L.E.D. on speakers

[AFoster]

i recently hooked up blue L.E.D.'s under my dash and on my sub. i was going to put some on my front sspeakers so they shined through the mesh, i thought putting the led on the speaker wires would work, but it didnt. could someone explain how a speaker works i thought the two wires would have power going through them. do they not have power or is it just not enough to run the led or what?

[98[GMC]z71]

use your amp for the power supply. Where in smithville are you? I live in Gower LOL

[AFoster]

im half way between kearney and liberty. and i ran from my amp for the back leds and from the stereo for the underdash leds i was just wanting a simple way to get power to the speaker leds without running a wire through the door.

[AFoster]

anybody have any info on why the led wouldnt work when i hooked it to the speaker. i thought the speaker would be able to power it

[Dyabolical]

Voltage could be too low. Also depending on the LED they might not light fast enough to match the music.

[bradenn]

Don't expect the LED to last long connected to the speaker wires. From my understanding LEDs don't like to receive more than 5V+/- on either anode or cathode.

[ibthumpin]

LED's are about the fastest illuminating device there is. It will light "fast enough" to see - providing the voltage requirement is met.

the voltage seen across the speaker terminals will vary widely based on the audio signal and the level of volume.

As mentioned, LED's are designed for low voltage and more importantly, low current. there is nothing to limit current flow when you simply connect the LED to the speakers. Once the voltage gets high enough, the LED will allow current to flow - as the voltage increases, more current will flow continuing until meltdown/burnout. If a current limiting resistor is used (as is the normal practice) you'd probably only see the LED light at high volume levels - since the applied voltage (from the speakers) is not constant, its hard to calculate what size resistor you'd need.

LED's only conduct in one direction (polarity sensitive) but they will light on an AC signal (audio waveforms are AC) - they will only light during one half of the waveform - where current flow matches polarity of LED.

You need to connect them to a 12v power source. If you've got bare LED's you need the proper current limiting reisitor, if you've got an assembly that is made for 12v, it should have a built in resistor. you can grab 12v from the door switch assembly - assuming you have power windows.

[AFoster]

ok yes they have a resistor built in made for 12v. and yes i have power everything, but if i hook it to the door switch assembly then wouldnt it only be on when i use the door switch as in only when i roll down the window?