Duddly01 Posted August 24 Share Posted August 24 I have had quite a few people ask me how I create my LED wiring harnesses for my builds so I decided to do a more in depth step by step of how I am creating the harness for my 1969 Cougar build. Setting up my work space and all the tools and supplies laid out. set the soldering iron to 250c trimmed the battery compartment and soldering a small section of wire to the switch. The heat shrink and wire twisting to keep it clean. I had created the trunk floor and trial fit with the chassis and body and drilled the hole for the switch. Now with the battery holder wired I glued it to the trunk floor panel. Then soldered the switch, taillight wiring and leads to front. trial fit in chassis, test fit battery cover and glued in switch and wires to back of floor. I already glued the side glow fiber to to taillight LEDs so it will light up the length of the taillights. twisted front leads to keep clean and test fit with chassis and interior. Dash was drilled earlier for gauges. Added side glow fiber optic for the gauge lights and cut interior tub and test fit. drilled firewall for headlight leads and test fit. Soldered headlights, gauge lights to rear leads. finished wiring harness, test fit to build components and check gauge lighting. Once the gauge faces are in I think it will look good. now that’s it, easy peasy. Now get out there and light up your builds! 😁 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted August 24 Share Posted August 24 Definitely some good info. One thing to remember with any model lighting project is to use light-blocking material where appropriate, to prevent light "leaks". It was somewhat challenging back in the days when all we had were incandescent bulbs that ran quite hot, but today with cool-running LEDs, aluminum foil works a treat...much better than silver or black paint. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duddly01 Posted August 24 Author Share Posted August 24 (edited) 48 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said: Definitely some good info. One thing to remember with any model lighting project is to use light-blocking material where appropriate, to prevent light "leaks". It was somewhat challenging back in the days when all we had were incandescent bulbs that ran quite hot, but today with cool-running LEDs, aluminum foil works a treat...much better than silver or black paint. Good point, I make an enclosure for the gauge lights and bare metal foil. I should have mentioned that. I have made the enclosure but I foil after paint. For where I plug into the headlights etc. I often use liquid electrical tape at time too. Edited August 24 by Duddly01 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOBLNG Posted August 24 Share Posted August 24 Cool ! What do you use for guage faces? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duddly01 Posted August 25 Author Share Posted August 25 (edited) 2 hours ago, NOBLNG said: Cool ! What do you use for guage faces? I just make clear lenses and apply printed decals of actual gauges Edited August 25 by Duddly01 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iBorg Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 An alternative source for LEDS is to look at DollarTree. They tend to have some dirt cheap LEDs with a battery holder at several holidays including Halloween. They may be in a plastic enclosure but I've broken them with a pair of pliers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteski Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 18 hours ago, iBorg said: An alternative source for LEDS is to look at DollarTree. They tend to have some dirt cheap LEDs with a battery holder at several holidays including Halloween. They may be in a plastic enclosure but I've broken them with a pair of pliers. With those, don't forget to use resistors in series with the LEDs. Even Design LEDs have the resistor installed next to each LED (in heat shrink tubing). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iBorg Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 I've had success just cutting the wiring harness and using what's there but polarity must be right for it to work. I'd create the harness and twist the wires before even considering wiring it together. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duddly01 Posted August 25 Author Share Posted August 25 1 hour ago, peteski said: With those, don't forget to use resistors in series with the LEDs. Even Design LEDs have the resistor installed next to each LED (in heat shrink tubing). This is only necessary if greater than 3v. I haven’t tried to use dollar tree LEDs, but I do get many from Amazon but they are generally not as bright from what I have found. The big plus though is you can get packets of a whole bunch, with resistors prewired for quite cheap. The switches and battery cases the same. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duddly01 Posted August 25 Author Share Posted August 25 26 minutes ago, iBorg said: I've had success just cutting the wiring harness and using what's there but polarity must be right for it to work. I'd create the harness and twist the wires before even considering wiring it together. I am actually not sure what you are getting at. I use pretwisted wire much of the time. Only have to unravel a bit for heat shrink. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteski Posted August 26 Share Posted August 26 (edited) 1 hour ago, Duddly01 said: This is only necessary if greater than 3v. I haven’t tried to use dollar tree LEDs, but I do get many from Amazon but they are generally not as bright from what I have found. The big plus though is you can get packets of a whole bunch, with resistors prewired for quite cheap. The switches and battery cases the same. Well, some LEDs (of certain colors have lower forward voltage than others. Without getting too technical, for example a red or yellow LED has a lower forward voltage and will "steal" all the current for for example a white or blue LEDs which have higher forward voltage. in your circuit a resistor shape appears to be visible under the heat shrink right next to the LED. Do you cut those resistors off? Edited August 26 by peteski 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duddly01 Posted August 26 Author Share Posted August 26 52 minutes ago, peteski said: Well, some LEDs (of certain colors have lower forward voltage than others. Without getting too technical, for example a red or yellow LED has a lower forward voltage and will "steal" all the current for for example a white or blue LEDs which have higher forward voltage. in your circuit a resistor shape appears to be visible under the heat shrink right next to the LED. Do you cut those resistors off? No, I do use resistors. I often use. 6v battery case, just not this build. And I stand corrected, my red ones always have resistors even when I don’t for the headlights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteski Posted August 26 Share Posted August 26 (edited) 3 hours ago, Duddly01 said: No, I do use resistors. I often use. 6v battery case, just not this build. And I stand corrected, my red ones always have resistors even when I don’t for the headlights. Now that makes sense (to someone who has been dealing with various LED-based designs, not just for models for over 40 years). Edited August 26 by peteski 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duddly01 Posted August 26 Author Share Posted August 26 10 hours ago, peteski said: Now that makes sense (to someone who has been dealing with various LED-based designs, not just for models for over 40 years). Nice! Now that is taking it to the next level. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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