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Step 4Test your First Strand
You should now have a nice strand of four LEDs. Hook that up to your power supply set to about 8V, or a slightly used 9V battery. Better yet, if you have a current-limited supply, set it to about 20mA-30mA. If you must use a new 9V battery, series a current limiting resistor in the 330 Ohm - 470 Ohm range.
You should be rewarded with four LEDs of similar brightness. If you aren't, try checking each group of three (better use that resistor) and see if you can figure out which LED you have in backwards. If you're lucky, it won't be one of the middle ones.
You don't have to the strand for polarity, as you can figure it out easily later; but do test them all to make sure they work! If you do this now, you'll be saved trouble later, when it's harder to fix.
You should be rewarded with four LEDs of similar brightness. If you aren't, try checking each group of three (better use that resistor) and see if you can figure out which LED you have in backwards. If you're lucky, it won't be one of the middle ones.
You don't have to the strand for polarity, as you can figure it out easily later; but do test them all to make sure they work! If you do this now, you'll be saved trouble later, when it's harder to fix.
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