How to get High Quality LEDs for Pennies

Lets face it, electronics aren't cheap.  High quality, high brightness LEDs are expensive and hard to find most places.  

I have a solution. How about great LEDs that only cost 6 cents a piece new?

Wait until after Christmas and bombard your local hardware store for their "after-Christmas Clearance" sales.  You can find strands and strands of LED Christmas lights for 75% off normal, which means you spend about $3 for 50 LEDs.  That saves you about $22.5 if you were to buy similar LED's at online retailers. Your LEDs cost you 13% of what they would before.  6 cents for mine vs $1.50 retail.

I like to do things visually, be sure to look at all of the pictures and the image notes for in depth comments and hints to make your life easier and this instructable better!

Step 1 Materials

 Alright, this is what you'll need:

Supplies:
-LED Christmas lights
-Electrical tape
-Power supply
-2 large coins

Tools:
-Wire strippers
-Scissors
-Time, lots of time......

Comments

[xl97]

nice post!...

Im interested in the end project. What did you use to control the leds?

seemed like there was too many leds for the MEGA alone to control?

Did you use some sort of shift register or something?

Thanks!

[Poogle]

I'd just like to say that blurry photos and all, this is a fantastic Instructable and very well written. Extremely simple and helpful. thanks.

[scottinnh]

I've done this before... it's a lot of work. The more practical (time wise) application is to KEEP the light string intact... and get an AC relay switch to cycle the whole thing on and off. Then you can use the light strings as part of an (for example) Arduino LED lightshow (keeping in mind that the relay would not let you control individual light bulbs, but that's fine if you want to manipulate several strings individually).

[frollard]

Agreed with some other commenters that this may not be the cheapest way to go - but they have a rugged housing and nice stranded wire already terminated to the leds with resistors built in...saves a lot of work in the long run for a lot of types of project.

Great writeup; shame some of the pictures turned out blurry.

[A_Steingrube]

 Sadly, as a college student, I can't afford a nice camera...I used the camera on my phone :)  Thanks for the complements, and criticisms, as well :)

[scottinnh]

You would be surprised how great cellphones are for pictures, "if" you make a tripod for it. This is even more true if your camera has a "delay picture" feature (so that while taking the picture you do not move the camera any).

Velcro brand hook and loop is one of the best materials for turning a camera into a tripod. You can use anything as a weighted base.

Even if your camera lacks a timer delay for taking pictures, the tripod is totally worth it (and perhaps it would make for a good Instructable... hmm...)

[frollard]

Wonderful work if its a cel phone :D

[coolsciencetech]

what voltage do these LEDs run off of?

[A_Steingrube]

These probably work best around 3.8V. I've had these running directly off of 5V for a while, and some of them are starting to go bad. For short term use, 5V gives you really great brightness, for anything you plan on using for a long period of time, I'd recommend you add some 120 ohm resistors.

[orksecurity]

Darn. Just stumbled across this again -- I was meaning to pick up some of the leftover LED lights in January, and completely forgot. Next year, maybe. This isn't necessarily the cheapest way to get 'em, but it's convenient.

[A_Steingrube]

 Just keep in mind that it does take a while to clip and sort through a few hundred of these things.  While they are pretty hardy little LED's, they aren't very convenient :)

[KentaGrace]

I would like to make an addition to this.  Some LED bulbs are indeed 100% removable.  Also, you can sometimes get only orange LED's in the same way for after Halloween sales.  I myself got over 600 orange LED's for just about $8.  You can pull them out like normal Christmas lights and bend the LED leads back from the special plastic insert, and pull them straight out.  Time consuming, but hey, pennies for LED's.

[A_Steingrube]

 What brand were they?  Do you remember? I grabbed the button ones because they looked removable, shame they weren't.... 

[KentaGrace]

Sorry for taking so long, they weren't a specific brand. They were generic "Target" brand. Yeah, orange box, retro-simplistic styling.

[jaesungauzakim]

Should have thought of that... Until I just saw this. At least I learned were to get LEDs for cheap!

[jj.inc]

 Are They DC, i haven't ever had LED Christmas lights so i don't know if there is and adapter or not.

[A_Steingrube]

LED's, by definition, only allow current to flow in one direction.  They will work in both AC and DC circuits, but read below.

A DC source is one that flows constantly in one direction. If you have them connected to a DC source, the direction of your LED is correct, and the power us under the threshold, they will work just fine. 

AC sources are a different story.  AC stands for "Alternating Current" which means your current oscillates between a high and low according to a sin wave.  If your high is positive, and your low is negative, your LED will flicker on and off with the period of your sine wave. If your high and your low are both positive or both negative, your LED will throb with your sine wave.

Another important thing to know, is that if you should use an AC source for your LED's, make sure to place sets of LED's in opposing direction.  The electrons in an AC source move back and forth (which saves energy, read up on Tesla), so you'll need allow current to move in both directions.  This actually works in your favor, because your will always have an LED lit.

[knektek]

leds when used in the rectangular sine wave type ac in turn are brighter at a high voltage.

[jj.inc]

 Thanks

[A_Steingrube]

 Any time  [|:-)

[pointless_piggy]

Great 'Ible!  I've always toyed around with the idea, but never found a string of them cheap enough to make it worth it.

Quite often, you can find a much better deal on eBay.  You can easily locate 100 high quality super bright LEDs in any color for a paltry $5.  Five cents a piece isn't bad, but when buying in bulk, such as an order of 500-1000 LEDs, you can get them for 2.5 cents per LED.

Here's an article about what to do when there are no nearby parts suppliers, it lists a few really good supply houses that have more than fair rates.

By the way, where were you looking that listed LEDs at $1.50 each??  That's obscene!

[A_Steingrube]

 Thank you for the article as well.

[pointless_piggy]

 Any time, always glad to help out a fellow maker!

I hope you find some cheaper alternatives for your future ventures, shopping at JameCo and RadioShack will definitely suck up your budget!

[A_Steingrube]

 When I first started in electronics I shopped at RadioShack.  Most of their LED's are $1.70 to $3 a piece in-store.  JameCo, and similar, charge about a $1.06 for the standard LED's when not in bulk, and around $1.50 for the top end stuff.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

GREAT IDEA!!!!!

[A_Steingrube]

 Thank you :)

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

ur welcome

[ironsmiter]

if all you need is Led's, this is a GREAT idea.

I've even done cd backighting with christmas eds.
there is a catch though.
the led focusing lens used for these lights is NOT the normal type.
instead of a normal focusing convex ens shape on the end of the led, many christmas light strings use a conical concave lens.
this makes them sparke nicely, and are easily seen from a distance, but are pretty useess for throwing light any distance.

[A_Steingrube]

They may not throw light very well, but it makes em' great for throwies, lol.  Built in diffuser! 

[dava_2]

Yes, I have finding something similiar but didn't founded nothing.. But idea is great..

[cdousley]

great project i thought about it but never did anything