How To Use LED's

Step 7 Now You're Ready!

With these "Tool Tips" (sorta) and a completed LEDucation (sorry, couldn't resist) I hope you can get out and build some cool LED projects. Remember, I really do appreciate any type of feedback or ratings.

Comments

[Mike_MK]

A few tips;
Often LED's have equal length 'legs', so to work out which one is which, look closely inside the plastic with a mag glass, the negative is the side with the bigger surface area, or looks like an upside-down 'L'.
The power supply is often 12 volts DC (a battery, or transformer). But can be 3 volts to about 30 volts DC, (Normally.)
The current limiting resistor is very necessary, if you want the LED to last any time, and a proven value to use with 12 volts, is 470 ohms. This will limit the current to 0.025 Amps, i.e. 25mA. This is using the common formula from 'Ohm's law', V/A=R, so in this case, 12/0.025=480 ohms.
It is best practice to fit it between the Positive of the LED and the power supply's positive terminal.
LED's can be bought in various shapes, round, square, rectangle, and in various colours, red, green, yellow, orange and blue. Hope the photo helps.

[Elephants Are Fat]

do you where you can get a large amount of LED's?

[ikoneckox3]

i bought 100 with 100 resistors on ebay for about $2.00, and after shipping (hawaii) it was $7.00 they seem to work fine too- and if you dont want to buy online, you might be able to try LED christmas lights :]

[asdftzui]

go to the store dude.. u will find large amount of LED's..ok..

[tanmanknex]

http://www.moddersmart.com/en/loose-5mm-led-blue.html
has very low prices on l.e.d.s compared to other stores.

[J3PPiSH]

Thanks I really learned from this!

[Derelicte]

How much are LEDs from Radioshack? Is there any better place to get them?

[kadris3]

send me an s.a.s.e. and I'll send you some. see below. Uncle Cy

[Swishercutter]

Ebay...I use Digikey for new specific parts but for the price you can't beat ebay. In my case the person sent the resistors (5 band precision ones) for free when I bought the LED's. Not that resistors are expensive but it's still nice to not have to buy some.

[burzvingion]

It's usually only prudent to buy anything from radioshack if you absolutely need it immediately and there are no other brick-and-mortar stores in your area that will sell said item. Almost anything you buy there, from LEDs to batteries to plastic project enclosures, will be marked up around 500%. It's a little bit like buying groceries at a gas station, except worse, because it happens to be the only gas station in town.

Buying parts online from wholesalers and surplus outfits is usually the cheapest way to go. Standard LEDs can be had for around 5 to 10 cents each, while high brightness ones will usually be a little more. Blue/violet, white, and UV LEDs are the most expensive, but can often be found for $0.75 or less each. Some places to look include:
http://www.allelectronics.com/
http://www.mpja.com/
http://www.mouser.com/
http://www.digi-key.com/
Then theres eBay. Search and you shall find. There are a lot of good deals and hard to find items around on eBay that most people never think to look for.

[kadris3]

if any student is broke, but wants a few leds to play with, i would be happy to send them to him. send me a stamp and some of my slow movers, pulls, or drops will be sent for your playing pleasure. they will all light when they leave here. when an led hits the floor, i cannot tell which bag it came from. i know the color, but not the intensity. please tell me your grade or yr in school. i'm happy to help but don't appreciate getting lied to or ripped off. also on the website is ohms law instruction fr figuring resistance. questions are a click away under "ask uncle cy". u don't need a bundle of money if u know an old fart like me! unclecytheledguy.com

[Gjdj3]

I normally use digi-key but I had this LED left over from an earlier project.

[xCeasarx]

soooo...can u like take a LED from anything like a ps2 controller or cable box annnndddd...can u connect it to anything with power or energy that it can handle

[vpbotbuilder]

Yeah, you can also use a resistor which resists the amount of current that fllows through the LED so that it can last longer

[Gjdj3]

Yeah, pretty much. Just don't overload it on the power or it will burn out.

[stepe]

Hi! Thanks for all the great info no LED!! Unfortunately, I am new to both Instructables and crafting in general, so I have one question..I know it is silly, but..well, I would like to know where you connect LED lights to, I mean what would be the power source.. Thanks in advance!

[vpbotbuilder]

its not silly, when i first started using LED's, i didnt know either. You would simply connect the LED to a battery.