Christmas LED tree

7 LEDs make a christmas tree.

If you can solder a little, you can make a christmas tree without hurting any trees. It takes 7 LEDs, some wire and a battery. That's it.

The video below features some LED Christmas Stars as well. The making of the Stars is covered in a separate Instructable.

No video playing? Have a look at it here...

So get your soldering iron, grab your LEDs, find some batteries and kick off the christmas decorating season.

If you're uncertain about your soldering skills: Start with making the star (over here). It's easy. You can do it. Really. Trust me.

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Step 1: Stuff and tools

For a christmas LED tree you need:

6 green LEDs, 5mm dome
1 red led, 5mm dome
10cm of thin copperwire, insulated.
Optional: 120 Ohm resistor

All parts for the star and the tree can easily be ordered at RadioShack, Mouser (if you live in he US), or Farnell or Conrad (Euro's, Aussies, rest of the world).
If you're new to electronics: buy a assortment of LEDs like this one.

Costs:
The tree costs about €2,- / US $2,60

Tools and other stuff needed:

For a template: 5mm plywood or something similar.
Soldering iron and solder
Pliers or pincers
Polymer clay or a third hand to fix parts for soldering
Multimeter for debugging

masynmachien says: Dec 21, 2012. 2:25 PM

Here's the family of US powered LED trees (and one star) I made to spread around the office (I brought them together for the picture). I made spiral wires as shown to connect to the top LEDs. Soldering to these spirals was a bit clumsy though.

ynze (author) in reply to masynmachienDec 22, 2012. 1:38 PM

Owww cool! The helix is a nice touch! All trees are usb-powered?

You totally deserve a 3 month pro membership for the pics, but my guess is you have plenty of those...

masynmachien in reply to ynzeDec 23, 2012. 2:03 AM

Yes, they are all USB powered.

Indeed I have plenty of pro membership codes.

Thanks.

Brosiman says: Dec 15, 2012. 1:52 PM

Very nice and simple project!(en kerst ledjes zijn beter dan kerst liedjes ;) )

ynze (author) in reply to BrosimanDec 15, 2012. 4:18 PM

Thanks, glad to hear you like it. Kerst ledjes forever!

davidkichi says: Dec 14, 2012. 2:45 AM

Awesome! Btw, what does a resistor do in this case if it were to be used? Thxs

ynze (author) in reply to davidkichiDec 14, 2012. 3:39 AM

It limits the current through the LEDs, so the battery lasts longer. The LEDs will be dimmed a little, though...

amandaghassaei says: Dec 13, 2012. 11:09 AM

these are so simple and cute! love it

ynze (author) in reply to amandaghassaeiDec 13, 2012. 12:17 PM

Thanks!

(Omitting resistors is a bit of a crime for some electronics-gurus I know, but it makes the making and looks so much fun ;-) I'll add a circuit that is a bit more electronics-political-correct one of these days...)