Tuesday, September 14, 2010

DIY LED throwies

Want to make cool LED throwies at home, don't worry a bit here is a simple and elaborate tutorial on how to make one. This project applies the basic principle of diode and you can learn how to connect a LED to a power supply. This blog is dedicated to everyone from little boys who would like to make a cool gizmo to providing ideas and complex schematics for engineers. This is the first project so i'm sticking with the simplest of LED application. So, lets start. 

First of all we would make a list of the parts needed to complete the project::
 
1) Several LEDs of different colours.
2) Some adhesive tape / blacktape (used for binding electrical components together).
3) 3.7 V / 3 V lithium ion batteries or button cell batteries.
4) Several small ( button ) magnets.

Here i'm going to provide images and schematics so that one can understand the working procedure, parts needed and the construction part:

FIGURE 1: Parts needed









FIGURE 2: Connection schematics
 

Construction:

I'm going to put this in as simple language as possible.
A 3 volt LED is actually a Light Emitting Diode so it uses DC voltage and 1mA - 50mA ( milliampere) current and have the same properties of a Diode so it must be connected anode (positive) to anode and cathode (negative) to cathode with the DC supply (here 3 V battery)
The connection schematic is given in (figure 2) for easy understanding of the connection.
Now once you have connected the LED to a battery, it will glow and now just wrap them together with electrical tape now put a button magnet over the wrapped circuit and again wrap it with another piece of tape. Now you own LED throwie is ready to be deployed.
After completion it would look somewhat like the pictures below:


FIGURE 3: LED throwies


















Here is a video for you:



So enjoy this LED project, I will be back with more whenever I get time to write them down.


Sunday, September 12, 2010

LED s - an emerging market

LED s or (Light Emitting Diodes) are highly efficient when it comes to power consumption, since the procedure it takes to emit light rays are very different from ordinary lighting components (bulbs, halogens) they can save a lot of electricity. Moreover LED s are evolving to make breakthroughs in electronic market as LED monitors, televisions etc. They are easy to implement and cost effective as well as serves more than a light source (it’s also a diode). This site is all about LED s. Here you will find all the important facts and data related to LED s (Light Emitting Diodes) and other electronic components , use of led s in daily life, how to reduce electricity bill, alternate lighting, you can learn how to optimize your electric bill using led lamps and tips-tricks of various use in projects and other fields.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Electronic Assistant 2000



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Price: $0.00

Category: Freeware

Features:
Converts Resistor & Inductor color codes, calculates LED series resistors, capacitance units, series / parallel resistors & capacitors, frequency, reactance, ohm's law, potential divider, etc
Calculation of nearest preferred resistor values with a choice of 5 series from E12 to E192
Printing and saving calculation results
Quick access to Windows® Calculator and up to 3 user-defined programs from the toolbar
Information panels showing theory and equations can be toggled on or off.

Operating System Support:
Windows® 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, Linux (via WINE)


Our review:

Electronics calculator 2000 ranks high in the electronic calculator software market with very close to practical conversion of different values. It is very easy to use and has a large number of options to choose from. Very good for saving time and avoiding huge calculations.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Extreme Shepherding LED Art



This video shows an extreme and innovative use of led lighting system to construct a beautiful work of art performed by a group of people. This can only be accomplished by LED lights which are low voltage consuming and easy to implement. You can see and download this unique video.

Video courtesy : www.youtube.com

How does a LED produce a color?

The material composition of the semiconducting element of an LED determines its color and not coloring of the package (outer body). In market they are available in two types 1) Colored variants 2) Transparent variants. A little variation in the composition determines the color of the emitted light rays.
The two main types of materials used in LEDs are:
1) Aluminum gallium indium phosphide (AlGaInP, sometimes rearranged as AlInGaP) alloys for use in red, orange and yellow LEDs.
2) Indium gallium nitride (InGaN) alloys used in green, blue and white LEDs.

Simple LED colors:

  

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

What is LED?

Light Emitting Diodes or LED s are semiconductor diodes that help current flow in one direction. The diode is formed by two different elements joined together to form a p-n junction as in the following figure. In a p-n junction, the P side contains “holes” with abundance of positive charge and devoid of free electrons while the N side contains excess negatively charged electrons.




p-n junction LED picture:






When a forward voltage is applied to the semiconducting element forming the p-n junction, electrons move from the N element towards the P element and holes move towards the N element. Electrons and holes combine with each other near the junction. This results in emission of energy as light rays.