2x3x4mm LED recommendations

[Photoelectric]

I'm looking to get some LEDs for my upcoming keyboard project: probably pink, orange, and maybe amber.

I know that 2x3x4mm LEDs are generally recommended (because of their light diffusing geometry?), so I've been looking for those.  My question is regarding quality and brightness.  I've not found suitable LEDs locally on Mouser.com, and generally eBay is recommended.  Most of those LEDs will be coming from somewhere in Asia, and I have no idea what they will be like.  How bright they will really glow, etc.

So here's an example of pink LEDs that I've found:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/50pcs-2-3-4-Rectangle-Rectangular-Light-LED-Lamp-Pink-2x3x4mm-Water-Clear-Len-/111154780972?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19e1575b2c
and
http://www.ebay.com/itm/80pcs-2x3x4mm-Pink-Water-Clear-LED-Lamp-With-12V-Free-Resistors-234P-td-/321170822017?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ac745d381

Clearly they have different specifications.  Only 2 vendors are selling 2x3x4mm pink LEDs that come up in my search.  The second listing has a current rating of 30mA, which seems a bit high for what I'll probably be getting.  The first listing shows "500-600mcd" for brightness but no target current.

Anyway, I'm confused not by the physics part of V=IR, but rather by internal differences of various LEDs: which internal resistance they have, how it corresponds to their actual brightness, etc.

So does anyone have good recommendations for rectangular LEDs that they've tested and can commend on being nice and bright?  I've seen some posts of people complaining about their LEDs being too dim. 

(This is going to be for a TRiK v1.2 PCB, and any good quality resistors for ~2V and ~3.2V LEDs would also be greatly appreciated!)

Many thanks!

P.S.: here's a find for orange LEDs
http://www.ebay.com/itm/100pcs-2x3x4mm-Rectangle-Orange-Water-Clear-LED-Light-Leds-/320999088871?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4abd0962e7

and yellow:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/100pcs-2x3x4mm-Rectangle-Yellow-Water-Clear-LED-Light-Leds-/320999084734?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4abd0952be

Can't find amber   Amber would be slightly more orange than those yellows.

[CPTBadAss]

I bought these for my KMAC. The LEDs are in my Orbweaver and TechKeys business card too. No issues.

[CalmB4tehPwn]

Well, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. I am eager to learn more about LEDs, how they work and what makes them bright or dim.

and now that I write that out, I realize that sounds like a stupid statement. I could be learning more about network security, or note shaping, and I'm eager for LED info.

What ever. I'm still interested.

[Photoelectric]

I bought these for my KMAC. The LEDs are in my Orbweaver and TechKeys business card too. No issues.

Cool--these are the same as I linked for the 2nd eBay listing.  Where did you buy your resistors? (unless you used SMD resistors... I don't have proper equipment to use those).

Well, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. I am eager to learn more about LEDs, how they work and what makes them bright or dim.

and now that I write that out, I realize that sounds like a stupid statement. I could be learning more about network security, or note shaping, and I'm eager for LED info.

What ever. I'm still interested.

  Have a look here in the meantime

[CPTBadAss]

I got resistors from jdcarpe and TheFlyingRacoon who both got them from Mouser I believe. Any 1N1418 resistor will work.

[Photoelectric]

I got resistors from jdcarpe and TheFlyingRacoon who both got them from Mouser I believe. Any 1N1418 resistor will work.

Searching GH for "1N1418" returns no results for some odd reason.  Are those codes for band colors on resistors?  I'm only seeing google search results associate 1N1418 with a diode--not a resistor.

Looking at through-hole resistors here:
http://www.mouser.com/Passive-Components/Resistors/Through-Hole-Resistors/_/N-7h7z5/

there are 10 subcategories for the total of over 71 thousand individual varieties   Sorry about being very nooby on this subject--I've never had to buy resistors for anything yet!  I'll ask TFR or JD.

[CPTBadAss]

Sorry, I mixed numbers up. Try this. It's 1N4148.

[jdcarpe]

Carbon film resistors, 1/4-watt rating, 5% tolerance. 150-ohm and 330-ohm are probably good values to have.

1N4148 are diodes.

[whiskytango]

Sorry, I mixed numbers up. Try this. It's 1N4148.

1N4148 are diodes, not resistors. For resistors for LEDs, I think people generally use 1/8 watt through hole resistors.

edit: oops, sniped.

Can I also ask, does anyone know why the Phantom parts kits shipped with 56ohm resistors? When I calculated the value for a white LED based on 5V source voltage, it said I needed something more in the neighborhood of 100 ohm. But I saw WFD use the 56 ohm in his youtube Phantom build video and it seemed to work just fine. Does the Phantom firmware provide less than 5V to the LED or something?

[Photoelectric]

Carbon film resistors, 1/4-watt rating, 5% tolerance. 150-ohm and 330-ohm are probably good values to have.

Thank you!

So 150-Ohm under pink LEDs and 330-Ohm under orange/yellow LEDs?

Here are the results for 330-Ohm resistors:
http://www.mouser.com/Passive-Components/Resistors/Through-Hole-Resistors/Carbon-Film-Resistors/_/N-7h7z9?P=1yzbpodZ1z0x716Z1z0x6fr

Do I want ~3mm-long resistors or ~6mm-long ones for a TRiK v1.2 PCB?  PCB photo is here
Diodes come presoldered, but switch resistors will not be.

Again, apologies for ignorant questions.

[SpAmRaY]

Sorry, I mixed numbers up. Try this. It's 1N4148.

1N4148 are diodes, not resistors. For resistors for LEDs, I think people generally use 1/8 watt through hole resistors.

edit: oops, sniped.

Can I also ask, does anyone know why the Phantom parts kits shipped with 56ohm resistors? When I calculated the value for a white LED based on 5V source voltage, it said I needed something more in the neighborhood of 100 ohm. But I saw WFD use the 56 ohm in his youtube Phantom build video and it seemed to work just fine. Does the Phantom firmware provide less than 5V to the LED or something?

I saw somewhere just recently bpiphany posted that you could do something with that in the firmware

[jdcarpe]

Carbon film resistors, 1/4-watt rating, 5% tolerance. 150-ohm and 330-ohm are probably good values to have.

Thank you!

So 150-Ohm under pink LEDs and 330-Ohm under orange/yellow LEDs?

Here are the results for 330-Ohm resistors:
http://www.mouser.com/Passive-Components/Resistors/Through-Hole-Resistors/Carbon-Film-Resistors/_/N-7h7z9?P=1yzbpodZ1z0x716Z1z0x6fr

Do I want ~3mm-long resistors or ~6mm-long ones for a TRiK v1.2 PCB?  PCB photo is here
Diodes come presoldered, but switch resistors will not be.

Again, apologies for ignorant questions.

Oooooooh. For TRiK PCB, you want SMD resistors. I think the package size you want for those is 0805. Either that or 1206. Maybe alaricljs could confirm for you?

[Photoelectric]

Great, now I'll have to seek help for that   I don't have any tools to solder SMD stuff

[Turbinia]

0805 for the 1/8 watt resistors.

[Photoelectric]

0805 for the 1/8 watt resistors.

0805 comes in 0.25W rating as well.
---------------------------------

Having watched WFD's informative video on soldering SMD diodes, I guess I can probably solder some SMD resistors with my WLC-100 if I get a very fine replacement tip.

Looks like for 330-Ohm diodes, I want these little guys:
http://www.mouser.com/Passive-Components/Resistors/SMD-Resistors-Chip-Resistors/_/N-7h7yu?P=1yzbpodZ1z0vijbZ1z0x6frZ1yzmotz
(the difference in case code designates the difference in their length, right?)

and for 150-Ohm, these ones:
http://www.mouser.com/Passive-Components/Resistors/SMD-Resistors-Chip-Resistors/Thick-Film-Resistors/_/N-7h7yz?P=1yzbpodZ1z0x8ajZ1z0x6frZ1yzmotz

I'll have to get a confirmation on the case code and the fact that I have to get SMD resistors over through-hole.

But is this correct? 330-Ohm for ~2V LEDs and 150-Ohm for ~3.2V LEDs?

Thanks again!

Update: Just got word from LifeZ that resistors for TRiK 1.2 should be 2012 or 1608 in size (case code in mm.)  Updated the links above.  Am I wrong about using different resistors for each LED type and should I just go with 1 type of resistor for all switches?

[Photoelectric]

Carbon film resistors, 1/4-watt rating, 5% tolerance. 150-ohm and 330-ohm are probably good values to have.

I think people generally use 1/8 watt through hole resistors.

Updated previous post, also need to confirm this part... 1/4 or 1/8W.

[jdcarpe]

For SMT, 1/8 watt is most common, I was thinking thru hole.

[Photoelectric]

Thanks, JD

[bpiphany]

Sorry, I mixed numbers up. Try this. It's 1N4148.

1N4148 are diodes, not resistors. For resistors for LEDs, I think people generally use 1/8 watt through hole resistors.

edit: oops, sniped.

Can I also ask, does anyone know why the Phantom parts kits shipped with 56ohm resistors? When I calculated the value for a white LED based on 5V source voltage, it said I needed something more in the neighborhood of 100 ohm. But I saw WFD use the 56 ohm in his youtube Phantom build video and it seemed to work just fine. Does the Phantom firmware provide less than 5V to the LED or something?

I saw somewhere just recently bpiphany posted that you could do something with that in the firmware

PWM - Pulse Width Modulation. You use a square wave fast enough to not look flickering. The intensity is controlled by the duty cycle, how long the current is on compared to how long it is off. You need to pick an IO-pin from your controller which supports it.

See this http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/PWM

[Photoelectric]

My old Ducky Shine with pink LEDs had pretty bad high frequency flicker that I could see when not looking directly at the LEDs.  I "fixed" it after a couple days of owning it: it turned out to be a function of which USB port I plugged it into.  Two ports at the front of my desktop case were causing the high frequency flicker to happen, and the ports in the motherboard were fine.  Never had any issues with the front USB ports until I noticed this happening, but I can attest to PWM flickering of LEDs being very annoying if you get it to happen at low enough frequency somehow.  But I still see a tiny bit of unevenness on another Ducky Shine connected to a different computer.  The glow is *almost* solid, but not quite.

[bpiphany]

Probably only depends on how low you go on the frequency. At 500Hz there is no way you are going to see any flicker. If there isn't something fishy with your USB power, but that should be evened out by decoupling capacitors.

[Photoelectric]

I see very faint flicker (it's very fast) on another computer too with another Ducky Shine.  I notice it, and I have other LED backlighting at home which doesn't do this, and I also had a CM Storm Trigger with red LEDs that were very smooth with no detectable flicker at any brightness level.  I'm convinced it's something to do with Ducky Shine IIs.

And to clarify, this flicker is VERY high frequency.  You can't see it by staring directly at the LEDs, but move your eyes across the field of view, and you'll notice a faint but irritating strobe light effect.  Becomes more apparent at maximum brightness.  If you read webpages, shifting your eyes left to right, and the keyboard is in your field of view below, you might notice that strobe light effect.

[Photoelectric]

One more question regarding brightness.  There are some LEDs that seem scary bright, like these ones:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121140088888

I'm going to have ~830 Ohm resistors installed for pink and warm white colors...  Does anyone have experience with LED brightness and what target brightness I should be going for?  Some are listed at 600mcd, some are at a few thousand mcd, and these are many thousands of mcds.