LEDs & Other Low voltage, Low power lighting

Ask and answer questions, share tips and resources for installing lighting and other electronics in your models.

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brt
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Post by brt »

Depends on whether there are 4 color bands or 5 on the resistor. The chart that you provided the link to shows 5 bands at the bottom and 4 at the top example. For 150 ohms with four bands, you would want
brown, green, then brown as a multiplier of 10 and tolerance doesn't matter as we already have a 25% cushion. So brown means 1, green is the 5 and the brown multiplier of 10 = 150.

for 5 bands brown, green and black makes 150. Add black on the 4th band as a muliplier of 1 and the 5th band doesn't matter again in this example as we have a 25% cushion.
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Post by duck »

Burn your dead.
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Captain Riker
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Post by Captain Riker »

Might be useful to figure out what resistor: http://www.midibox-shop.com/res.html
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Post by Kabriya »


modelbldr_207582
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Re: LEDs & Other Low voltage, Low power lighting

Post by modelbldr_207582 »

Blinking Lights

Forgive me if this reply or topic is in the wrong page, I'm getting my feet wet as to where to ask questions on a Reply or New Topic. And away we go;

Does anyone have experience with Blink/Flash LEDs?

I purchased - IN0451 3mm LED Green BLINK / FLASH 1.5hz Clear Round Top TEN Pack With Resistors for 12v and IN0450 3mm LED Red BLINK / FLASH 1.5hz Clear Round Top TEN Pack With Resistors for 12v from - http://hdamodelworx.com/

I have time to experiment with these lights since the paint order is being processed and will not be here for a while. I know you can get the same result from a 555 Timer Chip but I’m looking to see if I’m able to get the same results with these lights

Any and all comments are welcome regarding this issue. I have soldered wires together to repair damaged wires but have never used resistors or Timer Chips. I've seen videos but have not actually put anything that I've learned into practice.

IN0450 and IN0451 are part numbers only
mophius
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Re: LEDs & Other Low voltage, Low power lighting

Post by mophius »

modelbldr_207582 wrote: Mon Aug 07, 2017 11:18 am Blinking Lights

Forgive me if this reply or topic is in the wrong page, I'm getting my feet wet as to where to ask questions on a Reply or New Topic. And away we go;

Does anyone have experience with Blink/Flash LEDs?

I purchased - IN0451 3mm LED Green BLINK / FLASH 1.5hz Clear Round Top TEN Pack With Resistors for 12v and IN0450 3mm LED Red BLINK / FLASH 1.5hz Clear Round Top TEN Pack With Resistors for 12v from - http://hdamodelworx.com/

I have time to experiment with these lights since the paint order is being processed and will not be here for a while. I know you can get the same result from a 555 Timer Chip but I’m looking to see if I’m able to get the same results with these lights

Any and all comments are welcome regarding this issue. I have soldered wires together to repair damaged wires but have never used resistors or Timer Chips. I've seen videos but have not actually put anything that I've learned into practice.

IN0450 and IN0451 are part numbers only
Let me know how these work out for you as I may have to purchase some for myself. I am a 1/2500 Trek builder and am looking at lighting some models. These would be ideal for the marker lights.
Also let me know what the flash rate is, I wouldn't want them to blink too fast.

Do they do white as well for the strobe markers
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modelbldr_207582
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Re: LEDs & Other Low voltage, Low power lighting

Post by modelbldr_207582 »

I just received them in the mail today and they work great. My problem is the Red and Green LEDs that Blink/Flash are too fast. I want to slow them down so they Blink/Flash 4 to 6 times a minute rather than off and on, which is much faster than I expected.

I'm wondering if I need to restrict the flow of current to slow the rate of Blink/Flash to a slower pace. I also have discovered that the 3 mm are to big for areas such as the saucer section. I will have to reduce the size to SMD where they will fit better into the tight area that I had in mind. I will be trying it again to be sure but the 3 mm are not as small and I thought they would be. If you're doing 1/2500 then you should be getting Micro or Nano SMDs for the builds you're doing. I don't think 3 mm will fit for your desired intentions.

I ordered these LED supplies on Thursday and and received them today. I thought that the paint would get her before the LED but that order is being processed.
mophius
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Re: LEDs & Other Low voltage, Low power lighting

Post by mophius »

You can file away at the top of the LED's to make them fit your needs just be careful of going near the crystal.
As to the flash rate I think the only way to have a slower flash is to use a different hertz. I am just unsure which way you would need to go. I think its higher hertz for higher flash rate.
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Ant
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Re: LEDs & Other Low voltage, Low power lighting

Post by Ant »

The flash rate of flashing LEDs is fixed and usually around once a second (1 Hz - Hertz is the unit of frequency. 1 Hz = 1 oscillation per second. 100Hz = 100 oscillations per second)

is the 3mm to big in diameter, or too tall? If it's too tall, you might want to look at SMDs in a PLCC-2 package. This around 3.5mm x 3mm square, but only about 2mm tall. it's relatively easy to solder wires to still. Once you get into the smaller sizes 1206, 0805, 0604 then attaching wires becomes a significant issue.
EVApodman
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Re: LEDs & Other Low voltage, Low power lighting

Post by EVApodman »

modelbldr_207582 wrote: Mon Aug 07, 2017 5:12 pm I just received them in the mail today and they work great. My problem is the Red and Green LEDs that Blink/Flash are too fast. I want to slow them down so they Blink/Flash 4 to 6 times a minute rather than off and on, which is much faster than I expected.

I'm wondering if I need to restrict the flow of current to slow the rate of Blink/Flash to a slower pace. I also have discovered that the 3 mm are to big for areas such as the saucer section. I will have to reduce the size to SMD where they will fit better into the tight area that I had in mind. I will be trying it again to be sure but the 3 mm are not as small and I thought they would be. If you're doing 1/2500 then you should be getting Micro or Nano SMDs for the builds you're doing. I don't think 3 mm will fit for your desired intentions.

I ordered these LED supplies on Thursday and and received them today. I thought that the paint would get her before the LED but that order is being processed.
Wanting LED to flash at a certain rate is where you start to get into electronics to control them.
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modelbldr_207582
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Re: LEDs & Other Low voltage, Low power lighting

Post by modelbldr_207582 »

I ordered these LEDs hoping I could avoid having to use a 555 Timer Chip, something I hoped to avoid. Sadly this in not the case. I now have to go into the electronic field I hoped to shy away from. I don't fear it as I consider it as a learning experience that will help me in the future with other builds

Thank you for your reply, it was more helpful than you know
EVApodman
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Re: LEDs & Other Low voltage, Low power lighting

Post by EVApodman »

A 555 chip isn't always necessary as seen here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/No-CPU- ... ulse-fade/
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Re: LEDs & Other Low voltage, Low power lighting

Post by MillenniumFalsehood »

I bought some super bright (10,000mcd) LEDs for my Millennium Falcon's engines, and they didn't fit in the space I'd created for the circuit boards, so I used a sanding stick to file them down to a lower height. When I did this they were dimmer, so I polished them back to crystal clear, but they're still not at the original brightness of the lamps when I first tested them. Is the height of the resin casing integral to the brightness somehow or am I missing something? I was using a 6v power source to test them. They require 4v forward voltage and 70ma operating current, so I used a 33 ohm resistor as an LED calculator recommended. I don't want to overdrive them as they will be buried in the model after it's completed and inaccessible.
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Ant
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Re: LEDs & Other Low voltage, Low power lighting

Post by Ant »

Did you get rid of the "dome" on the top of the LED? This is essentially a lens that spreads out the light from the LED die and makes it appear brighter than a smaller point source.
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MillenniumFalsehood
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Re: LEDs & Other Low voltage, Low power lighting

Post by MillenniumFalsehood »

The LEDs were flat to begin with.
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Re: LEDs & Other Low voltage, Low power lighting

Post by jgoldader »

You didn’t file down into the diode itself, did you? There’s no exposed metal? (Go ahead and laugh, I managed to do that once.)
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Re: LEDs & Other Low voltage, Low power lighting

Post by MillenniumFalsehood »

jgoldader wrote: Thu Jul 02, 2020 7:31 pm You didn’t file down into the diode itself, did you? There’s no exposed metal? (Go ahead and laugh, I managed to do that once.)
Lol, no. I learned that lesson the hard way too many times! It's not that the LEDs don't light up, it's that they're noticeably dimmer than they were before modification. I am using the same batteries and resistors as before, but the LEDs are just not "super bright" anymore.
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