how would you regulate voltage from a 12 volt source to like 3.2 volts to power led lights? I heard you can use resistors but if somebody knows about this sort of stuff, any help would be grateful.

 

you can use an inline resistor (series connection) to regulate down the current, which is easier to figure than voltage. find the current forward of the leds, then put in a resistor to bring the current down to that number. 12/I =R where you substitute the current needs of the led for I to find what resistor you need.
Or you could use two resistor to make a voltage divider. I don't even want to go into that, plus you'd have to wire your led in parallel to one of the resistors...