LEDs

[The_Beast]

I'm not super great with electronics so I figured I'd ask, what LEDs are used for led backlit boards? I'm about to change stems on my poker and I might as well change LED color, blue it nice but I'd rather have purple. lysol said 3-3.5 fV, I'm not 100% on what that means, I'm assuming forward voltage. Anyways would these LEDs work?

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5540/ele-235/3mm_PurpleUV_LED.html
http://www.futurlec.com/LED/LED3PU.shtml


Also, what is the best way to add LEDs to the WASD cluster of my poker?

[alaricljs]

Anything listed as UV is not what you see on a Ducky w/ purple leds.  It's dimmer and somewhat strange.  Depending on what is reflecting it, it can be a different shade.  I have paper that reflects it as blue.  It also shows up as white in digital photos.


3mm flat top, 3.0-3.4v forward is the right stuff.  That 2nd link has no wavelength spec, so no idea if it's purple or UV tho.

[tp4tissue]

I'm not super great with electronics so I figured I'd ask, what LEDs are used for led backlit boards? I'm about to change stems on my poker and I might as well change LED color, blue it nice but I'd rather have purple. lysol said 3-3.5 fV, I'm not 100% on what that means, I'm assuming forward voltage. Anyways would these LEDs work?

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5540/ele-235/3mm_PurpleUV_LED.html
http://www.futurlec.com/LED/LED3PU.shtml


Also, what is the best way to add LEDs to the WASD cluster of my poker?

, purple, says the brony.

[damorgue]

Also, they can't have that small step at the lower end of the plastic. It needs to be a 3mm cylinder with straight sides all the way down to the legs.

[alaricljs]

That step can easily be trimmed off.  If you insist on that part you are going to seriously limit your sources and raise your cost.

[damorgue]

True, I sanded them away on mine. If you are doing many, say an entire keyboard of them, you should be aware that it will involve some work.

[IvanIvanovich]

If I was going to add led to wasd I would probably just tie it to the esc lock. Seems like it would be easiest with least wire mess underneath. Only con is you would have to turn on esc lock to turn on wasd. Then again that might be a plus too.

[The_Beast]

Anything listed as UV is not what you see on a Ducky w/ purple leds.  It's dimmer and somewhat strange.  Depending on what is reflecting it, it can be a different shade.  I have paper that reflects it as blue.  It also shows up as white in digital photos.


3mm flat top, 3.0-3.4v forward is the right stuff.  That 2nd link has no wavelength spec, so no idea if it's purple or UV tho.

So those LEDs in the link would work but they might not be purple they might be UV?

True, I sanded them away on mine. If you are doing many, say an entire keyboard of them, you should be aware that it will involve some work.

That isn't a huge deal, it would only be 11 LEDs, 7 for the original poker and 4 for the WASD.

If I was going to add led to wasd I would probably just tie it to the esc lock. Seems like it would be easiest with least wire mess underneath. Only con is you would have to turn on esc lock to turn on wasd. Then again that might be a plus too.

So basically, I would run wires from each of the WASD LEDs to the traces for the Esc LED? It would be a plus since I almost never use the ~/` key, I need esc way more.

[IvanIvanovich]

I would just do it up like this, and leave off the led on the esc so you don't have too much of a drop.
sorry for the crappy paint diagram but I am at work.

[tp4tissue]

If you're going to spend the dough.. WHY not try electroluminescent wires. they'll give you much more even lighting. and They have pretty good colors.

[The_Beast]

Can I find 3-3.4V EL wire?


I've seen it, but never really did much research on it.

[tp4tissue]

Can I find 3-3.4V EL wire?


I've seen it, but never really did much research on it.

Do you plan to attach this to the usb port? You're better off using a seperate box. with a thin cable and roll it with the regular usb cable. That's much safer. because the controllers are not as safe as ones you can find for LED.

[The_Beast]

I wanted to keep it as stock as possable even tho I'm doing a stem swap and adding LEDs lol


A separate box just for lighting is a bit too much. But thanks a ton for the idea

[IvanIvanovich]

All the EL wire I have ever dealt with ran at 24 volts and required a pretty beefy transformer box. I think it would be easier if wanted uniform lighting to use the led inside plexi diffusion trick. Could be quite workable to make plexi plate to do that if wanted to go that way.

[tp4tissue]

All the EL wire I have ever dealt with ran at 24 volts and required a pretty beefy transformer box. I think it would be easier if wanted uniform lighting to use the led inside plexi diffusion trick. Could be quite workable to make plexi plate to do that if wanted to go that way.

, How is that easier, You'd have to make a plexi diffusion plate. And it has to be thin and straight. That's hella hard.

Which reminds me, I need to get a plexi blade for my table saw.

[The_Beast]

These should work, someone want to double check
http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=08R4596

[alaricljs]

They would work, but are UV and notice the brightness rating of 120mcd (that's like... good enough to UV cash with an array of them).  For purple I'd want to see ~415nm  or I would love to see a red/blue mix in a 2 lead 3mm LED.

[SmallFry]

Why don't you buy your stuff from Digikey or Mouser?

[The_Beast]

Here is about the best I can find (the viewing angle is small but I don't think that matters)
http://www.newark.com/vcc-visual-communications-company/vaol-3euv04/led-3mm-ultraviolet-150mcd-405nm/dp/08R4594