Which LEDs to use in a light string? - L.E.D.s Read Only. No more posting. - PlanetChristmas! Forums. Read Only. We've moved to http://talk.planetchristmas.com - The Forums of PlanetChristmas have moved to http://talk.PlanetChristmas.com
You can use standard LEDs but i would not recommend it (i have a couple sets
of standard reds (something i made before they sold LED sets in stores) they
are very dim compared to the newer high-brightness type LEDs)...if you're going
to have normal lights on near them, the standard brightness LEDs will be mostly
un-noticeable...
That probably isn't an issue anymore - all the LED sets i see in stores appear to
use bright LEDs
As for wide-angle LEDs that'd mainly be an issue if you want 'bare LED' style
strings ... most strings have plastic covers over the actual LEDs so that spreads
the light whereas bare LEDs with a narrow viewing angle will be bright looking
straight at them, and dimmer looking from the side (personally i prefer the 'bare
LED' look but i'm using them inside & like the fact that you can easily tell theyre
LEDs )
Hi Eggslap, i went out and bought some 5mm Ultra Bright LED's from China, taking most of the incandescant bulbs from the mini lights i have and replacing them with LEDs http://www.breskin.com/writing/intro1.htm as shown here, cutting the strings to suit the voltages per section of LEDs and inserting resistors when needed to suit. Most of my strings are in the lines of 10, 16 or 20 bulbs per section . Blue and Green LEDs will be running about 8 per section, RED and Orange/Yellow running 10 per section. Voltages are 24vdc for the red/orange and 36vdc for the blue/green. having to modify each string easily was the main thought when i started, was going to have sections soldered onto speaker wire but found it was easier to get the original strings, cut to the length i want and put the resistors across where required, lot easier.
____________________ i know we have more lights,they are spares
synnie makes a good point... i've done the same thing too (but in my case
the sets were 50 to 75 (depending on color) LEDs in series with no resistors) i didn't
bother mentioning this in my previous post...because changing out all those bulbs is
very time consuming (but not hard)...figured noone would want to do it, but
re-reading your orig message maybe thats what you intend to do?
best prices can probably be had off eBay (if you don't mind ordreing from China)...
just do a search for:
100 5mm leds {color}
or
100x 5mm leds {color}
where {color} is whatever color you're looking for
common colors are red orange yellow green cyan blue white pink purple
sometimes you'll see 'ocean green' or 'warm white' (which for some reason is much
more expensive than all others)
Last edited on Sunday September 30th, 2007 07:13 pm by XmasLightGuy
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