Own LED lightings

[Cavey]

Hello all,

Just wondering, has anyone done up their own LED lightings for Lego? Did some checking over the internet/ EB forums and saw Lifelites. Very impressive although very costly. So was thinking if anyone has done up their own form of lighting. Any pointers or tips to give to start one off?

Thanks.

[Big Cam]

I know there are a few examples on the board, a quick search would probably bring them up.

[KimT]

This is more of a general LEGO discussion - concerning techniques and know-how.

I'll move this.

[MrTools]

I use LEDs sometimes, like

. You can find cheep battery operated LED strans at craft stores near the floral area, they cost about 2-5 dollars and they fit inside bricks with holes.

[ProducePrincess]

I just use the LED's from my old computers , usually the only colours are red and green but it's still good for what i use the for.

You can find they at a computer recyclying depot or usually at the dump in the bin where metal is thrown.

The battery i used was two AA batteries in a holder witch gives you 3 volts witch is a good for powering the lights. 9 volts can be used but they work as good and the lights aren't as bright.

Two examples of mine are the Fallout shelter and the Vengence .

Edited December 29, 2009 by Black Rabbit

[Cavey]

Thanks all for your inputs.. will look around and see what DIY LEDs solutions i can come up with.

[Grimmy]

I've never made any lights specifically for Lego but I have played with electronics a lot and if it helps to say, setting up LED lights is pretty basic electronics. Not much to know except some common sense things such as making sure you use the correct amount of voltage for the light you use and don't connect a positive to positive especially if you are using wall voltage!

I don't know where you are from but I'm from the US and one of the popular online stores is http://www.mouser.com/ Mouser Electronics. Radio Shack is a popular store but too expensive and doesn't carry much.

If you are going to be doing more electronics or just LED setups in the future and ordering from online, might as well get yourself the following:

(You might already have these around the house)

2 alligator clips

A small roll of red wire for positive

A small roll of black wire for negative/ground

A breadboard so that you can temporarily insert wiring components into to test

(without this & alligator clips, you will be fighting around trying to hold all items together onto batteries to see if the lights work. Or trying to tape things together with cheap scotch tape and you will see that won't work well)

Their is more things such as black tape and wire cutters but I thought I'd give you a small list for now so that you don't end up spending money on shipping just for a couple LED lights. For wire you don't need a thick gage because you will be working with low voltages.

WEBSITES "Make Magazine" and "Instructables" is great and there is also a New York LED Graffiti group that has projects on those sites. They have Do It Yourself projects such as this. You will bump into them if you search for LED Lights projects. Make Magazine also has a youtube channel and so if you search youtube for "Make LED Lights" or "Make Magazine LED" you will find a bunch of great projects to build! When I first found those DIY project sites, I spent hours on them! They are full of information and easily help you get started working with PCBs. You might find yourself making flashing LED lights and their are a bunch of people on the site that have used Lego bricks in their projects

Edited December 30, 2009 by Grimmy

[vectorcustoms]

Hi.........Looking to put some, miniature LED lighting technology to use in a lego format. Any body have any suggestions, needs?

LEDs are avaliable in very small sizes in most colours. Can be sequenced and run from as small as a 10mm 3v Lithium cell.

uk based.

[i am aware of the US based lifelights etc]

[escortmad79]

I'm interested in this too,Lifelites are great but not available in the UK without shipping them over from America.

I'm looking for a set or 2 of strobing lights to go on fire engines

[EvilTwin]

Hello folks

I saw a display by a small UK company called Kytes Lights at a recent model railway show.

They mostly sell parts for N gauge/OO gauge railways etc but the individual components could be adapted for a Lego layout (although you could probably find most of the same components cheaper at somewhere like Maplins www.maplin.co.uk ).

Their website is www.kyteslights.com ... useful to look at to get some ideas.

---

EvilTwin

[WhiteFang]

Hi.........Looking to put some, miniature LED lighting technology to use in a lego format. Any body have any suggestions, needs?

LEDs are avaliable in very small sizes in most colours. Can be sequenced and run from as small as a 10mm 3v Lithium cell.

uk based.

[i am aware of the US based lifelights etc]

I have merged your topic in this, since both are quite similar.

Thanks.

WhiteFang

[roamingstop]

Sparkfun.com are a hobby'ist place in USA - which often have fun fancy technology which could probably be modified easily for PF voltages. Mindsensors and Hitechnic also have breakout boards for custom LED solutions with Mindstorms stuff. A lot depends upon context... lighting a street scene, trains, cars etc.

[vectorcustoms]

i think i will prototype two circuits, will take a couple of weeks.

one with 4 LED light outputs, another with 6 LED light outputs. Both with sequences for flashing lights, knight rider effect, cylon effect.

I will look for the best way to incorporate the LEDS into existing bricks.

[the_green_avenger]

Thanks all for your inputs.. will look around and see what DIY LEDs solutions i can come up with.

I've got the "Lego Mindstorms NXt Hacker's guide" (by Dave procknow) There's a good tutorial for doing so. Simply drill a hole in a stud, put the LED wires thru the hole and tape a hearing aid battery onto the LED wires on the inside of the brick.

If you dont want to drill into the bricks, you could probably use a similar approach, that doesn't involve drilling.

*You should really check out grimmy's link for best, quality, results

Edited February 18, 2010 by the_green_avenger

[escortmad79]

i think i will prototype two circuits, will take a couple of weeks.

one with 4 LED light outputs, another with 6 LED light outputs. Both with sequences for flashing lights, knight rider effect, cylon effect.

I will look for the best way to incorporate the LEDS into existing bricks.

See if you can incorporate strobes for a fire engine too.

I'd be interested to see the results as I too am stuck on where to get LED set ups in the UK without having to pay a wedge for international shipping