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Turn your fridge into a canvas for LED art. Any passerby can place and relocate the magnetic LEDs any way they wish to create illuminated pictures and messages.
It's great for high traffic kitchens and It's fun for kids and adults alike.
It's great for high traffic kitchens and It's fun for kids and adults alike.
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Signing UpStep 1What You Need
Most of what you need can be found at local hardware and electronics parts stores or from online vendors.
Parts:
-Super Shield conductive nickel paint
This can be found at electronics parts stores. It's usually used to add RF shielding to plastic cases. We will be using it because it's electrically conductive.
-1/4" copper tape used for circuit board repair (optional)
If conductive paint can't be found, this may be a possible substitute. It may be a good idea to get some anyway as a way to repair any future scratches or chips in the conductive paint.
-Spray Paint
I used Krylon Fusion For Plastic because it sticks to almost anything, doesn't require a primer and has a nice finish.
-10mm LEDs in quantities and colors of choice
I used 20 LEDs of each Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and White. These can be bought online.
-330 Ohm surface-mount resistors
Get one for each 2.4 Volt LED (Typically red, orange, yellow and sometimes green LEDs are 2.4 Volts). The 3.6 Volt LEDs (typically blue, white, UV and true green) do not require resistors.
-One 4.5 Volt, 500 milliamp AC power supply
By using AC, the polarity of the LEDs won't matter. They will light up whichever way they are played onto the grid. This also reduces power consumption because the LEDs will run at a 50% duty cycle.
-1/8" diameter x 1/16" NdFeB Nickel plated disc magnets
Get two for each LED. These can be found online.
-1/4" diameter x 1/16" NdFeB Nickel plated disc magnets
I used six - two for attaching the power source to the fridge, and four more for making magnetic jumper wires to bridge the gap between the door and the side of the fridge.
-5 minute epoxy
Get the kind that you mix from clear and yellow tubes.
-Masking tape
-1/4" Quilter's tape
This is just masking tape but 1/4 inch wide, the thinnest tape I could find. You can find this in craft stores. Ideally, you want tape that is just slightly wider than the diameter of the magnets used on the LEDs.
-Solder
Equipment:
-Needle-nose pliers
-Small wire cutters or fingernail clippers
-Soldering iron or gun
-Wire wrapping tool or other tool with a flat round 1/8" diameter tip
It's really the 1/8" diameter we're going to use so you could use a grinded down dollar store screwdriver if that's what's available.
-X-acto knife
-Wooden toothpick
-The cap from a cheap pen
-Putty/Clay/Plasticene/Play-Doh
This is primarily for holding LEDs in place while you work on them.
Parts:
-Super Shield conductive nickel paint
This can be found at electronics parts stores. It's usually used to add RF shielding to plastic cases. We will be using it because it's electrically conductive.
-1/4" copper tape used for circuit board repair (optional)
If conductive paint can't be found, this may be a possible substitute. It may be a good idea to get some anyway as a way to repair any future scratches or chips in the conductive paint.
-Spray Paint
I used Krylon Fusion For Plastic because it sticks to almost anything, doesn't require a primer and has a nice finish.
-10mm LEDs in quantities and colors of choice
I used 20 LEDs of each Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and White. These can be bought online.
-330 Ohm surface-mount resistors
Get one for each 2.4 Volt LED (Typically red, orange, yellow and sometimes green LEDs are 2.4 Volts). The 3.6 Volt LEDs (typically blue, white, UV and true green) do not require resistors.
-One 4.5 Volt, 500 milliamp AC power supply
By using AC, the polarity of the LEDs won't matter. They will light up whichever way they are played onto the grid. This also reduces power consumption because the LEDs will run at a 50% duty cycle.
-1/8" diameter x 1/16" NdFeB Nickel plated disc magnets
Get two for each LED. These can be found online.
-1/4" diameter x 1/16" NdFeB Nickel plated disc magnets
I used six - two for attaching the power source to the fridge, and four more for making magnetic jumper wires to bridge the gap between the door and the side of the fridge.
-5 minute epoxy
Get the kind that you mix from clear and yellow tubes.
-Masking tape
-1/4" Quilter's tape
This is just masking tape but 1/4 inch wide, the thinnest tape I could find. You can find this in craft stores. Ideally, you want tape that is just slightly wider than the diameter of the magnets used on the LEDs.
-Solder
Equipment:
-Needle-nose pliers
-Small wire cutters or fingernail clippers
-Soldering iron or gun
-Wire wrapping tool or other tool with a flat round 1/8" diameter tip
It's really the 1/8" diameter we're going to use so you could use a grinded down dollar store screwdriver if that's what's available.
-X-acto knife
-Wooden toothpick
-The cap from a cheap pen
-Putty/Clay/Plasticene/Play-Doh
This is primarily for holding LEDs in place while you work on them.
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Someone got any idea? I thought about adding a second magnet to every pole, but on one side i don't have enough magnets left (and since i got them from hongkong it would take about one month to get new ones), and second i would fear that i get a short cuircit when the second magnets attract themselfes...
-One 4.5 Volt, 500 milliamp AC power supply
By using AC, the polarity of the LEDs won't matter. They will light up whichever way they are played onto the grid. This also reduces power consumption because the LEDs will run at a 50% duty cycle.
I have a question: Can the LEDs work under AC power?
LED's can be killed if the reverse voltage...ie the voltage that the LED see's if you connect it back to front to a DC supply...typically about 6v
To explain it another way, connect an LED to a variable supply, and turn the power up to 2 or 3 volts, what ever its 'forward max voltage is, it will light, turn up the DC to say six volts, its now dead!
take a similar LED and connect it the reverse way around, it wont light, its safe at 3 volts, 4 volts, 5 and maybe a bit higher...then it will DIE.
so if you feed a LED with AC, the AC has to be NO higher then the forward voltage of the LED
I hope i explained that?
Or look here:-
http://www.ecosorganicpaints.co.uk/store/specialist-paints/anti-emr-wallpaint/cat_49.html
RS components are for commercial users and as a result you pay a very high price for the technical backup, please look elsewhere, look at the spec of the RS stuff, and even find out the manufacturer, then look at the manufacturers website, see if there is a stockist.
Another point to realise, is one product is silver based, and can carry current, another is graphite based and only carries voltage, as its resistive. This is the usual stuff you get with RFI based coatings..it WONT carry current very far to light LED's
If you look at MG chemicals, they supply to companies who ship to the UK, at rates better then RS
Any other help i can give, please ask.
John
Did you use lead-free solder? (I would assume so, since they are goingto be around food and children)
that is the power transformer that i used in my power supply, it is 5Volts @ 5Amps, and will give you enough power, but you have to bring down the voltage a lil, cuz like sockmaster said, the circuit acts as a resister in his, and in mine [i am useing copper tape] i installed a big resister comeing off of the power supply going onto the grid. you could of course just put a surface mounted resisted on every led, and then the 5V power supply would be fine.