this is mostly for Zap Wizard, but I know how pro everyone here is, and this is a pretty simple question I think. I want to make a lamp, using LED's, just standard ones, I'm thinking maybe 5 white and 5 blue, I want them to be able to turn on seperately, that is, just all 5 white, or just all five blue, or all at once. I have no Idea how I go about wiring the thing, should I do it to somehow plug into the wall? should I wire it with batteries? can someone tell me the best way to do it and then sort of, walk me through it?
First, welcome to Bit-tech. Second, normal household current would be too much, you could probably wire something like this using one of those "wall warts" that put out around 5v. Then you would need a switch...with 4 positions: Off, white, blue, all. The rest is simply hooking up the leds to the appropriate positions on the switch along with any needed resistors. I'm learning this stuff myself, but there are quite a few people here that can whip something like this up in their sleep. You're more likely to get help if you work up some sort of diagram to begin with..you know, give it your best attempt, then ask for someone to check your work.
Well, what I'm not too sure about is the power part, I don't really know where to get the power from, I'm afraid that a battery wouldn't last long, and that I would have to get a huge resistor or something for wall power, I can't figure that part out.
Welcome to the forums. Sounds like a fun project. First off most White and Blue LEDs are 3.4volts So if you use four of them in series that adds up to: 13.6volts So I recommend using a Wall adapter that puts out around that. (Probably eash enough to find a 15volt) Then just use the correct resistor and switch.
A typical wall-wart should suffice for power (if you're talking about needing a resistor for that, remember, the amperage rating of those things is the MAXIMUM). For a switch, a 4PST like shadowspawn said would suffice, but most likely those are going to be slide switches. You could easily do the same thing with a SPST momentary switch, a decade counter, and some transistors to boost the output of the counter. The switch would act as the input clock, then the decade counter would go from output 1, to 2, to 3, to 4, then connect the fifth output to reset (which would throw the output back to one). Here's a picture of the basic schematic. Resistors are the only things missing, as that depends on the supply (for the LEDs) and the transistors used, which depends on the load used, which depends on the LEDs used and how they're connected, which I don't know (I just put them in parallel for simplcity's sake).
OK, I'm liking that wall adapter thing that zap mentioned, but I have no idea what that is or where I can find one, any help? and thanks for welcoming me, I've been browsing for like a year or something, figured I had to register some time, [H] was starting to get less and less helpful.
A wall adapter or "Wall wart" is extreamly common: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=wall+wart&sa=N&tab=wi Each should have their voltage and amps printed or etched on them For example this is a +5volts 2amp adapter
And to calculate what resistor(s) you need, see here: http://metku.net/index.html?sect=view&n=1&path=mods/ledcalc/index_eng In fact, I'm planning to do the same with white LEDs to replace my desk lamp
In the USA, the electric company called GE that makes light bulbs (dah), now also sell light bulbs with a purpleish/bluish layer on the bulbs so it filters out the yellow rays. The results, white light and brighter light.
Hm, not that I know a lot about IC's, but the way you drew the circuit I suppose that it's active low right? If it is, I don't think that the circuit will work, you'd need PNP transistors, instead of NPN ones. If it's active high, then your led's are the wrong way. Well, dunno, I just think SOMETHING's wrong.
ok, I REALLY appreciate the help so far, but I really don't know anything about circuits or how to read them, I can kind of figure most of them out, the one that was posted is a little out of my league. do you guys think this whole project is going to be too much of a hassle for a noob, or is it something you can help walk me through? /edit I just did a price check, this really doesn't look like it's going to be too possible unless I can find a cheap online dealer of this stuff, the wall wart is 30 usd, each white LED is 6 usd a piece, so right there is 60 dollars, that just aint gonna cut it when I'm trying to furnish a new house and pay for school.
Not really Read here: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32612 Around $8 for 25 white LEDs. MaximaMan2000@ I have that bulb. But I am very disappointed... It is kind of less yellow, but it needs to be 70W to be bright enough. And there is no energy-saving option. And still, the light IS yellow, but just less than a normal bulb.... White light all the way!
ok, so I can get quite a surpluss of LEDs for less than 20 beans, but what about a wall wart, that's the next expensive thing, if I can't find one for less than 30, I'd only end up saving 10 dollars or so this way.
this won't be around my computer. I guess I can tell you guys my idea so it's easier to understand. basically I would take one of the large fish bowl type jars, with a lid, I would mod into the lid four or five white LEDs, and four or five blue LEDs. the lights would be wired to work either all white, all blue, or all at once. inside of the jar would be water about 80% full, at the bottom of the jar would be a mirror. I've tested this out with a small blue lamp, it casts this really neat halo like glow all around the jar, whenever the water is shaken it gives a very neat effect on the desk, the water inside the jar almost glows when viewed from across the room because of the mirror. I will eventually get this done, but my car was broken into and vandalised, I'm paying for a new apartment, paying for school, basically I just don't have the money I need to take care of this stuff.
30usd for a wall wart??? WTF are you looking at, titaniam with gold etchings? Go to radio shack and pick one up for $10!!! Or, if you have an extra cell phone/cordless phone/cd player/ect... adapter laying around, use that. It should have plenty of power. And if you ahve 2 left over, you could just make two seprate circuits with on/off switches on them. And btw: you dont really need any IC's... just wire and solder....
radio shack is the only place I can look, that's why I need an online retailer, yeah, it's sad but that's what they cost at radio shack, you can get them cheaper with lower voltages but I guess I need the 15 volt one, so, 30 beans is as cheap as I could find it.
I didn't want to say this because I think I am wrong... but you can do individual resistors and wire them up parallel instead of serial like ZapWizard suggested. Here is kinda what I was thinking it would look like Code: 3.6v - - + - - + - - + - - + - - + R R R R R . . . . . L L L L L E E E E E D D D D D . . . . . 0v - - + - - + - - + - - + - - + Correct me if I am wrong ... R stands for resistor BTW This will allow you to buy a cheaper "wall-wart" or dc - adaptor or transformer or whatever you want to call it.
And then I find this. I hope this helps you out mate. http://sales.goldmine-elec.com/prodinfo.asp?prodid=2661 15V 800mA power brick for $5 plus s&h. I am working way too hard on this one lol.
