LED's

[The Krypt Keeper]

Is there a electrician in the house?

I was looking at some single LED's, at Radio Shack, these were alot bigger than most I have seen. Some where 10mm, where more common ones are 5mm.

I was thinking about making some little stuff using LED's but was curious on what you need.

I know you can't wire them straight to a bike battery, so how do you know what resistors and what not you need? You get with different LED's telling you that the typical voltage might be 1.8 volts, and a max of 2.2 volts, and what about all the mA? Milla amps vary also..

How would you hook up say, 4 or 5 in a row? or in a cluster?

[Mikey]

When I did my break lights I did this:

((# of leds)xamperage)/offered voltage (ie 13)

that will give you your resistor value. Get as close as c

you can.

v over i times r.

[Mikey]

When I did my break lights I did this:

((# of leds)xamperage)/offered voltage (ie 13)

that will give you your resistor value. Get as close as c

you can.

v over i times r.

[bartonmd]

If I remember correctly, LED's take about 15mA... making 14.4/.015 = about 1kohm (960 actually, but you know...) for 1 LED... multiply the ".015" times however many LED's you have and if you have several, you will probably want to go with at least 1/2 or 1 watt resistor for them!

You are FAR better off just doing 1 1/4 watt resistor PER LED though... that way, if you get one LED that is a lower voltage (resistance) and takes too much current for itself and burns out, you don't get mass suicides of your LED's.

hope that helps...

Mike

[The Krypt Keeper]

I think the LED's I was looking at were 20mA's.. Its been a while since I did electronics in High School.. I am slowly refreshing my memory :roll: I might try my hand at this and make some custom turn signals for the blackbird, or whatever I feel would be neat to make.. I love building stuff so I will have fun..

I am sure I will be back with some questions.. I just need to get me some supplies.. strip board, led's resistors, ect, ect,..

Thanks again