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of Contents Two red LEDs light up the breadboard |
LEDs come in a huge variety: colors of light, colors of plastic housing, size, style, voltage, brightness, and even angle of light. You can even find ultra-violet LEDs! Most LEDs emit their light straight out the end like a tiny "spot" light. Some LEDs are constructed to "disperse" the light so that the light shines over a larger area. Reflectors (like aluminum foil) can be used to disburse the light also. The brightness of LEDs is measured in millicandelas. The solar pathlights used LEDs with 8500 and 6800 millicandelas of light: these were brighter than typical LEDs. There are lots of great web sites with
technical information on LEDs. Here are a few of them: |
Two kinds of diodes
Since LEDs are diodes, they need to placed into the circuit in the correct direction. The longer lead of the LED is the positive lead. For the solar pathlights, trim the leads of the LEDs to about 1/2", leaving the positive lead a little longer. Then shove the leads down into a length of speaker wire: this creates a good connection with no soldering required. Plus, it makes it easy to swap out LEDs if you want. Individually packaged LEDs are expensive. High brightness LEDs can be bought online in bulk for about .36 cents to over $2 each, depending on color, style, etc. Hopefully, as the use of LEDs becomes more common, their price will decrease. |
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