Topic: LED question for guy with no idea for electronics

[stay youth]

hello so I went to radioshack today to try and get some new LED's for my dash display and I got these:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062374&cp

Figuring these looked cool and would work I snipped the orange and green wire coming from my left side turn single indicator. Well i did not work. The new LED has just two black wires coming from it. Can anyone help me along?

I guess I should have asked before I bought them, but I get excited and forget to think sometimes

[Steve F]

The lights you show in you link are NEON, and require 50 to 130 volts to work.  You need something to operate on 12V DC.

[Steve F]

Also, you need to pay attention to polarity when using LED's.  Everything except the NEUTRAL and OIL PRESSURE lights are normally grounded on the (-) minus side and power to turn on the light is switched (+)positive.
The NEUTRAL and OIL lights are supplied with power all the while the key is on to the LED's (+)positive side, and are then grounded through the neutral switch or the oil pressure switch.

[stay youth]

Thanks so much for the feedback, I assumed the neon was LED haha Oh well they weren't expensive. I'll try again

thanks

[bistromath]

Yeah you're going to need some high-intensity T1-3/4 size LEDs if you want to be able to see them, especially during the day. And if you do end up with LEDs that aren't packaged as modules designed for 12V use, you're going to have to put a resistor in line with them. Otherwise, you're going to let the magic smoke out the first time you turn the ignition on! Start with 470 ohms.

[Steve F]

Forget Radioshack. Go to any heavy truck shop (Freightliner, International, Mack, Volvo, Kenworth, Western Star, Sterling, you get the idea) that carries Trucklite and get them to order you a set of these http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=57964&langId=-1 I have seen them and they are incredible! They are designed to be used as dash indicators. Even in full daylight you will see them.

Dang. those things are huge!  Do they have anything a bit smaller?

[Jinxracing]

Those truck LEDs are cool...might lend the bike a '70s "Speed Buggy" kinda look. 

Here's a site that tells how to calculate LED resistor values, just in case you decide to go that route:

http://www.theledlight.com/ledcircuits.html

[goon 1492]

adavance auto, auto zone, or oreillys has a ton of small leds and even brake light leds but you might still have to go to radio shack for resistors to go with the small leds.

[bwaller]

I use the body mounts from www.radlites.com and they are plenty bright in daylight.

[stay youth]

thank you all so much for the replies. I currently have drop in LED lamps I got from
superbrightLEDs.com

I put them in and they worked with no problems. I want to use these

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062570&cp=2032058.2032233.2032297&parentPage=family


Will I still need a resistor to account for the low energy draw?

thanks again for helping

[Jinxracing]

thank you all so much for the replies. I currently have drop in LED lamps I got from
superbrightLEDs.com

I put them in and they worked with no problems. I want to use these

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062570&cp=2032058.2032233.2032297&parentPage=family


Will I still need a resistor to account for the low energy draw?

thanks again for helping

That one's already got a resisitor wired in...it should be plug-and-go. You might want to hook one up to a 12V battery while you're at Radio Shack to test how bright it is first though. 

[stay youth]

Ok great thanks so much

[stay youth]

woohoo I love this forum. So I got the correct LED and it hooked up with no issues. Now I gotta figure out my blinkers aren't blinking.

thanks

[333]

It's the flasher unit.  Superbrightled can help.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/carbulb-notes.htm

Replace the flasher unit.  If you go the load resistor route, you won't see any current savings.

[stay youth]

I thought I needed to replace the flasher unit if the blinkers were LED's? I  have these on my bike

http://www.cyclegear.com/spgm.cfm?L1=2&L2=53&L3=&L4=&item=MRX_OI1&tier2=14