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Step 2What you need
electrical components for the three color channel controller (Red, Green, Blue):
- 3 x Q1: small NPN transistors (digikey: 2N5088BU)
- 3 x VREG: adjustable voltage regulators (digikey: LD1585CV or LM1084IT-ADJ)
- 3 x control knobs: 2k-ohm to 10k-ohm linear-taper potentiometers (see following steps)
- 3 x R3: 2-watt resistors (see following steps)
- 3 x R1, 3 x R2: resistors (see following steps)
- 4 x C1: 47uF 35V capacitors (digikey: ECA-1VHG470)
- Red, Green and Blue High-power LED's ("Star" type - see following steps)
- 8-position terminal block: digikey: 39100-0808
- solderable prototyping board: these come in many styles, you will need about 1" x 3" size to build the circuits. try digikey: "vector V2018", which includes column-busses that will make the wiring a lot easier than what i did. i used digikey: "twin industries 8000-45", which is a lot more of a hassle, i just had one lying around.
- project box: i used a large-size electrical junction box, cheap and widely available. a metal box is important to allow cooling of the controller. if you have a plastic box you will likely need a fan in it.
- project box cover: use the one shown with a cut-out to fit "slider" controls, use one with no cut-out for dial/knob controls.
- strain relief for project box
- power supply: recycling an old laptop power supply is ideal, especially if it has a broken tip. any power supply between 12V and 25V DC with 2 Amps or more is good, between 20V and 25V is the best (which is what most laptop supplies are)
- heatsink: a large piece of scrap aluminum with enough flat area to mount all the LED's. some thin mylar (polyester) sheet is needed as a heatsink insulator, a good source for this is the mirror-type static-shielding bags, or window-tinting film. you can use thermal compound, but it isn't required.
- adhesive: "GE Silicone II" from the hardware store is a good high-temperature adhesive for heatsinks.
- optics: for a room light, some form of lampshade will be needed, or you can use the cover from a 4-foot fluorescent fixture. for a spotlight, use L2optics lenses on each LED, these are cheap and can focus the beam as needed (see LED selection step).
- wire: you'll need about 6-12 inches of 18-22 guage high-temp (90 C or better) hookup wire per LED. you could get this from digikey: "carol C2117-12", but that's really overpriced. you can get 18-guage high-temp wire by ripping apart a standard 18-3 SJOOW rubberized power cord from your hardware store. you'll also need enough cheap wire to make a 6-conductor cable between your lamp fixture and the control box - i made a 15-foot cable using 45 feet of cheap 18-guage lamp cord.
- 3 x Q1: small NPN transistors (digikey: 2N5088BU)
- 3 x VREG: adjustable voltage regulators (digikey: LD1585CV or LM1084IT-ADJ)
- 3 x control knobs: 2k-ohm to 10k-ohm linear-taper potentiometers (see following steps)
- 3 x R3: 2-watt resistors (see following steps)
- 3 x R1, 3 x R2: resistors (see following steps)
- 4 x C1: 47uF 35V capacitors (digikey: ECA-1VHG470)
- Red, Green and Blue High-power LED's ("Star" type - see following steps)
- 8-position terminal block: digikey: 39100-0808
- solderable prototyping board: these come in many styles, you will need about 1" x 3" size to build the circuits. try digikey: "vector V2018", which includes column-busses that will make the wiring a lot easier than what i did. i used digikey: "twin industries 8000-45", which is a lot more of a hassle, i just had one lying around.
- project box: i used a large-size electrical junction box, cheap and widely available. a metal box is important to allow cooling of the controller. if you have a plastic box you will likely need a fan in it.
- project box cover: use the one shown with a cut-out to fit "slider" controls, use one with no cut-out for dial/knob controls.
- strain relief for project box
- power supply: recycling an old laptop power supply is ideal, especially if it has a broken tip. any power supply between 12V and 25V DC with 2 Amps or more is good, between 20V and 25V is the best (which is what most laptop supplies are)
- heatsink: a large piece of scrap aluminum with enough flat area to mount all the LED's. some thin mylar (polyester) sheet is needed as a heatsink insulator, a good source for this is the mirror-type static-shielding bags, or window-tinting film. you can use thermal compound, but it isn't required.
- adhesive: "GE Silicone II" from the hardware store is a good high-temperature adhesive for heatsinks.
- optics: for a room light, some form of lampshade will be needed, or you can use the cover from a 4-foot fluorescent fixture. for a spotlight, use L2optics lenses on each LED, these are cheap and can focus the beam as needed (see LED selection step).
- wire: you'll need about 6-12 inches of 18-22 guage high-temp (90 C or better) hookup wire per LED. you could get this from digikey: "carol C2117-12", but that's really overpriced. you can get 18-guage high-temp wire by ripping apart a standard 18-3 SJOOW rubberized power cord from your hardware store. you'll also need enough cheap wire to make a 6-conductor cable between your lamp fixture and the control box - i made a 15-foot cable using 45 feet of cheap 18-guage lamp cord.
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Apr 14, 2009. 6:13 PMaron7676
says:
for a truck
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Apr 14, 2009. 5:08 PMaron7676
says:
If i was going to do this with a 12v supply, and an rgb led bar rated at 12v, would the parts i need as far as resistors, regulators etc?
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