What Kind of Wire for L.E.D. Electronics?

I put a watch battery directly between the LED poles and taped it to my kick drum head. Every time I hit it, the room lights up blue. I'm not sure how you'd use it on a strat guitar. The only guitar lighting I've done is battery operated christmas lights on my strap. It doesn't take an electrician to figure out how to wire an LED. What's the worst that could happen... you blow the LED? Uh oh, there's 25 cents down the drain.

LED positive -> Battery positive
LED negative -> switch -> Battery negative
 
noodles2k5 said:
I put a watch battery directly between the LED poles and taped it to my kick drum head. Every time I hit it, the room lights up blue. I'm not sure how you'd use it on a strat guitar. The only guitar lighting I've done is battery operated christmas lights on my strap. It doesn't take an electrician to figure out how to wire an LED. What's the worst that could happen... you blow the LED? Uh oh, there's 25 cents down the drain.

LED positive -> Battery positive
LED negative -> switch -> Battery negative
Click to expand...
Once again, you need a resistor in their, or you'll burn through your battery and the LED pretty quickly. Somebody else suggested using resistors in the 2k ohms plus range, which is probably a good idea, and will leave your LED still pretty bright.
 
Imaduck said:
Once again, you need a resistor in their, or you'll burn through your battery and the LED pretty quickly. Somebody else suggested using resistors in the 2k ohms plus range, which is probably a good idea, and will leave your LED still pretty bright.
Click to expand...

Where does the resistor get wired up? On the positive or negative side?
 
Imaduck said:
Once again, you need a resistor in their, or you'll burn through your battery and the LED pretty quickly. Somebody else suggested using resistors in the 2k ohms plus range, which is probably a good idea, and will leave your LED still pretty bright.
Click to expand...
Unlikely. If you wire a 2k resistor directly across a 3v battery, I=E/R which is 3v/2000ohms = 1.5ma of current. Then you have the voltage drop across LED when that's in the circuit, which will be at least 1.5v, so now you're down to about 0.75 ma, which probably means you could barely see the glow in pitch blackness.

For starters I would just wire the LED directly to the 3v battery. See how long it lasts and how bright it is. Buy the highest milliamphour rated battery you can find (they make some at >100 I believe) to last the longest. If it's too bright or wears out too fast, put a 100 or 200 ohm resistor in series and see if that's better.

The switch and resistor can go anywhere in the circuit, as everything is in series.
 
crazydoc said:
Unlikely. If you wire a 2k resistor directly across a 3v battery, I=E/R which is 3v/2000ohms = 1.5ma of current. Then you have the voltage drop across LED when that's in the circuit, which will be at least 1.5v, so now you're down to about 0.75 ma, which probably means you could barely see the glow in pitch blackness.

For starters I would just wire the LED directly to the 3v battery. See how long it lasts and how bright it is. Buy the highest milliamphour rated battery you can find (they make some at >100 I believe) to last the longest. If it's too bright or wears out too fast, put a 100 or 200 ohm resistor in series and see if that's better.

The switch and resistor can go anywhere in the circuit, as everything is in series.
Click to expand...

Great info. I also found a great Resistance Calculator at TheLEDLight.com that gives the suggested resistor for any LED configuration. With all of the above info and suggestions, I've decided to just go with a 9 volt as the power source. Just seems like it would be easier to wire up as the battery holders are more easily accessible to the guitar, not to mention battery life.

Thanks for all the great info.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top