01 - LED Experiment #1
March 2026;
This is the first LED experiment I've attempted. To light a simple LED. It works, but without a project enclosure.
March 2026;
This is the first LED experiment I've attempted. To light a simple LED. It works, but without a project enclosure.
Building a basic LED activator
1st attempt
2nd attempt
The finished activator
02 - LED Experiment #2
March 2026;
My second attempt.
March 2026;
My second attempt.
Experiment 02
The LED did light up (can be seen in a dark environment),
but the voltage (1.5v) was too low.
9v provided plenty enough power.
03 - LED Experiment #3
April 2026;
My third attempt. All components aquired (LED, resistor, switch, wire, solder, 9v battery and adapter, project enclosure).
April 2026;
My third attempt. All components aquired (LED, resistor, switch, wire, solder, 9v battery and adapter, project enclosure).
Experiment 03
Testing before mounting in the enclosure, the LED did light.
Testing with (some) components mounted in the enclosure.
This revealed that when using a 9v battery as the power source, this particular enclosure is too small.
A too small enclosure forced mounting the power supply outside of the enclosure.
Still, several modifications to the plastic enclosure were necessary, such as making a 1cm x 5mm void for mounting the switch,
drilling a 3/16 hole for the actual LED, and tab reductions to the top closing piece (picture 3 above, left,
the latter only for this experiment, future experiments should use a larger enclosure).
04 - LED Experiment #2 (revisited)
April 2026;
The first attempt at the red LED was without having a project box (an enclosure). This second attempt is placing experiment #2 into a small enclosure. The stock enclosure is made out of plastic, and required a number of modifications
April 2026;
The first attempt at the red LED was without having a project box (an enclosure). This second attempt is placing experiment #2 into a small enclosure. The stock enclosure is made out of plastic, and required a number of modifications
- A 2cm X 1cm cutout was needed to accommodate the larger switch.
- A 3/16" hole needed to be drilled to accommodate the 5mm LED.
- A small access divot was needed to allow the positive and negative battery wires to exit the enclosure and connect to the battery.
05 - LED Experiment #3 (revisited)
April 2026;
The secont attempt at a blue LED (experiment #3) failed after what seemed to a short time of illumination. I'm guessing less than 1 hour. My first suspitions were that the LED drainted the 9v battery below 9 volts. It seemed that when voltage was measured (after the resistor), voltage dropped to 8.87v. This (seemingly) confirmed my suspicion. But that would not hold true. Removing the battery from the assembly, and re-checking voltage showed the battery above its 9v threshold, and thus, insufficiant voltage proved NOT to be the culprit.
Next, using a VOM, I checked for continuity, the wiring, the switch and all connection points, which all proved good with 0 Ohms. This left only the LED as the culprit.
Still, to prove the blue LED was bad, using aligator clips, I tested the entire circuit with a new blue LED, which illuminated perfectly. Thus, I cut out the bad LED, soldered in the known good blue LED, and reassembled the project. Now it's working again.
April 2026;
The secont attempt at a blue LED (experiment #3) failed after what seemed to a short time of illumination. I'm guessing less than 1 hour. My first suspitions were that the LED drainted the 9v battery below 9 volts. It seemed that when voltage was measured (after the resistor), voltage dropped to 8.87v. This (seemingly) confirmed my suspicion. But that would not hold true. Removing the battery from the assembly, and re-checking voltage showed the battery above its 9v threshold, and thus, insufficiant voltage proved NOT to be the culprit.
Next, using a VOM, I checked for continuity, the wiring, the switch and all connection points, which all proved good with 0 Ohms. This left only the LED as the culprit.
Still, to prove the blue LED was bad, using aligator clips, I tested the entire circuit with a new blue LED, which illuminated perfectly. Thus, I cut out the bad LED, soldered in the known good blue LED, and reassembled the project. Now it's working again.
