Why are you making a PCB if all that is going on it is a single LED? It would be more efficient to mount the LEDs in some kind of fixture (e.g. a matrix of holes drilled in a piece of metal, wood or styrene). Although you can etch a PCB to do this (I recommend Olimex,
Palmer,
OK, the cost of a 1/2" x 1/2" PCB will cost a lot. Building a larger board and cut up into small pieces will be good.
Using a vector board with the wireing you are looking for would be the easiest.
If I understand your circuit each board would look like this:
LED LED LED LED o--o-| new at this so I'm looking for help and direction. The only thing is that
A picture is worth a thousand words. Also tell others what you have in mind without knowing the terms.
"Radio Shack" means you are in the US. Good, Yes you are correct, getting the boards and LEDs from Rat shack will get this done quickly.
Just like the drawing, a few holes to insert the LEDs or the wires will make it easy to mount.
Yes, a "vector board" is a board full of holes.
Yes, you are also correct in that the "--" are the "wires" on the vector board. Pushing the leads of the LEDs thru the vector board and bending them over to solder to the ends of the interconnecting wires can be done in no time. How long the interconnecting wires is up to you.
The next thing to look at is the voltage drop across each LED. If you bought the LEDs from R.S., then on the back of the package will be the voltage and current rating for that LED.
Most LEDs are about 2.0 volts each. ( more or less, check the packaging )
At 12.0 volts, 6 LEDs can be strung together with out damaging them. If however your supply goes to 13.6 volts, some of the LEDs may get damaged. ( burn out ) Maybe not right away, but one may burnout and then the whole string will go out.
It seems to me that this is a simple wiring problem. This "thing" your drilling thru can be used to mount the LED and the interconnecting wires can be soldered directly to the legs of the LED. Using some hot melt glue to cover the connections will protect the connections.
No PCB necessary.
How many LEDs will you need in any single string ? As mentioned above, 6 is a good number.
You many want to insert a voltage regulator before you connect the string to the battery. This will help regulate the voltage to the LED so any varation will not kill your work.
R.S. also sells voltage regulators. Look for a LM317. This is a 3-Terminal Adjustable Regulator, which means you can control the output voltage with a potentiometer.
Here is a link:
Good Luck.
I'm looking at either finding or making some small PC boards. They need to be about a 1/2 inch square. I'm wanting to mount an LED on each board but I'll need to connect 4 LED boards in series but each board will be connected to the next with insulated wires. I could either have a board with 4 holes right down the middle but then I would have a long length of wire for the negative side of the source. I was thinking of having a board with four hole on the upper half and two on the bottom half. The bottom two holes would just be a place for the negative wire coming in and one going out to the next board. The two center holes on the top half would be for the LED wires and the outer holes on either side would be for the positive coming in and one going out to the next board. So would it be easier to make a board as such or find something to work? I'm new at this so I'm looking for help and direction. The only thing is that the side the LED is mounted on to remain smooth so that means all the wires and LED legs to be soldered on the back side. Thanks for your comments and help. Palmer
You are correct on how the boards will look and be arranged. ( I could have never drawn that on the computer) The power will be coming from the car in which they will be installed..... so it will be a 12 volt to 13.6 volt source. What I have seen are the LEDs that are bought at places like Radio Shack. They look like a small dome with a small flared bottom. What I am after is being able to drill a hole the same size as the LED and inserting it from the back side of the hole and the flared bottom and or the PC board stopping the LED from going any further in. That is also why would like all the wires and LED legs to be on the back side of the board. I tried searching for vector board but not too sure what that is and what I'm looking for. I've seen boards at R.S. that are just a bunch of drilled holes that I could cut down but I wasn't sure how to apply the connections between the holes...like a circuit board is. Like in your drawing ....the "--" are connected via copper trace...if that is what it is called. Again thanks for your help.
Well, you could do something like this... Arrange your boards so that you have right angle 2-pin female headers on one side, and mating 2-pin male headers on the other side. Then, you could join as few or as many as you like. No connecting wires except for the ones supplying power.
-- Dave M MasonDG44 at comcast dot net (Just subsitute the appropriate characters in the address) Never take a laxative and a sleeping pill at the same time!!
A PCB is not going to be smooth on both sides unless you are using SMD LEDs, and all your soldering as well as parts are on one side of the PCB only. The layout of the PCB looks so simple (with SMD parts) that you don't even need to etch it, craft knife would be sufficient to cut the copper and separate those limited amount of pads you'll need from each other. Use gull-wing type SMD LEDs, they are easier to solder than a chip-type SMD LEDS. Make your power pads as large as practically possible considering the size of the board so they don't easily de-laminate if you accidentally pull on the wires hard. Good luck!
-- Dmitri Abaimov, RCDD
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Palmer wrote:
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