L.E.D.'s are very handy. Not sure what you'd use them for? Find out....

White L.E.D.'s

• Lights for camp/cabin/RV/off grid
• Direct or indirect area lighting, night lights, flash lights
• Sail boat lighting(along w red and green)
• Model railroad street lights

UV L.E.D.'s:(yellow or ruby lens glasses enhances detection)

• Finds air conditioner leaks (if dye added to car a/c)
• Finds cat and dog "leavings"
• Finds luminescent minerals and rocks
• Helps hunters follow downed animal blood trail
• Finds crime scene blood products whether washed or not
• Detects counterfeit money
• Water Purification

Red L.E.D.'s:

• Preserves night vision when used for lighting or flash lights
• Motor vehicle lighting
• Water craft lighting
• Stop lights
• Model air planes ,boats, and trains(w white and green)

Amber L.E.D.'s:

• Caution and signal lights
• Construction warning flashers
• Motor vehicle position and signal lights
• Model railroad caution warnings

Green L.E.D.'s

• Signal lights
• Theater- turns red to black : makes instant ghosts
• Very warm and pretty lighting- middle of visible spectrum
• Model railroad traffic signals(W red and yellow)
• Status indicators on electronic equipment(W red and yellow)

Some basic L.E.D. info:
L.E.D. stands for Light Emitting Diode. L.E.D. have several sizes. Five milimeter is the original size, 3mm for HO gauge train signals, and the newer 10mm truck and signal ones being used today. There are also the super flux which are both bright and wide angle. At 9" one white led will light a book. The industry has run out of adjectives to describe brightness and ultra bright, mega bright, super bright, ultra ultra bright  don't mean much. I may go to "wicked bright 1-9" for my own use. I do NOT stock the 1,3,and 5 watt L.E.D.. They only burn the indicated power. They do not produce 5 watts of light. They require Heat sinks. While they may last longer than incandescent bulbs, when treated with kid gloves, they burn more electricity and the extra expense isn't justified.

Technical Mumbo-Jumbo For Techies:
Leds are a short circuit one way and an open the other. The long lead(anode=arrow)
is positive the same as an electrolytic capacitor After you clip the leads, you can
still determine polarity. The lower rim beside one lead is shaved off : this is
negative (=cathode=line). Red, Yellow. Amber, and Orange leds have a forward voltage of 1.9 to 2.4(2.1 typical) volts. White, UV, Green, and Blue have 3.2 to 3.6 (3.4 typical) DCV. IR is in a category by itself with very low voltage. One point two vdc is typical and some are lower. These work well with six in a row and one resistor. Ask for the double board and 42 LED mega kit($40). I have to cut some traces and strap across which I am
happy to do. It is special order only for this reason.

Every commercial led light made has a current limiting resistor.  To figure yours add the forward voltage, subtract from 12 (for 12 v system) and divide by .02 (20ma). This is simple Ohms law. For 3 super-bright leds there is a 10.2 forward voltage drop (series wiring). So 1.8/.02 gives a resistor of  90 ohms. For 13.8 volt supply a 3.6/.02=180 ohms. Super-flux leds are slightly higher voltage so 3.6(typical) is used for each led. For 2 on a 9v battery it is 1.8/.02=90 ohms. If you don't have the exact value, always go to the next higher fixed resistor. This will work fine w 100 ohm resistor or even higher, and gives a small margin for safety. For questions consult ohms law or Uncle Cy.

For parallel wiring use 3 -1.5 volt AA penlite batteries or even AAA for light duty.
AA has about 2400 ma hours and AAA has around 900. For Battery life In hours, divide by 20 for each led: 3 leds = 60.  2400/60=40 hours. W,G,UV,B color leds figure out to 1.1 v/.02 a=55 ohms . For  R,Y,O,A  use 2.4v/.02a=120 ohms. For several parallel leds you may need to go to half watt resistors. Quarter watt resistors are ok for series leds mentioned above.

For (12v) Christmas lights I used 4 R/G w a 100 ohm resistor(all in series). I put a
flasher in w 3 W/B and 47 ohms. Four leds is pushing it, but the extra resistance is
working so far.  I'd use this same formula for energy saving camp/cabin/RV/off grid
lighting, or night lights.


Some Helpful Info About Uncle Cy's Kits:

The nano kit consists of a switch and resistor. Place in the (+ = positive = red) line to change the 12vdc array to 13.8vdc. This is so a charger may be used while the lights are on the battery. Switch the switch to the ON position to effectively bypass the resistor and allow full brightness with the array on 12vdc. Charging takes place with the switch is in the off position. You can easily tell the proper position as the array will dim slightly. This is charge position.

The micro kit is so straight forward, little explanation is required. Use heat sink when soldering and use static precautions. This goes for all LEDs. Put the LED over the resistor in first, solder and clip the leads before installing the resistor on the bottom of the board. Do not let the resistor touch the soldered leads of the LED. White, blue, green, and UV use 3 LEDs and jumper the 4th position. some people use the over the resistor position for the jumper in the W, G, B, UV colored kits. Red, orange, yellow, and amber have 4 LEDs. For both mini and micro kits the resistors will go on the bottom of the board. Micro kits with red or amber bulbs make good replacements for position lights on truck, RV, or camper. The populated board will need to be glued inside the fixture with epoxy. Some have taken the old original bulb, broken the glass (being extremely careful), removed all debris, and soldered the micro kit wires into the bulb socket. Micro kits with white LEDs make excellent night lights; one of the bulbs may be a flasher which causes the whole string to flash. This works well with red or amber for caution lights. All LEDs should be pointing the same way. This holds true for all kits. The micro kit draws 20 ma at 12 vdc.

The mini kit requires a little eye-open-ness to do correctly. The resistors go on the bottom of the board. Do this first. Carefully look at the bottom of the board. Polarity is marked each end of the board. Locate the - Terminal. this along the length of the board shows the - side(negative where u add the black wire). This can be determined on the LED by the short lead or the shaved side of the bulb rim after the leads are clipped. The square terminals are - and the rounded one +. the mini kit boards may be chained as they have solder terminals on both ends. If you wire it up and nothing works, try reversing the polarity. You are not the first nor will you be the last to put the LEDs in backwards. The mini kit is the only kit with enough space for 10mm bulbs. Although I paid quite a bit for these boards, they do not take well to being reworked. Get it right the first time. Check everything twice before soldering. All LED's should be pointing the same way. This kit draws 60 ma at 12vdc.

The maxi kit is straight forward. 21 LED's are pointed in the correct position by the silk screen. This is 3 LEDs and a resistor across 12vdc times 7. A double maxi kit for IR is special order only. This yields a 42 LED array. With the super bright and wide angle LEDs available today, the maxi kit makes a nice reading light or Camp/Cabin/RV low power consumption lighting. To makes the array double as a good night light, cut the first trace on one side and add a switch to the maxi kit. This allows one row only to be illuminated so the array does double duty, but consumes only 20 ma at night. This is critical for off grid use to save the battery power. Maxi kit lights draw 140 ma at 12vdc.


Questions? E-mail Uncle Cy.