Another Q: Do you sell sets without the visor lamp replacements? At night, those would probably be nice to keep dimmable. I never even thought about it until the other day my wife actually used it...lol

 

I had no idea these had a short lifespan, I thought the LEDs would outlast the Jeep.

Mine dim. Not as much as the regular bulbs... but they do dim.

 

some leds last some don't. I've experimented a lot with leds and some are still running on my jeep and some died soon after install. It's hard to judge till they're out being used.

 

Another myth is that LED's don't generate heat. Yes they do. I've been burned and exploded many LEDs by cranking the voltage up in the lab(sometimes on purpose...lol) If heatsinks can be added that should increase the lifespan as well.

To properly dim LED's you need a current limiting device not a voltage limiting device(expensive)(The switches in the visor are basically potentiometers(variable resisters..aka cheap) as LED's are not pure resistive loads. Slight dimming is possible but is usually associated with flickering as the voltage threshold of the LED and the small capacitance and inductance in the circuit interact.

 

Agreed on all accounts. The LEDs should dim somewhat, but the various lights dim at different rates within the set. Also, I routinely change the lights used in the sets, mostly to improve quality, and that changes things as well. I honestly don't consider dimming when building these sets. My focus is on lifespan, brightness, and the ability to deal with vibration and temperatures associated with life in an old Jeep.

I'll be back on July 18th at the latest. I'm really excited about the new dome/cargo lights!

 

went to the web page and it says your out, when will you have some back in,my Cherokee I a 2001 classic

 

I'll back 14th to 18th of July. Sorry about the delay. Visiting family the next two weeks.

 

Yesssssssssss

 

Got my kit installed the other day in my '00. Couldn't be happier. I used the super glue that he included for the climate control strip, we'll see how it holds up to the heat!

Interested to see how you could possibly improve it!

 

I ended up using hot glue to hold on the led.... What color did you get

 

I got the white, as I already had white LEDs in there and had an idea of how it would turn out. I had cheapie LEDs in there though, most held up, but I wasn't happy with the "color" of them (soft white looks blue).

I was going to use silicone but got lazy and just use the super glue. If it comes apart I'll just use high temp rtv and call it good.

 

Just noticed that I never actually responded to this.

I know not everyone needs / wants the visor lights, but making sets without them would complicate both pricing and the number of items I stock. I still think buying the set is a better deal than buying individual lights so I don't lose sleep over it.

In an ideal world, I'd have the ability to replace those lights with pre-cut/formed backlight panels of the style that are used in cell-phones. Additionally they would have a circuit that converts the variable voltage from the slider into a signal that adjusts light output. I'd need two panels and one circuit for each set, but it probably wouldn't be plug-and-play.

I may try this over the next couple years as I learn more about electronics, but I don't expect it will ever be something that I could make and sell for any reasonable amount.

 

I'm back from family visiting and army training!

That's the good news. The bad news is that the new dome lights aren't in yet. I hate to recommend against people buying lights, but I'm recommending waiting. The new ones should be a huge improvement.

I'll sell sets with the new lights for $30 for a short time. Once I have feedback and possibly new pictures, all set prices will go to $35. Parts costs have at least doubled for all light sets since early last year, so the increase will offset that somewhat.

When I know more or have a better ETA, I'll post here.

Thanks!

 

OK, cool thanks for the update!

 

Finally got my led strip put in. Wow this thing looks great. I've tried probably 5 different things and this one is by far the best option. I can get some better pictures later, it's a little bright out for good ones, also it's really hot haha. Pictures really don't do these things justice.