A look at some LED COB light strips for cars / automobiles.

This is one of a variety of LED panels using COB (Chip On Board) mounting of LED arrays. In this case the unit is designed to directly operate on 12V by using four parallel groups of LEDs wired in series to give a combined forward voltage of 12V (4 times the typical 3V forward voltage.)
Unfortunately this unit would pass an extremely high amount of current if used in a vehicle, as the alternator charging voltage is higher than 12V and while the panel drew about 350mA at 12V (4W) it increased to about 1 Amp at 14V (14W) and that results in the metal backplate getting very hot quickly. The inclusion of self adhesive foam strips to attach the lights to a surface doesn't help much as the foam would provide extra thermal insulation.
If you enjoy my videos, you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and dubious LED devices at / bigclive

[@gene80shits]

had these on my jeep for over three years as running lights..through car washes etc still running. they are pretty good...and cheap as chips.

[@amymoriyama6616]

Really? I just ordered about ten of these at about 10 cent each (plus shipping) to play around with.

[@mrdovie47]

I like the idea of using what I call a chopper circuit to pulse LEDs and vary the duty cycle so they don't draw current all the time. Pulse Width Modulator, used as a dimmer on my under cabinet lights.

[@arcadeuk]

I have one of these that was advertised as "12v to 24v", so I thought I'd see what happens at 24v. So 4.46amps (107watts) for as long as I dared to leave it on, quite amusing as it was supposed to be 10watt!! As you can imagine it started to smell rather hot in only a few seconds

[@tnamen1307]

@ELECTRONTHORP I got this installed in my car. When engine is started, it flickers very fast. However, whenever engine is off, the brightness is constant and no flickerings at all..why flickers comes??? Please kindly help.

[@tnamen1307]

@ELECTRONTHORP the same led strip 12 v 2 w is connected in parallel with the turn signal circuit. But it doesn't glow when turn signal is activated?? Why?

[@amymoriyama6616]

I kind of want to run one of these (on a heatsink) at 24v to see how long it lasts. I have a bunch shipping from China for dirt cheap. I just don't have anything to power it at 24v.

[@rhkips]

Every automotive LED product I've used that uses a simple series arrangement has died a rather quick death, even just off a 12VDC power supply. Usually each individual LED will develop the Black Dot of Death one by one within 2-3 weeks of constant-on application. I had one strip of 5050 warm white LEDs that failed in a very bizarre way, though: No black dots, but the LED chips got progressively dimmer the closer they were on the chain towards the power end. It was an almost perfect gradient effect. Looked really neat, but the light output really suffered! No idea why it failed like that, though...

[@JackFilmTube]

Got two of these in the back of my van and they are fine. Been running for a year now. They are always on when the engine is running too.

[@PeterBaker2004]

I've got mine running while the engine is running via the original interior lamp cables & they are working real well for the little I paid for them. 6 hours constant on per day, every day for many months now.

[@piotrekk63]

I want to install this in my car trunk baggage. Will that work instead of stock light without a risk of burning my car?

[@arivefabian]

i been using them for quite a few time in my car and they are working well just the way the came from the factory

[@Browningate]

Get back to us after you've run them for a few hours.

[@Lastaii]

I've got a pair of the 6W versions on my commuter bike (14.5V when the engines running) and they last a couple of years before the number of dead leds becomes noticeable :o)

[@phils4634]

Bought a similar pair for the Wife's Rodeo (rear compartment). Realised there was a "problem" when the self-adhesive strips kept failing (heat), so "fixed" the problem by coupling the strips to the steel tube roof supporting rail with heatsink compound / nylon wire ties. They now run far cooler (!) and no longer have the habit of dropping off when in use :-)

[@Argedis]

I have these and I made a flashlight/torch combo out of a toolbox A small 12v battery powers an HID in a fog light housing, and then I mounted these on the outside to act as a torch if I need too. They're very bright! and can be found for cheap on ebay

[@kaptinkaos3410]

Use these all the time in automotive applications, so far, never have had an issue with them burning out, running them up to 16v dc. They do get warm, no argument there, we have a car with a dozen of the on the outside of vehicle in direct sun light and rain, they still work after 3 years. I have retrofitted an ambulance interior lights with these to provide more light over the traditional filament bulbs and to reduce power consumption when vehicle is off.

[@simshogun2240]

Cars normally run at up to 14.4 volts at which point the vehicles alternator cuts in, the normal vehicle battery voltage is around 12.6 volts stationary and up to 14.4 volts engine running, therefore it is vital thet both voltage and current are regulated before using these items in a vehicle application.

[@simshogun2240]

I run a regulated 12 volt circuit in any vehicle and this gives them huge reliability and a long life.

[@MrFastFox666]

I wired a pair of these to my car's Dome light. most of the time these are on when the car is off (when I get in and out of my car). a couple of days ago I accidentally left the dome light on (and therefore, the LEDs on) for about 16 hours (3:30 PM to 7:20 AM the next day) and they were fine. The car did crank a little bit slower, so the battery voltage probably dropped a little bit, which likely helped them survive. These are meant to be used as DRLs but I think that would kill them quickly (constantly on while engine is running). But using them for interior illumination (on for short amounts of time, mostly with engine off) they should work just fine.

[@GoodePhoto]

The metal enclosures has no protection to keep it shorting out where the wires are connected to LED strip, 1st thing I did was dispose of the metal frames. I did a test to see how much pressure it took to press down and make the frame contact the wire connections...it only took slight finger press, the little wires feeding the circuit immediately got hot enough to melt all the insulation off. I used these to make custom lights for the grill of a KIA Soul, the first set (three of these strips) lasted about an hour. Rebuilt with three more strips they lasted about a day. Then I put a LED driver that provides a constant 12 vdc to strip and they have been working for over a year.

[@hellonpluto]

if you have crap lighting in your boot then these are excellent. I put some in my old ford focus. I could actually see what was in my boot in winter nights.

[@OCnStiggs]

Thanks for the detailed explanation! I was considering some of these for aux lighting for my ute. Your information really helped me realize they are not quite ready for "prime time." I give them six months and they'll be far more robust and reliable.

[@clynesnowtail1257]

Yup. I posted on another video about the COB 194 leds I had to modify because they were overheating at 14V. It had a 75ohm resistor in series and I added another 22ohm resistor. I wanted more, but I only had 1/4w resistors and that was pretty much at the limit for it. But that was per COB and each board had two of them.

[@klauspetersen8593]

I'm not a 100% sure how to contact you Clive, but I'd really like you to do a video on USB charging of devices and charging speeds. There seems to be many factors affecting the speed, like the data pins, cable quality and more. KZbin needs a video which clears things up from a trustworthy source! (that would be you)

[@sdgelectronics]

The phosphor on these seem to yellow quite quickly, they're really made down to a price.

[@HoZyVN]

I've used these for interior lighting with an adjustable voltage regulator, 11.6v is a nice voltage on temperature/brightness. 14.6v when the vehicle was running turned the foam into smoking blobs of black mess!

[@crawlervideo]

These LED work fantastic on RC cars as a lightbar with 3S Lipo!

[@scaleaddicted]

This I want it to know, Thanks.

[@grvtyboyRC]

Thanks thinking of doing exactly that. What If I run if off of a BEC at 7.4v or 6v? Do they even power on?

[@agvulpine]

@bigclivedotcom: The theories are sound, but I feel like the olden day Bigclive would have ran them at 15v, attached by the adhesive foam tape to a bit of vehicle plastic or vinyl to see just how spectacularly they fail. Bit let down. :)

[@Gspsx]

These would be useful as flashlight/torches for when you want to work on your car.

[@PainCreator]

these strips are actually quite good heat conductor.

[@seannot-telling9806]

Clive I was thinking about ordering some before I happened to watch this video and now I think I'll just skip that. Thank You for saving me money.

[@jamest.5001]

yes the voltage on a vehicle is all over the place! I have seen over 15v in newer vehicles. I guess a DC converter is a must if you want them to last!

[@deathrow9]

I use these on my bike and they dont seem to hold up to rocks very well. There are a couple of dead sections within the 15 led strips. Not something I would put on a vehicle.

[@kennmossman8701]

IP68 might last longer, else a channel

[@pauljs75]

Looks like it'd make sense as a trunk or glovebox light. Bright so you can see what the heck you're doing, but not intended to continuously run longer than a few minutes.

[@Elfnetdesigns]

Consumer US vehicle voltage while running is 13.8 VDC considering the voltage regulator is not going bad.. I have these in my tube light fixtures as backup lights for power failures, mounted right on the ballast covers in the center.

[@0youwannagethigh0]

I have blue ones of these under my motorcycle as "neon" lighting, they really do take to much current but are insanely bright.

[@Pro1er]

I've been using these on my ridding lawn mower for a couple of years now without a problem, and they get blasted by the heat of the engine. The ones to avoid are the ones that have the small round "eagle eye" lenses. I tried them twice and both pairs lasted about one week on my car until the road salt ate them up. I don't know how well these would hold up to salt either, but I wouldn't risk it.

[@nothingwrongwiththisname2313]

Being a daytime running lamp on the outside of the car the temperatures would be very cool whilst in motion.

[@CODfanboysproduction]

i had a set of these and some others like it mounted to my car, they last for quite a while before failing, even though they heat up like crazy you shouldnt forget a car is usually in motion and the driving wind will cool them down

[@ka4172]

Nice to fit on RC scale trucks.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

I know people say this a lot to you, but this is timely. I am looking at some of these for "uprated" interior lighting for my car, specifically the back is a dark hole... due to being a poverty spec corsa. I already found door switches that fit, was gonna fit these to the b or c pillars (or both)... will invest in a 7812 or low dropout equivalent now!

[@wiatroda]

Any chance to run it at 14V for prolonged time and see what happen?

[@Hagis2k]

I did a test on another type of cob led lights it is built in to a enclosure with a plastic lens and a reflector in front of it i could get it so hot that the lens melted. did as i stated above a test and at 12V they reach around 100 degrees centigrade and at 14.2V then they reach 147 degrees before they failed. So without a proper current limiting driver they are crap.

[@stinkycheese804]

It would waste less time to just run it at 20V and see what happens. :)

[@nderrr]

I have 2 of these that are 4W replacing the olld dome light in my Jeep. It's been running fine for 6 months now, longest runtime was around a half an hour. It's a great deal brighter, I used a cheaaaap lux meter to check and it went from 4ish with the old bulb to over 60 with the COBs. I don't have the lens cover on, as I intend to make a clear vented one.

[@ВикторШишков]

Running in my father's car INSIDE the headlights (along with heat from the xenon lighbulbs), they work fine for over 6 months of driving (in 35 degrees hot summer). They are running on 13.9-14.2V from the car alternator and have not burnt, even without any heatshield

[@stinkycheese804]

You do realize it's quite trivial to add a series resistor to limit current to an appropriate level, and that such resistors cost only a few cents each, right? Do a web search for "LED resistor calculator" (without the quotes) and use a magnifying glass to count the # of LEDs in series and parallel to input into the resistor calculation.

[@AutomotivEivind]

I would glue some heatsinks on the back of them - like the ones found on a computer motherboard or something. Then, maybe put a diode in series. - These are ment to be DRLs anyways, so if they're a bit dim without the engine running, it shouldn't be a problem I think.

[@KINGCALLO]

I put them low in my bumper grills they've been running about 6months been thru car washes and they still work fine. Although they are in a slightly sheltered position. look cool at night

[@tomcardale5596]

I've got some Lidl under kitchen cabinet LED strip as interior lighting in the back of my car (because there isn't any otherwise) and that's got three LEDs in series then a 150R resistor, so at 12V you're looking at about 20mA per section and at alternator volts more like 30mA. Not completely silly in either case.

[@thomasconrad4303]

I bought some cheap DRLs similar to these for my car and had the very same suspicion and ordered an adjustable buck voltage regulator to manage the voltage to the LEDs so they wouldn't burn out, been using them for over 4 months with no problem, but I agree, these cheap after market LEDs for your car need a voltage regulator or they will most likely burn out.

[@JohnAudioTech]

10 ohm 1 watt resistor for 14 to 15 volt operation and your good

[@stinkycheese804]

Until the engine is turned off and you still want full brightness. There are now ultra low dropout regulator ICs that only drop a couple tenths of a volt at that current, which would allow a nominal 12.6V (full battery charge) system to still supply 12.0V when the engine is off, or of course a proper 350mA current controlled LED driver but those, at least the cheap ones, tend to have a higher dropout voltage than 0.6V.

[@stinkycheese804]

You could certainly try one, but most that I've seen spec that they need at least a 1.0V I/O differential.

[@Starchface]

Unless your LEDs are intended as light-bulb replacements. If you have to modify the "bulb" just to use it then someone has fucked up. They could solve the problem by adding more LEDs in series, but I guess they don't know anything about cars and are unaware of any problem. For automotive use, one typically wants to connect the unit as provided directly to vehicle wiring. Having to add extra components in such an application is idiotic.

[@kennmossman8701]

@@stinkycheese804 A CC needs sufficient delta V. Few would work

[@davidaston1644]

Would a buck/boost converter and suitable resistor, be ok to drive these with a steady 12v?

[@garthv3]

I got a set of these about 9 months ago $1aud and still going strong

[@BlackEpyon]

Your car battery will be about 12-12.5v fully charged, and with the engine off. With the engine on, the alternator will be generating about 13.5-14.5v. I recently had to replace my alternator, but wasn't about to give up the $60 core charge to take the old one apart and make a video of it, so I took it in to get the core charge refunded.

[@Hagis2k]

I been running some tests on these too and they get nasty hot, i bought the version with a plastic encapsulation on and an reflector at 12V the COB module reached 100c and i tried at 14.2V as what cars deliver while they are running then i reached 147c before it failed.

[@kevingast7948]

i use these in the caravan as under unit lighting ,they are great

[@vibingwithvinyl]

I've two of these installed as extra reversing lights on my van. Work fine for the application but I wouldn't use them as DRL's.

[@kennmossman8701]

DRLs?

[@als70ss496now]

HI I have been running these on both of my trucks for 2 and a half years with no problems. 1 truck I use for plowing and have some pointing to the sides between the plow and the truck, mounted on the A frame. and on my other truck is my daily driver and are used as day time running lights the a set in amber to make the front grill glow then i have a couple sets come on under the truck when the doors are open. again no problems.

[@DanafoxyVixen]

I have many of these and im using one as a desk lamp right now! its been reliable for the past 7 months but I am slightly under running it power wise, never run them over 12v if you want any long life from them. I just wish they came out in warm white

[@FurrBeard]

Interesting; I've been looking at this sort of thing and been surprised/not surprised to see how many are claimed to be "waterproof" and then you see big gaps where the wires go in and exposed solder connections, etc. I've got a need for something that's *actually* waterproof and finding such a thing seems ... difficult. ;) [In my case, I would be using a regulated power supply, so the issue you point out won't be a problem.]

[@georgeaspin]

I actually have a pair of these in my van, not used as daytime running lights however, they're used to light the inside of the van. I suppose they're never really on when the van is running though, thanks for the video!

[@badjuju6563]

+bigclivedotcom I use amber versions of these on my Husqvarna dirtbike as indicators mounted on the hand guards. 12 months and still good to go. I use 18mm amber "Eagle eye" leds on the rear - you should look at these units as you like bright shiny things. Very BRIGHT.

[@lazar2175]

Bad Juju Insuring Husky doesn't get rear ended. How mud/waterproof are these?

[@pilokxx1609]

I installed them on my car today for parking lights actually. They work great, but after a minute i saw they were very very hot to the touch, and also because of the heat and vibration on the road, the glue tends to unstick so i have them mounted and i will use silicon probably to glue them better, also i left them on to take a pic without the engine running. And ALMOST drained my battery when i went to start the car. I was lucky. I Drive a fiat seicento suite 1998 and it had broken parking lights when i purchase it.

[@QuintinGellar]

Bought a pack of them last week for still life photography

[@aszi77]

This is fine as a trunk light. You only open the trunk for a short time, and the engine is not running so the voltage will not be higher than 12 V.

[@smarkies]

in Philippines/Thailand/Vietnam you usually see them mounted for motorcycle accessories.

[@tomb2623]

Maybe add couple of diodes in series with this if used in a a car. That should drop around 2v out of that 14.5v

[@kennmossman8701]

nope....also drops when engine is off or not charging. A LDO would be better or GAWD help us a boost-buck

[@bdot02]

I think if I were using this in my car I would probably want to mount it on the inside as a dome light. That way they're only on while the car door is open. Plus I would want to use some sort of thermal compound for mounting them because the cars body will be a huge heatsink.

[@dr_jaymz]

I derated my stair lights after replacing them in less than 6 months with a chobber diode I found in my drawers, didn't know what diode it was but reduced the current from 4 amp to 2.5 because of its voltage drop for the strip and I can't see much difference in brightness, only that the led strip no longer fails and they are much cooler.

[@KamAbbott]

Ironically I had ordered a half dozen of these with the intention of installing them as interior lighting in my bus when I happened to notice this video before I installed them :p Thinking of just adding a resistor to make them happy at 14.5V, but wondering what value you would suggest..

[@kennmossman8701]

LDO or.....boost-buck

[@Jaanzter]

i have couple of those, but casted in plastic and worked fine... expect aluminium gets corrosion and that black housing goes grey.

[@mariocachia3381]

Love your vids and always also just as interesting is the new carnage on your hands 😂

[@BulgyWulgyOwO]

Id just honestly use them for the lights when you open your car doors in all honestly mainly because you really dont keep those open too long

[@maicod]

Hi Clive. Remember I emailed you a quick video that I made of a 3watt flash light I purchased in a dutch poundland-clone shop ? I has a similar looking yellowish strip. I saw/had my hands on this for the first time then. I don't see the white pointy LED-spots that your video shows but if I shine with another light on the yellow strip in my flash light I see brown-yellowish tiny-brick-shaped LEDs. I guess this is the same Chip On Board technique huh

[@petti78]

I bought the exact same set for something under 2 euros and noticed the same thing that the leds light up at very different voltages. I could not resist buying them because the seller had a long list of "checks" for good/bad quality and advertised just how wonderfully high quality these are :D Pretty usable generic "floodlights" when you regulate the current/voltage and manage some sort of strain relief... or just replace those stupid thin wires altogether. Can't really complain for the price. I'm sure someone is cheated something like $25 for the exact same product since mine came in a cardboard retail box and everything.

[@TRS-Tech]

I am wondering how long these would last if attached to the car bodywork via thermal glue..... That's one mighty big heatsink! I am wondering this as next week I am having my custom MG painted and a strip of these either side would look nice on the jet black I have chosen. Thinking of side ones low down and front as a running light or maybe even a driving light on dark country lanes. Any thoughts?

[@BigClive]

Whatever you stuck something like this on with, I'd want to be able to remove them again in the future if they did fail.

[@TRS-Tech]

+bigclivedotcom Now that is a very very good point. 450v to the testies for me, I should have considered that! now its blue phase to left and yellow to right I think!

[@stephenbianchi7141]

My only advice is to ask yourself, "How straight-from-PepBoys will it look in 5 years. Source the LED set up from an OEM or research for a top quality aftermarket solution. I think they could really give your MG that updated resto-mod style with some tasteful wheels and tires.

[@TRS-Tech]

+Stephen Bianchi Thanks for that. I am thinking of getting very good quality full led system so all lights would be led. I allready have 17" alloys and Pirelli tyre. she is my baby. :) The car has a name to lol.. its called liquid as I have liq within the reg no. I know... I'm a geek. sadly I cant work on her much myself anymore as I have had a spinal fusion operation. :(

[@kennmossman8701]

oddly perhaps but car panels are lousy heat-sinks...too thin and too rough

[@DocHuard]

After about 4 months on a car, used as drls, half the LEDs had gone dark. I got 3 sets since they were cheap. Voltage limited a set when I replaced the dead ones, still running fine a year later. Clearly car voltages are too high for them.

[@JerryEricsson]

Being a nomad at heart, and attempting to live in our RV most of the year, I look at these from a slightly different angle. IE. Where can I mount these on my RV that will do some good, yet allow the heat to travel to the body of my rig. Haven't figured out where I would use these yet so they go on a back burner till a thought hits me and China gets a few more of my dollars. Thanks for the wonderful reviews though, it seems I do purchase many of the items you review though, and many of them are in boxes and unused at this time.

[@gardyfaustin8707]

I have the exact same . I removed to positive and negative and welded a thicker gauge wire...

[@zacherynuk842]

Would they not do a decent enough job to add to the courtesy system electric loop through, so as well as the light in the headliners coming on and fading out out when you unlock your vehicle etc, these could light up the boot and foot wells for a short period - engine off so only 12v.

[@jamesharris8110]

I have a set with a module connected and 3 wires R/B/W, just wish it came with wiring instructions to explain the white wire. I plan to mount them on a motorcycle.

[@josephmoloney6925]

I got a few of these but in red an green and they get very hot to much to thouch but don't get any hotter and I have been using the for about a month And have no complaints. I wanted to get a cheap but bright version to pc lights.

[@bestamerica]

' wow 60 LEDs lights on the stripe... that is alot of brightness LEDs lights... i put LEDs light on the velleman kit with 9 volts... very good

[@100tjl]

I have a different version a led or two have gone out and the plastic discolours but about 3 years so far no problems 3 hard Canadian winters as well lots of ice rain dirt ect

[@MaximusPsychosis]

I have been looking into getting some for parking lighting, basically mount it under the glass of the headlights. I've had them sitting in my watch list on ebay for some time now..

[@chrishamlet4366]

Got some yesterday from a good bang seller 😊 in Asia. Thought I would stick them across my bench supply. 12v and crikey they are bright. 13.5 and no way will they be going near my car. They got red hot and went to numerous little pinpoints of light. They didn't recover so night I have a set of mini pinpoint lights.

[@locouk]

Clive, have you thought about looking at the USB persistence of vision style led clock fans yet?

[@BlackEpyon]

Lol. The iPad is going to go crazy over that.

[@OhNellly]

Wow I just bought a pack of these and I was hoping for longer wires to reach the fuse box. ?

[@sanderd17]

What's the advantage of putting the LEDs in parallel per individual LED, instead of putting complete series of 4 in parallel? Is it reducing PCB paths, or does it help handling rogue LEDs?

[@kenabi]

theres still some of this style that are perfectly okay. i have several pairs that light equally and evenly at 6-7V with a pretty low ma rating, with no dead spots. so yeah, there can be shady variants, but not all of these models are horrible in the V/C area. the thermal side of things on the other hand...

[@Solocat1]

In North America. Most all vehicles run on 13.8 volts when the alternator is running .

[@kennmossman8701]

link? creditable source? because I have read MUCH different values and certainly not to that precision

[@nyetloki]

Anyone saying a linear reg would be inefficient here, at 2V and 340mA, that's just 0.7 Watts wasted. 4.7 Watts in, 4 Watts out, we are talking over 85% efficient, similar to most switching regulators. A linear reg or a series resistor or diode is equal to a switcher for *this* circuit.

[@nurainpatel2128]

can I use this led strip in car interior roof???

[@BigClive]

Yes, and the standard 12V LED tape works well too.

[@nurainpatel2128]

OK thank you👍

[@jackking5567]

Interesting. I'm always looking at new ways to illuminate mines and caverns for video and photography and these seem quite promising. But - power supply. Lead acid batterys are too heavy to haul around underground and lithium cells are the way forward except clagging 3 lithium cells together to power one would place it at car electrical levels. If a simple, durable and light voltage limiter could be found I think it would work well.

[@DigitalIP]

I started using the 6-10w versions as fog lights and additional reverse lights (Changed out the sucky wiring they came with obviously). The only problem i have with them is that the battery/alternator affects them so what would i need to keep the voltage constant? I have them wired up via cig lighter adapters with on/off switches.

[@krypticnexus]

i use these for dome lights. i love them... There is a video on my channel showing them in action.

[@camtheham13]

It would seem that this issue could be resolved with the addition of an appropriate voltage regulator

[@stephenspiteri_zunkus]

What if you use them as indicators? The current wouldn't be long term so there would be chance for them to cool down. Also, indicators are used only for a limited time. So they should be ok running off a standard battery right?

[@raytru3191]

i use a strip like that my strio have a allum frame not black and i run it on 9 volts dc give out very good light i have 4 install under my kitchen cabinet the wiife is very happy with it lightup the entire conter

[@NormanFernandezKeyboardPlayer]

is the light hurtful to the eyes? like for reading ?

[@VFDB]

Hey Clive, I bought an UV LED strip for the inside of my PC but it is running really dim now after about 6 months, how long do LED strips normally last? I'm quite disappointed with it.

[@drojf]

How do all of these led lights work off an unregulated supply if there's no current limiting? Are they just assuming that at 12V the current will be low enough to ensure a reasonably long lifetime?

[@Anarcotiks]

Why not just use a relay switch and a inline fuse ?

[@Vlogbiker]

KISS principle guys.... diodes are a quick simple solution to keep that voltage low enough to these panels and yes I know the battery in the car will drop but I never seem to find myself sitting in my car with the lights on like Im going to read a book or something

[@6F6G]

Would probably be more reliable in a car if you fitted a 300mA constant current source in series.

[@mrjohhhnnnyyy5797]

Exactly. I get sad when I see people powering LED's from voltage sources :/

[@EZCyclone]

Hey Clive! Do you have a link to this? I found them but would like to go where you did.

[@Fuzzy2u]

I rather like the concept. I am working on a van rebuild and need desk work lights for the inside. Also my radio room at home needs 12 volt lighting in case of power outages so I can run my radios and take notes. This is a good concept but poor execution. Wonder where I can find good ones?

[@rennykhan8746]

I want to run these inside a car reflector, Im worried about the heat aspect mentioned above. Is there an alternative to these strips? I want a full bar type look instead of single led light look.

[@600322]

Addendum.My strip has only 1 row of 28 cob leds at 6,5W but it is still too strong light.

[@martintorres7480]

I purchased these at pepboys for a closet in my travel trailer I had them on for about 20 minutes after connecting them and I started smelling something burning. sure enough the damn thing were so hot. needless to say I had to remove them and buy a better set.

[@Arthur60]

Hi, interesting, as you said :) Thinking about buying a dozen of those and run them from a spare PC power supply in order to shed some light here and there in my home studio. Or may be there are some more interesting items already... Just a thought :)

[@erikwithaknotac]

So these on a 12v 1amp adapter would be ok heat wise?