i want to get some accent lighting inside of my car and i was wondering is led or neon better? what are the ups and downs of each one?

 

:waits for flames:

Anyways... LED's are directional, so you need more to illuminate an area, but they're smaller so you can put them pretty much anywhere. They draw less current, too.

Neons can illuminate a large area with one tube, but they're bigger, so you need lots of real estate to mount them.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C_EJ8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">:waits for flames:

Anyways... LED's are directional, so you need more to illuminate an area, but they're smaller so you can put them pretty much anywhere. They draw less current, too.

Neons can illuminate a large area with one tube, but they're bigger, so you need lots of real estate to mount them. </TD></TR></TABLE>

thanks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C_EJ8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">:waits for flames:

Anyways... LED's are directional, so you need more to illuminate an area, but they're smaller so you can put them pretty much anywhere. They draw less current, too.

Neons can illuminate a large area with one tube, but they're bigger, so you need lots of real estate to mount them. </TD></TR></TABLE>

LED's are directional? I know what you are talking about but this a confusing statement.

A more accurate statement is they have a limited viewing angle. You can purchase LED's with a variety of viewing angles though. Some neon's also have a limited viewing angle. Did your really mean "neon"?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">LED's are directional? I know what you are talking about but this a confusing statement.

A more accurate statement is they have a limited viewing angle.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, you can only view them at certain angular directions, so yes, they are directional...

 

My head hurts everytime I look in this section.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C_EJ8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Well, you can only view them at certain angular directions, so yes, they are directional... </TD></TR></TABLE>
Directional infers you can only view it at one angle.

Ex. A diode is a directional component current can only flow in one direction.
Ex. Directional tires-&gt;can only rotate in one direction.

LED with 180 degree viewing angle http://www.led1.de/shop/index.php?cPath=8_96

Sorry I couldn't resist


Modified by nsxxtreme at 3:50 PM 6/15/2006

 

Ive had my Cold Cathodes for about 6 months now and i love them

 

I find that neons produce brighter and more intense color than LED's. Only time to use an LED in my opinion is for the directional aspect. For ambient lighting (like under your dash) neons look better.

 

ditto...Example LEDs good for liscenplate light, wheel well light, strobes....neon good for under dash, seat, car...(just dont rice it!)

 

my thoughts in regular terms lol

neons glow...LED's send spotted lights.sort of...hard to explain really but neons light up more of an area at once but LEDs seem to be brighter on each light

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SkorchedAsh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just dont rice it!)</TD></TR></TABLE>

defiantely dont rice it

 

more of a question then a statement, but aren't neons easier to install as well? i mean the only led work that i know requires soldering and neons can be run directly from the battery cant they so all you really have to do is mount them right? anyways if that was the case i would deff go neon, plus ya leds are directional and truely dont give enough light unless you have a lot of them.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vivaladan89 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">more of a question then a statement, but aren't neons easier to install as well? i mean the only led work that i know requires soldering and neons can be run directly from the battery cant they so all you really have to do is mount them right? anyways if that was the case i would deff go neon, plus ya leds are directional and truely dont give enough light unless you have a lot of them. </TD></TR></TABLE>

i would say yes but in a different way. im not much into making my car light up or anything but i do know that if u just get bare LEDs from radioshack or off of the net, u have to solder resistors to the Cathode end of the LED. all LEDs require resistors on them(search for LED resistor calculator on google) that have a specific value. most iv seen a lot of car LEDs allready having the resistor hooked to them. then run the 12v wire to them, u also have to drill holes in some applications to mount them.

 

I like LED's due to the fact that it has a pretty long time conpared to NEONS...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SkorchedAsh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ditto...Example LEDs good for liscenplate light, wheel well light, strobes....neon good for under dash, seat, car...(just dont rice it!)</TD></TR></TABLE>

understood.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SkorchedAsh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just dont rice it!)</TD></TR></TABLE>

true dat