{THE LED LIGHTBULB}

Step 6 [ASSEMBLY]

Now that all the separate components are prepared, we can move on to assembling the whole bulb. Run the electrical wire through the center wholes of the two layers of insulation. Solder the wires to rectifier leads (labeled "~") and snip off the excess. Make sure that everything is soldered correctly before you close it up. Mount the PVC pipe to the cardboard with cable ties. Then, slowly pushing the wires into the pipe, sandwich all the layers together and secure them with cable ties at each corner. After checking that nothing is exposed, plug in the bulb to check if it works. Be extremely careful with this testing, as with the rest of this project. I am not responsible for any injuries, either physical or emotional. =]

Comments

[jasonm621]

Can you insulate your circut with something like that paint on electrical tape stuff or hot glue? Just for ease of construction by glueing stuff together rather than zip ties... Just a thought... Just wondering the safety of insulating with hot glue cause its easy, cheap, and readily available. Not to mention one less step of assembly... Any thoughts?

[Hardwyre]

I don't see any resistors on your LEDs. How did you get away without using them? I've built an AC LED using the resistor/capacitor trick and now I wish I'd found this (I think I did them before you published), as the rectifier seems to be a more clean and reliable method. But I'm still curious about resistors.

[aandre]

Resistors are supposed to prevent the LEDs from flickering and they are recommended even with rectifiers. I, however, have had no problems with flicker, so I chose to ignore that hassle. =] If you want to use resistors, though, it would be a 1 ohm resistor per series.

[gregr]

I'm pretty sure resistors are used to limit the current that gets to the LEDs, and not to keep the LEDs from flickering.

[mattsouthgate]

You are right gregr. Resistor limit the flow of current. A smoothing capacitor could be used to reduce flicker, 470 - 2200uF would make a big difference. Be careful to specify one with voltage rating exceeding your supply!!