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Disclaimer: The following information is to be used as a guide, as it involves electronics
Please be aware of the dangers involved as it only takes a few miliamps to hurt someone
Please have a read of the following website to read more about electrical safety:
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/1.html

Shortcuts: Introduction | LED Info | Wiring Info | Resistors Info | Lumens Calculator

Tools Required:

Project ideas:

There are a whole variety of things you can do with LEDs, Here are just some ideas!

Car Lighting: Map/Dome/Boot/Licence Plate Lights, Turn Indicators, Tail Lights or just General Illumination RC Vehicles: From the headlights to the tail lights or anywhere you want them to light up Fish Tank: For mood light or general illumination (Precaution: Water) PC/Computer: Can use LEDs to light up your PC Case

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So What exactly is a Light Emitting Diode (LED)?

a semiconductor device that has the ability to emit light able to deliver low power consumption compared with traditional incandescent bulbs long-life when used appropriately (>50,000 hours) always use resistors or a LED driver when powering LEDs never look directly at an operating LED as it may damage your vision comes in variety of viewing angles and intensity which are used in various applications

So what is LED Brightness or MCD or Lumens? LEDs are commonly described in terms of their millicandellas or MCD for short. MCD is a measure of brightness at the light source. However that's not the whole story. LEDs are also come in a variety of viewing angles or in other words how wide the light is projected. This is what determines the Luminous flux of the LED which is measured in Lumens (Lm). Lumens is the measure of light that actually falls on a plane or surface. Below is a MCD to Lumens calculator providing that you know the viewing angle. MCD - Lumens Calculator millicandellas(mcd) Half Angle* (degrees) Total Light Output Lumens *Half Angle = Viewing Angles / 2 So when to use what type of LED? Below is a quick overview of what type of application different LEDs are used. Wide angle (100-180 degrees) - for basic illumination and backlight where a wide viewing area is required Narrow Angle (20-40 degrees) - for indicators or strobe lights or where a narrow but intense beam is required Here's a comparison between wide and narrow angle LEDs Wide Angle 180 Degrees 230mcd @ 180 Deg. Narrow Angle 20 Degrees 8000mcd @ 20 Deg. Now you can work out using the calculator which LED has the greater Luminous Flux or in other words, the actualy light that falls on a sufrace. (Answer: Wide angle: 1.45 lumens, Narrow angle: 0.76 lumens) So depending on your application, you may want to use a different type of LEDs. If you have any queries regarding which LEDs to choose, do not hesitate to send me an email us .

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For basic soldering techniques please visit Link or PDF

• On a LED, the long leg is usually the positive terminal
• resistors should be wired on the positive side of the power source
  Here's an schematic example:

• 12V(positive terminal) ----Resistor------LED------LED------LED-----(negative terminal)

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• Note: Some of our LEDs have rated currect between 20-100mA,
  which means they can run at a higher current if appropiate resistors are used.
  
  Thanks for taking the time to read our LED Help Guide.
  We hope this has helped you in some way.
  Should you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us !
  or you can chat with me on MSN - bl-led@live.com.au