I have been tasked with designing a "spy kids"-like console with radar images, flashing lights, working switches, etc. I have the pc parts figured out, but am a novice with electronics - last time I built a circuit board was as a kid.
Wanting to setup a few simple flashing LED panels with off\on switches. Have found a few places that sell 12V flashing LEDs.
**broken link removed**
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My first question is can I use an old 12V power supply scrapped from an old wireless phone base (or one I could pick up at radio shack) to power a bunch of these things? I was planning on cutting the adapter plug off and wiring it straight into some of these with an on\off switch. If that would work - would I wire them in parallel or series? How many do you think could be wired off of 1 standard power supply?
Any advice is appreciated! (Also, if anyone has any simple ideas to add some "coolness" to such a console - that would be awesome too!)
Thanks! Yes - it is a wall AC adapter. 12V/1500mA. How many 12V LEDs could I conceivably run off of one of these? And could I run multiple parallel circuits off of it? For instance - 3-4 LED panels with x LEDs each and an off\on switch for each panel - each running parallel off the one AC adapter. Is that possible?
if you wired 12 volt led's in series, wouldn't you have to have a higher voltage? if you wired 4 led's in series on 12 volts, each led would see 3 volts, but if you had say 7, each led would see 1.7 volts, which isn't enough for yellow's, blues, whites, greens and all the others except for red. right????
if you wired 12 volt led's in series, wouldn't you have to have a higher voltage? if you wired 4 led's in series on 12 volts, each led would see 3 volts, but if you had say 7, each led would see 1.7 volts, which isn't enough for yellow's, blues, whites, greens and all the others except for red. right????
hi things,
If you look at the link I posted for Glen, you will see the majority, if not all common LED types fall within the 1.5v thru 5v voltage band.
You can get simple multicolour flashing leds that would look impressive, some cycle through red,green, blue quickly and others slowly blend the colours.
Have a search on ebay, usually China based suppliers have them in various quantities and cheap.
You can get simple multicolour flashing leds that would look impressive, some cycle through red,green, blue quickly and others slowly blend the colours.
Have a search on ebay, usually China based suppliers have them in various quantities and cheap.
I'm looking at using the 12V flashing LEDs from here:
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So from what I understand if I put several of them in series I would require more than 12V power. But to put them in parallel each LED would require a resistor? That sounds like the way to go I suppose. What kind of resisters would I need?
I'm looking at using the 12V flashing LEDs from here:
**broken link removed**
So from what I understand if I put several of them in series I would require more than 12V power. But to put them in parallel each LED would require a resistor? That sounds like the way to go I suppose. What kind of resisters would I need?
Hi Glen,
I don't know how many flashing LED's you are planning, but the flashers in the link will be an expensive way to do the project if you use more than one or two.
It would be possible using a simple pulse generator [555 or equiv] with a couple of logic ic's, using budget LED's to give flashing and LED sequencing.