[minispeed]

I have some cheapo LED strips that I ordered off of ebay a while back. I used them as DRL on my saab but they quickly burnt out and some started flashing. Then on my miata I tested them all (I had about 12) on a battery for a couple days with a 1a trickle charger, then when I put them on the miata they started to burn out and flicker. So I figured they work fine at 12v but can't handle 14+

So my question is to the electrical experts out there if I was to wire a resistor in series to drop the voltage from 14 to 12 which ohm resistor would I have to use? Would it matter if I use 1 resistor for each strip or could I wire the one resistor in series then split to 4 strips in parallel after the resistor?

I don't want to over do it and cause them to be too dim, they are a good brightness at 12volts already. I had a resistor laying around (all black, no bars to read) and tried it, the lights barely came on at 12v and just a tad more at 14 but it looked really bad.

My other theory is that the previous installs had them inside the headlight housing and the heat from the bulbs (both times HIDs) may have caused them to over heat. So any opinions on if that is more likely? I have wired up a cigar lighter plug to keep one LED strip on all the time for my drive over the next little while so I can tell if it was a heat issue. The install on the kia will not be inside the headlight so it may be better protected from heat.

Thanks.