New to all of this LED driver stuff

Hey guys – I've never posted in a forum before, so please don't tear me apart. I'm also super new to the world of LED, and I've got a lot of questions.


My project is to build some rear LED lights for my car, and I'm working with a lot of different voltages. I'm pretty sure I'll be using a certain type of bead LEDs…maybe 1w COB? I hear they are some of the most commonly used. The thing is, though, I want to be able to turn off some of the LEDs if possible.


My mechanic friend told me the only way to make it possible to turn off some of the LEDs is to have a separate driver for each bulb, and that there isn't really a way to do it that's easier than that. I built a simple driver…I wired an LED to a car battery with an LED resistor…but I'm having trouble wiring it to get my LEDs to work properly because the output is equal to the supply.


Any ideas on how to make this work?

lightforfun said:

Hey guys – I've never posted in a forum before, so please don't tear me apart.

Click to expand...

:welcome:

We won't tear you apart, but we'd like to give you some helpful hints.
One of the first things one should do before posting in a new forum is to check the "Stickies", or just read through other threads that might cover what you're asking about. Whether it's a forum about fly-fishing, N-scale model railroading, or automotive lighting, there are common issues that more-experienced people have had, common questions asked by people new to the subject, and just general guidelines and DIY things to get people going in the right direction. You might also try to use the "search" feature to find information more specific to your vehicle.

Had you done this, particularly, had you read the sticky titled PLEASE Read This First! How to Get the Most from This Forum, you'd know that this is the not the forum for learning how to make your car unsafe.

Although we won't help you make homemade taillamps for your car, we CAN help you improve your car's lighting. Whether it's through the use of a better bulb, or swapping in legally-compliant taillamps from a similar model of vehicle, there's usually some way to upgrade.

So, what is your vehicle's year, make, and model-- and do you know if it's of a particular trim level, like "LE" or "Sport" or similar?