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| In my attempt to be very thorough, I tend to make things more confusing. You'll understand when you try to read all the junk I've got in the schematic for lighting the LEDs. I just want to make sure that you don't toast your LEDs in the process. One LED alone can only handle a maximum input of 2.8 volts. If you hook just one up to the 9 volt battery, you'll be giving it too much juice and it will fry before your very eyes. Be sure to have all three of your LED's connected before attaching it to the power supply. |
| A resistor is crucial. I found the 10 Ohm resistor works well with this set up. Be sure that the resistor is between the positve output of the battery and the LEDs. |
| Pay attention to the length of the metal prongs sticking out of the bottom of the LEDs. One is longer than the other. They must all go in a particular direction, or they will not light. |
| I'd wanted to light my belt boxes since my first costume built in 1978. I had no luck, until the summer of 2000, when I decided to really put my mind to it. Armed with scant information from a costuming mailing list, a dollop of information from my dad, patience, trial and error, a few toasted LEDs, and then, finally, luck, I succeeded in lighting my belt boxes. |
| I am using three 2.1 volt LEDs powered by a 9 volt battery. On the back of the package, it says that each of these LEDs can handle a maximun input of 2.8 volts. Combined, this totals 8.4 volts...just under 9 volts. This set up, on a 9 volt battery, runs for many hours (roughly 8-14 hours). |
| All of these supplies can be purchased from your local electronics store. If I haven't lost the list, I'll post the catalog #s of each item. |
| Lighting a Belt Box |
| WARNING!! WARNING!! DANGER!! DANGER!! Please use caution when working with soldering irons!! Both the iron and the molten solder are extremely hot and can cause burns or serious injury! Blow those solder fumes away from your face with a fan. Keep young children and pets out of your work area! Consider wearing safety glasses. And please be sure that while you are driving to work, you can answer this question with a confident "YES!": " Did I remember to unplug the soldering iron???" |
| One thing I did need to do was create diffusing lenses for the LEDs. The beam width was too narrow and failed to light up the entire green square. I wrapped each LED with a wad of plastic food wrap and then pushed the wad into my light housings. The cellophane dispursed the light well. |
| Solder parts together in the manner shown below. |
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