Setting up LED lights within a prop

chriscurl

chriscurl

Well-known member
Not sure if this should go here or in the art direction thread.

I have a helmet that I want to put some lighting inside of, namely a few LEDs with a switch outside the helmet to turn them on and off, I know absolutely nothing about working with electronics like that. Does anyone have a good resource for breaking that down, tools needed etc.?
 
It's not that complicated... LEDs have 2 leads and you can direct drive them from batteries... just work out the voltage and it's pretty simple. You could use a cheap flashlight as a power supply and switch (something small)... then just solder a wire to each - and +... and then solder or connect each of those wires to each of the LED leads (on the first LED... each LED after that is just wired in parallel away from the first, if the flashlight/power supply used matches voltage the LEDs require... or else you can do series wiring of the LEDs if you need them to build up to the matching voltage)... if this sounds totally alien to you then go to a rudimentary electronics site (or wiki) to understand how series vs. parallel wiring works.

It SOUNDS a little complicated, but really it's pretty straightforward.

*Also... I think you have my favorite banner of all time with Blackout... it's awesome... even the reviews thing under it... this is my favorite bit of DVXuser pop-art ever.
 
Ha thanks for the comment about the banner, now i just have to make a movie as good as my sig!

So I actually a bike tail light that has everyting i need, switch, batteries, circuit board, 4 leds, but instead of the 4 leds soldered on the board i need to wire 4 leds that are some distance away from the switch inside the helmet, what kind of wire would i need? also, can the solder for the 4 lights on the board right now be removed so the leads are exposed?
 
Hi Chris, I'm not sure how far ahead You are with the led lights project, but if the thought of breaking open and re-engineering the tail light becomes too fiddly or time consuming - as it could well be for someone not used to dealing with practical electronics - then a quick and relatively cheap option could be to use the battery operated string of 20 LEDs which are (in summer) marketed as 'parasol lights' or as 'christmas lights' during the holidays.
They can be VERY cheap too, I saw them a few weeks ago here in the UK,
in a 'Poundland' store, and Yep they were only £1 per set (less than $2)
I'm sure they would be avilable in somewhere like Home Depot or maybe a gardening store there in the US.
this is the sort of thing;
http://www.made-in-china.com/showro...k/China-LED-Battery-Powered-String-Light.html

Hope this helps, Cheers, Theron.

edit; I've just been in town here, and I have seen the parasol lights back in stock. (Poundland)
also, the ones they have now are actually an old style, not led but using clear white incandescent 'grain-of-wheat' type bulbs.
I've added this in case it helps anyone here in the UK that has a similar project on the go.
also, incandescent light can be easier to work with in some situations, I'll certainly be buying some of these as it is now becoming
difficult to find low voltage conventional bulbs.
 
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