Mini LED Spot Light for Computer Case or Other Flat Surface

This miniture LED spot light can add a warm glow and brighten up the look of your computer case. It's small and round and can be mounted nearly any where inside a case. The circuit board is just slightly smaller than a penny yet has plenty of room for six 3 mm high intensty blue LEDs. The circuit is mounted in a plastic base that can also be mounted just about anywhere you can think of. A simple and fun soldering project for beginners.

Step 1 Parts & Materials

Parts List:
6 each 3 mm LEDs - High Intensity Blue, Water Clear Lens, 3.3 volts, 20 ma.
2 each 100 ohm resistors, 1/8 or 1/4 watt (Use 150 ohm resistors if connecting to car.)
5/8" Round Circuit Board (The smallest board in Radio Shack #276-004.)
Power Connector - Such as from an old computer case fan.
Air-Tite 16 mm Coin Holder

Materials:
Clear Epoxy Glue
Double Sided Mounting Tape
Masking Tape
Wood Craft Stick & Piece of Cardboard for Mixing Glue

Tools:
15 Watt Soldering Iron & Solder
Wet Sponge for Cleaning Soldering Iron Tip
Small Wire Cutters
Needle Nose Pliers
Wire Strippers

A vice with alligator clips to hold the circuit board while soldering is helpful but not necessary.

I bought the LEDs from mouser.com for less than twenty-five cents each and the resistors for a nickel each. I bought the Air-Tite coin holder from shawneecoin.com for about a dollar. The coin holder was for a coin but I found that it added a nice finishing touch and made it simple to mount the light to any flat surface. The power connector that I used to make this project with was a left over fan adaptor from a new computer case fan.

Comments

[Greyfox95]

hehe..."light" weight. good one!

[agis68]

 If you dont use any amplifier type of transistor after a while (in terms of some weeks or months) the leds will start fading and loosing the initial brightness...

[Clayton H.]

cover it in acrylic and sand it with high grit sand paper to A ; make a big led and B; to diffuse the light