notquitesane Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 (edited) Well I have played around with a lot of the lights in the car. I couldn't leave the lights in the cargo area untouched. I did replace the 194 bulbs with LEDs and it was brighter, however I wasn't happy with the way it looked. I don't like how Ford doesn't have a reflector behind the light. Half the light is wasted. Also, with the way the light is inserted behind the plastic lens, only half of the lens is lit up. Little things like that annoy me. So naturally I had to find a way to hack and modify things. Firstly I found small LED cob strips on ebay. I don't know much about them, and info from the seller was minimal, and the info that was provided was incorrect. I did get 10 for about $8, shipped. After I received them, my testing indicated there are 9 LEDs, most likely in 3 groups of 3. If I run them at 60mA, they make little heat and can be used as is. If I run them higher, a heatsink is needed. This project, I used 2 cob strips running at 150mA. I had a lot of spare aluminum blocks from work, so I used silver epoxy to glue up a bunch, and then used the same silver epoxy to glue the LED cob strips onto the aluminum blocks. Running the LEDs at 150mA for hours would result in the aluminum blocks to be warm to the touch. They lit up quite nicely. I then used Goop to glue some protoboard to the back. I mounted a 150mA constant current regulator from ON Semiconductor. I fashioned a wedge connector with some leftover protoboard. This will plug straight into the connector where the 194 bulb pushed into. I used Goop to also attach the whole unit to the plastic lens. I did cover all exposed connections with either epoxy or liquid electrical tape.The result is a brighter cargo area with lights that look like they are fully lit. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of them lit up, but they look aweseome. Edited July 27, 2015 by notquitesane C-MaxSea, JAZ and Podivin 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottwood2 Posted July 28, 2015 Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 Looks good and thx for all the details. A before and after cargo area lit up pic would be cool. I am surprised that this vehicle has so many non-LED lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomasz Karwowski Posted August 2, 2015 Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 (edited) This is my cargo light: Cargo1 - photo without flash at night. 51 leds (SMD I think). Edited August 2, 2015 by Tomasz Karwowski Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notquitesane Posted August 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 I don't have comparison pics yet. If I do take some, it will be with just an incandescent bulb hanging where the light housing usually is. But here is a pic of what it looks like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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