LEDs

[Norton1]

Where is a good source for LEDs. I bought a pack of 25 from Hobby Town and 21 of them blew out the second I hooked them up. The other 4 worked for a bit, got hot, and then quit. I hooked them to the main battery of the tank, HL King Tiger battery not in the tank but on the bench, so am wondering if that is the best way to ruin them or did I just get a bad batch?

I was going to put a tail light in but without the LED bulb I'm stumped.

Thanks,
Steve

[PainlessWolf]

Good evening,
I would not suggest hooking those LEDs ( not sure what size you bought ) up directly to the battery. That is pretty much the best way to ruin them. They usually have resistors attached to the wiring and plug into a daughter board ( HL or Taigen or etc. ) On the newer MFUs there is a two pin plug specifically for tail lights. Good luck, Doc!
regards,
Painless

[Jay-Em]

Any source is fine. I buy them by the 100 on Amazon. For tanks one needs the 5mm warm white variation for the front, and the cheapest 5mm red ones for the rear.

LED’s are usually 3 to 5 volts max. The 7.2v of a battery pack will always blow them. Buy a LED tester to see if they work, and what hue they are. ( i.e. warm white, white, etc) LED testers are not exensive, and usually go for a couple of quid in any self respecting electronics shop on-line or off-line.

[Norton1]

After doing a bit of research I realized that I needed a resistor. So off to Amazon for 100 of them with resistors. Some days I manage to surprise even myself - I should have figures it out after the first 3-4 blew right off. Ah well - it was only $7.

Thanks all,
Steve

[Estnische]

You can use this calculator to design your led array, with or without resistors.

http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

You will need to get the specs of the leds from the supplier if it is not on the pack.

[Norton1]

Thanks! I bookmarked the page so in future I can figure out what I am doing.

Be well,
Steve

[c.rainford73]

Yes the best are the pre-wired ones with resistors from Amazon Steve

[Norton1]

That's what I ordered Carl - they sure do pop when you put an excess of voltage to them!