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How to NEATLY wire to LEDS

I need to show 'time remaining' for an event, and would like to use a row of 10 LEDs to do so. All 10 would start out illuminated, and one LED after another will shut off as the time limit approaches. I'm using LEDs with a chrome bezel on them (can't resist the sci-fi look of those things), which will all be mounted in holes drilled in a piece of plexi. I'm looking for a 'clean' way to wire them all up to my microcontroller, which will be about 12" away. Like any LEDs, these just have two thin pieces of wire sticking out of the back. Do I have any options besides simply soldering stranded wire to them, and covering the splice with heat-shrink tubing? Is there some product or plug or component that will provide a less-cumbersome method of wiring these things up?

Thanks

--Alex

Reply to
alex1138
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One may be able to use an IDC connector; ribbon cable (to micro) on one end,and the LED leads plug into the openend?

Reply to
Robert Baer

That's an easy one......

What you do is wire all your LEDs in series on a bit of Vero-Board, Bill will be along to give you the Farnell order number soon and you might be able to get one of those blue handled cutting tools as well.

Then you get a bunch of (1N4148?) diodes and wire them in to tap at the juctions with the other ends going to the output of your CUK convertor......

Then you connect the mosfet from your CUK converter to one of the outputs of your microcontroller and PWM it and you are good to go.

You probably don't even need to bother with PID control.

Simple really.

DNA

Reply to
Genome

MTA-100 2 pin.

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Reply to
a7yvm109gf5d1

A chunk of Veroboard (strip board) & a ribbon cable connector is probably the tidiest way to do a small number of them without making up a custom PCB. I'd mount the bezels on the panel, clip in the LEDs, put a thick strip of cardboard between their legs (as a standoff), place the Veroboard, solder, then remove the cardboard & point-to-point wire links between the LED connections & the ribbon connector.

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   W  "Some people are alive only because it is illegal to kill them."
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Reply to
Lionel

Good suggestion. The one (minor) complication is that you'd probably need to clip the long leg of each LED.

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   W  "Some people are alive only because it is illegal to kill them."
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Reply to
Lionel

One word - plasics.

As in light pipes.

Reply to
Richard Henry

Lots of PC case makers use that method, & I've seen it result in shorts, because the legs extend so far out the back of the connector. Another problem is the connector vibrating/shaking off the pins, or being pulled off by the cables. All of these can be prevented by snipping most of the legs off from the rear of the connector & bending the stumps over by about a millimetre. That said, it's true that those problems are rare.

--
   W  "Some people are alive only because it is illegal to kill them."
 . | ,. w ,      
  \|/  \|/              Perna condita delenda est
---^----^---------------------------------------------------------------
Reply to
Lionel

Why ?

It will just extend out the back of the connector.

No problem.

donald

Reply to
Donald

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