Easy to mount on panel, idiot proof LEDs?

Don't kid yourself, for _every_ idiot-proof design, nature produces better idiot!

Have fun

Stanislaw Slack user from Ulladulla.

A "panel mount led" search on Mouser produced the following...

? Chicago Miniature LED Panel Mount (112) ? Dialight LED Panel Mount (9) ? Dialight LED Panel Mount .156in Snap In (41) ? Dialight LED Panel Mount .25in Snap In (90) ? Dialight LED Panel Mount 10mm Mounting Hole (10) ? Dialight LED Panel Mount 5mm Mounting Hole (6) ? Dialight LED Panel Mount 6mm Mounting Hole (17) ? Dialight LED Panel Mount 7mm Mounting Hole (25) ? Dialight LED Panel Mount 8mm Mounting Hole (22) ? Dialight LED Panel Mount 9mm Mounting Hole (17) ? Dialight LED Panel Mount Watertight (27) ? Lumex LED Panel Mount Indicators (2,247) ? Mountain Switch LED Indicators (4) ? Xicon LED Indicators (12)

Here is a page from the Mouser catalog for example:

I'm sure DigiKey has similar.

There was no mention of "idiot proof", however.

Cheers, John

Sounds easy enough. I may give it a try, would they hold reasonably?

You drill a hole exactly the right size and press the LED into it. This works best with plastic panels. If the hole is slightly too big, you put a tiny bit of airplane glue on the side of the LED.

If you do it right, they might not come off. Easy to mount but the wiring is more problematic than the mount.

I do this all the time mostly with metal panels. If you take the time it will work with any material, perhaps not with TFE.

greg

You _could_ just drill the right size holes, and glue LEDs in place directly. You'll still have to deal with the leads. I've also seen little circuit boards with LEDs mounted, that just poke through holes when the board is in place.

There's also little plastic clippy-thingies that poke through and have a retaining ring, but glue is probably cheaper and less labor- intensive. :-)

Good Luck! Rich

They stay fine, until you whack them from the front with a hammer or something. ;-) (BTDT)

Cheers! Rich

I have used lenses that snap into a 1/4" hole and the LED is held in grooves from behind, but they sometimes break or get loose, and you should use some glue. You also need to connect wires to the leads and insulate them with shrink tubing, which is time consuming.

If the LEDs are on a PCB, you can just drill holes a little bigger than their diameter, and mount the PCB from the back of the panel using spacers to adjust how far they protrude. The limiting resistors can be mounted on the same board (220 ohms SIPs are handy), and you can connect the display board to the main board with ribbon cable. LEDs with built-in resistors are more expensive. You can get larger snap-in panel mount LEDs that have bridge rectifiers also, so you can use AC or any polarity DC with a range of voltages, but they are about $2 each. Idiot-proofing has its price. There is also the trade-off of component cost vs assembly time/cost, and your preferences for size, appearance and visibility.

Paul

Radio Shack has a chrome LED holder with a nut to hold it to the panel. There is a two hole rubber plug that holds the LED in the chrome holder. I've used the for 20 years or more on power supplies, and rough environments to protect the LEDs.