

I notice the new VW's use blue, and my dad had an old mustang that was all RED inside.

Heck, even LED's come in multiple colors in one bulb now too. No reason a manufactured couldnt, other than maybe cost. We all want MORE, but we dont want to pay for it .

There ARE some DOT rules about dash lights tho. Your HIGHBEAM indicator MUST be blue, AND it must be wired that if your highbeam light is burned out, you cant turn on the highbeams. Neat huh? Read that somewhere, hope I wasnt being fooled.

 

[Max Power]

Daryl, I think you are wrong about the burnt out part. I have seen many vehicles with burnt out high beam inicators that the high beams still work. I'll look at a wiring diagram or two but I am pretty certain that is not true.

 

[BJS]

My mother's BMW has a red dash. looks pretty good and easy on the eyes even at full bright.

Red's another one that is used frequently for night vision the old army lights had a red lens for night use.