Help with "Simple" LED wiring please

[THStudio]

Hello,
I'm sure this will be super simple to some, but I'm stuck.

I've been trying to, forever, light up one of my VK machines with LEDs.
(got a pack of assorted 20 from Radio Shack, along with a pack of 100 assorted resistors).

I'm wanting to light it as shown in my diagram. The lights on the (left side) of the drawing (traffic colors) go on the holes on the VK. The lights on the other side of the drawing, (the three red) go where the White Squares go.
The top VU style lights go on above the monitor screen facade.

I have a submini SPDT switch to use with the LEDS as I want them to all turn off and on together.

The problem is, I dont know how to light this up.

Would anyone be so kind to help me? It would be MUCH appreciated.

Thank you kindly



Tyler

 

[BrianM]

EZ peezy.

hook the short lead of each LED to the neg side of the battery.

Hook the pos side of the bat to the center pin of the switch.

now hook up each of the long leads of the Led's to an outside pin of the switch THROUGH a resistor. One resistor per LED.

Resistor value will very depending with voltage.

That;s all there is too it.

BrianM

 

[b26354]

first thing we need to know is how many volts you want to run it off - then use a led wizard like this

http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

then you need to know what the ratings of the leds are.

e.g if you want to run it off 12v you stick that in the source voltage, say 2V in the LED forward voltage, 20ma for current, 12 LED's total - and it'll give you a wiring diagram.

Note that if you change the source voltage it'll change the arrangement of the LEDs and the value of the resistors...

But... if the LED's aren't all the same current then you need to split the circuits up otherwise only one type will light up. e.g if yellow is 30mA and all the rest are 20mA - then you'll need to wire that one LED separately with it's own resistor.

You might find it easier to wire up each cluster separately - in which case just change the number of LEDs in the wizard to figure out the resistors and wire each cluster to the power supply in parallel...

Hello,
I'm sure this will be super simple to some, but I'm stuck.

I've been trying to, forever, light up one of my VK machines with LEDs.
(got a pack of assorted 20 from Radio Shack, along with a pack of 100 assorted resistors).

I'm wanting to light it as shown in my diagram. The lights on the (left side) of the drawing (traffic colors) go on the holes on the VK. The lights on the other side of the drawing, (the three red) go where the White Squares go.
The top VU style lights go on above the monitor screen facade.

I have a submini SPDT switch to use with the LEDS as I want them to all turn off and on together.

The problem is, I dont know how to light this up.

Would anyone be so kind to help me? It would be MUCH appreciated.

Thank you kindly



Tyler

 

[THStudio]

Thank you both for the help! This will make my night a bit less stressful.

The voltage I will use can either be a 9 volt, or 3 triple A batteries. Calculating the resistors and all the "math" talk still beheads and me and makes me feel super amish, but I would rather not hide my simplistic side on that nature when needing help.

I will try some configurations out though, so hopefully the trial and error doesnt burn out my LEDs like I did with the first single LED hahah.

Thank you both again, I seriously appreciate this help.


Tyler

 

[Prefect42]

Nice looking VK!

I was in the same boat when trying to add lights to my Captain Kirk chair.

So I ordered some "super bright LEDs" from http://www.superbrightleds.com/hobby.htm.

The best thing about the lights on the lights at the bottom of the page, they come with a resistor already wired in place. So I got a 12 volt battery and ran my lights off of the one battery.

The other folks here have also offered great advice. Best of luck and show us some pictures.

Ted.
Prefect42.