In search of, micro LED's

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  • Ken_NJ
    Captain
    • Sep 2014
    • 744

    In search of, micro LED's

    I'm looking for micro size LED's, say about 1mm diameter, that light 360 degrees. To be used as the flashing submarine beacon light, which will flash for 3 seconds, then off for 3 seconds. I'll be using it with a Bluno Beetle circuit board. Frank Salerno has some on his Seaview but they don't seem to be available. He mentioned check RC car or truck sites. I looked at Litz LED's but most I saw are 120 degree, not the 360 I want.

    See this post about it. Ed posted the code for the beetle.
    Had a free second today so I made a simple circuit and wrote the code for it. Points if you know the language and know what it says. It’s a little fast so pay attention. I sure you ol salty dogs will recognize it right away. https://youtu.be/wK1wCBYDFUE
  • trout
    Admiral
    • Jul 2011
    • 3545

    #2
    Ken,
    Check out - https://evandesigns.com/products/chip-nano-pico-leds
    Peace,
    Tom
    If you can cut, drill, saw, hit things and swear a lot, you're well on the way to building a working model sub.

    Comment

    • Ken_NJ
      Captain
      • Sep 2014
      • 744

      #3
      Those are surface mount LED's Tom. Would only light in one direction.

      Comment

      • trout
        Admiral
        • Jul 2011
        • 3545

        #4
        Agreed, so mount the led facing up, put a clear styrene rod on top of that, drill a cone on top of styrene, fill with silver paint.
        If you can cut, drill, saw, hit things and swear a lot, you're well on the way to building a working model sub.

        Comment

        • Monahan Steam Models
          Captain
          • Apr 2020
          • 755

          #5
          Ken,

          Have you taken a look at Digikey to see what they have? I wonder if fiber optic strands could work? Sometimes those cheap miniature Christmas trees use them to imitate miniature bulbs but the strands may not produce the illumination your looking for around the fiber strands circumference.

          Nick

          Comment

          • CC Clarke
            Lieutenant Commander
            • Aug 2020
            • 239

            #6
            A multitude of choices pop up if you Google 1mm LEDs. Mouser and Digi-Key are common vendors for just about any electronic component. A hemispheric LED would be a more realistic choice than a square SMD, and easier to work with.

            CCC

            Comment

            • Bob Gato
              Captain
              • Feb 2019
              • 826

              #7
              eBay... Pre-wired surface mount LEDs on hair thin litz wire ..here's an example ...https://www.ebay.com/itm/31320385423...RoCM8IQAvD_BwE

              Comment

              • Bob Gato
                Captain
                • Feb 2019
                • 826

                #8
                These are $0.69 each... But if you search more you can get them for much less... Sometimes I buy them just for the wire and I throw the LED away LOL...
                If you want 360 degree light-drill out a Lucite rod and insert the LED facing up-then fill the tube with crystal clear glue (like gorilla Clear)
                Last edited by Bob Gato; 11-24-2021, 08:17 PM.

                Comment

                • SubDude
                  Captain
                  • Dec 2019
                  • 803

                  #9
                  For the one I put on my Columbia I potted a micro LED straight up in clear resin at the top of a 1/16" dia. aluminum tube. Worked well. Ebay is loaded with the LED's

                  Comment

                  • Ken_NJ
                    Captain
                    • Sep 2014
                    • 744

                    #10
                    Many things to check into, thanks guys. Don't think I'll find a hemispherical LED in the size that is ready to go. I did check DigiKey. May have to use a micro litz LED/SMD like some said and pot it like Steve & Bob mentioned.

                    Comment

                    • Bob Gato
                      Captain
                      • Feb 2019
                      • 826

                      #11
                      This example was not for an underwater use but it could be and its food for thought for al who read it (1mm Litz wired SMD)...BG
                      https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...&postcount=107

                      Comment

                      • redboat219
                        Admiral
                        • Dec 2008
                        • 2735

                        #12
                         
                        Make it simple, make strong, make it work!

                        Comment

                        • Subculture
                          Admiral
                          • Feb 2009
                          • 2119

                          #13
                          Buy Warm White LED Lights - 1mm online at Green Stuff World⭐. Scale models, and board games

                          Comment

                          • Ken_NJ
                            Captain
                            • Sep 2014
                            • 744

                            #14
                            I was not able to find 360 degree LED's so i went with 0402 LED's from Amazon. With a caliper they measure around 0.060, so they are very very small. They only illuminate 120 degrees like a few of you mentioned. After testing the LED's, I put some CA on the backside to seal the connections. I then carefully slid two of them back to back into a 1/16" brass tube and glued them together. I then used epoxy and dipped the LED's in upside down and let the epoxy dry. I did this three times to build up the epoxy. You can see how crystal clear the epoxy is. I then wet sanded the side down with 400 and 2000 grit paper. I filed the top flat and wet sanded with 2000 grit. The sanding gave a a frosted effect. Each LED will get a CL2N3 driver. The input voltage to these can be from 5 to 90 volts and the output will always be 20ma no matter what the input voltage is. With resistors, if the voltage drops, the current drops and the LED will get dimmer. So as long as the LED spec is 20ma, the CL2N3 will always supply 20ma. You can see what I made in comparison to the faux beacon that came with the Skipjack kit. With two of them back to back, I get the effect I was looking for. Now I just need to install it and get the Bluno Beetle setup.

                            Amazon LED's


                            CL2N3 LED driver


                            Bluno Beetle
                            DFRobot Beetle Ble is an Arduino Uno based board with bluetooth 4.0 (BLE). It is probably the smallest Arduino BLE board on the market.



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                            • Monahan Steam Models
                              Captain
                              • Apr 2020
                              • 755

                              #15
                              Very cool. Nice work Ken!

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