How to wire up 11 LEDs off 12v source?

[Spud2388 10+ year member]

Ok, I made a custom Alpine logo out of 1/4 inch plexi glass and I plan on puting it on the front of my box. I'm going to paint the front of each letter (11 letters including the 5 slash marks) silver and frost the sides of the letters. I'm then going to put one blue LED behind each letter to allow the edges to glow blue and let the front stay silver. (My hopes is that diring the day, the silver letters will be seen and diring the night, the blue outline of the letters). I'm going to be running it off of a 12v source, and need 11 LEDs wired up. How will i go about this? I will probably use 3mm LEDs, if that makes a difference, and they will be blue.

Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

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[Black_Jesus 10+ year member]

parrallel or however its spelled

 

[Spud2388 10+ year member]

wouldnt running them parallel send 12v to each LED???

 

[Spud2388 10+ year member]

Nevermind people, i decided to go with 16 LEDs //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/naughty.gif.94359f346c0f1259df8038d60b41863e.gif to make sure the edges glow well. I plan on doing 4 sets, wired parallel, with 4 LEDs in each set, wired in series. LEDs are 3v. Thanks anyway though!

How bright are 16 blue LEDS?

Oh, and pictures will be up once i get finished! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

 

[Black_Jesus 10+ year member]

yes, parallel would send 12v to each LED

dont make it hard on yourself.. use 12V LED's...

 

[slicks5150 10+ year member]

well you are about to install seems as though you will soon know how bright 16 led's will be then post pics and we will know as well >>>>>> ..........! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryhappy.gif.fec4fed33b4a1279cf10bdd45a039dae.gif

 

[Spud2388 10+ year member]

Is it ok to cut the LED legs (pos and neg wires)? I'm kinda limited on space and need all the room I can get.

 

[myvanpounds 10+ year member]

Is it ok to cut the LED legs (pos and neg wires)? I'm kinda limited on space and need all the room I can get.

yes, I always cut of any excess after the soldered connection

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

id wire up 4 sets of 4.

wire each set of 4 LED's in series, and wire them all to the same power and same ground. that way, each LED will get 2~3v (they usually want about 2.8~3.2v depending on color and brightness) and they should work fine. make sure you use a REALLY fine jigsaw blade (or better yet, a hacksaw\detail saw) to cut your letters. scribe your line with a ruler, and GO SLOW.

any uneven edges in the plexi will DEFINATLY be seen quite eaisly. i would cut them all out, paint them with some nice highgloss krylon plastic stuff (paint the back too, you will know why later), then maybe a coat of clear and some wetsanding, then use some 80 grit on the edges to get any paint off there, and frost them up nice. i would then sand your LED down so its flat on the top (make SURE you dont sand down to the actual diode inside the plexiglass LED casing) and drill a hole in the backside of your plexiglass shape (preferably in the center) and hotglue the LED in place.

the painted surface will act like mirrors on the inside, reflecting all the light toward the frosted edges and not escaping through the clear reverse side of the letters //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

tip when painting plexiglass - if its clear, and you want a mirror finish, paint the INSIDE of the plexiglass, and you wont have to sand a single thing //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

NEVER EVER use alcohol to clean plexiglass eaither. its a big nono.

 

[Spud2388 10+ year member]

Thanks man, that solved a lot of my problems right there. I didnt think about painting the back side too to allow the light to reflect to the ends. I have already cut out the letters (used a dremel tool and files and sandpaper). I'm getting ready to go to radioshack to get some LEDs and I will probably drill a hole in each letter (not all the way through) and place the LEDs in there. I'm going to have to make a panel to glue all of my letters to and to give me something to run my wires on, since it's going on the front of my box (which will allow me to drill one hole in my box and pass the wires through the front and out the back). Thanks again!

 

[lsurulzes 10+ year member]

Dont buy them from Radioshack.

You will be disappointed at how dim they are and how much they cost.

The website I get mine from when i mod Xboxs and computers is 123leds.com.

They are cheap and have good brightness.

 

[Spud2388 10+ year member]

Thanks for tellin me that 2 days after i bought them! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif i was dissapointed when i got them, they were only $1.12 each, but they are pretty dim. How much more brighter are the LEDs from 123leds.com than from radioshack? i mean, if i get more from radioshack, i'm going to have to get at least 21 more to add to the 12 i have now, just to let the sides of the letters glow well (right now, there kinda dull).

Also, i have the LEDs shining directly into the back of the letters. Would scuffing up the top make it brighter and give it more dispersion to help reflect the light to the sides?

 

[Spud2388 10+ year member]

Well, i ended up ordering 50 blue LEDs //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/naughty.gif.94359f346c0f1259df8038d60b41863e.gif from oznium.com. The comments that were placed were pretty good, so i'm going to give them a shot. My question is, is what is a safe voltage to run these puppies at? Heres the specs for all the colors http://www.oznium.com/led . Remember i got the blue ones. I'll post pics when i get done with my little project, i promise!

Thanks, SPUD

 

[myvanpounds 10+ year member]

http://www.superbrightleds.com also is a great place to order LED's i've ordered many times from them and only had one problem, which when I called them I found out that the order never went through

 

[Spud2388 10+ year member]

I looked at superbirghtleds.com, but decided to go with oznium.com instead. I just need one question answered, at what volts should i run these LEDs at. Heres the specs, http://www.oznium.com/led , I got the blue ones.