Buying LED's off ebay

[djjdnap 78]

I was wonderin if i jsut bought the light i could still hook them up just as if i bought the ones you hook up from the store. In my car that is.

if i just ran a 12v or lower source wire from teh anode and a ground to the cathode it should cut on and work just as a more expecive one would right, jsut tryin to save some money here.

i bet dave could answer this.

[02BlackOnBlackSS 1]

It depends on what voltage the LED's are. Most are 3-4 volts so you have to run 3-4 in parallel for it to handle a 12v source. The most reliable way is to run 4 3v LED's. 3 of them will be brighter but might burn out sooner.

Some places sell them with resistors on them too. That way you would be able to run each one on a 12v source. I bought a bag of blue LED's but I lost it. They were fun to play with and blow up.

I think the longer wire is positive and the shorter one is negative but I might be wrong. The eBay ones probably won't be as bright as the $4 a piece LED, but just use more of them in a cluster.

[djjdnap 78]

i will buy them then, haha, i'll ask my professor how to make them brighter.

[Tirefryr 1,742]

It depends on what voltage the LED's are. Most are 3-4 volts so you have to run 3-4 in parallel for it to handle a 12v source. The most reliable way is to run 4 3v LED's. 3 of them will be brighter but might burn  out sooner.

Some places sell them with resistors on them too. That way you would be able to run each one on a 12v source. I bought a bag of blue LED's but I lost it. They were fun to play with and blow up.

I think the longer wire is positive and the shorter one is negative but I might be wrong. The eBay ones probably won't be as bright as the $4 a piece LED, but just use more of them in a cluster.

You want to run them in series, not parallel. Parallel will send a constant 12V to each LED. Safest way I have found is to use and LED driver if using multiple strings. Either that, or just get the resistors for them. Well worth the investment.

[02BlackOnBlackSS 1]

It depends on what voltage the LED's are. Most are 3-4 volts so you have to run 3-4 in parallel for it to handle a 12v source. The most reliable way is to run 4 3v LED's. 3 of them will be brighter but might burn  out sooner.

Some places sell them with resistors on them too. That way you would be able to run each one on a 12v source. I bought a bag of blue LED's but I lost it. They were fun to play with and blow up.

I think the longer wire is positive and the shorter one is negative but I might be wrong. The eBay ones probably won't be as bright as the $4 a piece LED, but just use more of them in a cluster.

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You want to run them in series, not parallel. Parallel will send a constant 12V to each LED. Safest way I have found is to use and LED driver if using multiple strings. Either that, or just get the resistors for them. Well worth the investment.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, I wasn't thinking. Sorry.