Transformation: GP39-2 From Shiny Brass to Grimy Green

[P5se Camelback]

The packet from Hi-Tech-LED-World Co. Ltd. (Hong Kong) says:

0603 SMD WARM WHITE LED
Iv 2,300 ~~~~ Vf 3.2 - 3.6 ~~~~ Qty. = 50

and I paid $9.99 which included shipping from Hong Kong (which took about two weeks)

They are tee-ninesie! There are 50 of them lined up on what looks like about seven inches of exposed 8mm film!


I'll have to sit and study Laurie "Scoop MMR" McLean's YouTube tutorials to be sure I know what I'm doing with them. He makes it look so easy and he's talking the whole time. I wonder if our own dear O.B. Jack knows of him - he's from down under!

[nachoman]

I think Laurie is quite active on the Yahoo HOn3 group. 9.99 for 50 white LEDs is quite cheap. 5 years ago, you would have paid a buck a piece. 5 years from now, you may get 50 for 3.99. Electronics technology is fascinating. When my dad graduated college and got his first job, he bought his first Texas Instruments calculator. He probably gave 300 dollars for it in the early 1970s. One time, he was joking with his coworkers that some day calculators would be sold in the checkout aisle for less than 10 bucks. When I was first experimenting with electronics as a teenager (about 1990), there were only green, yellow, and red LEDs. I always thought it would be great if someone could figure out how to make other colors, and a few years later they did. They barely use any electricity, don't get hot, and last forever. My prediction is within 5 years, LED household lightbulbs will be commonplace - saving a ton on domestic electricity consumption.

[P5se Camelback]

And LED Lighting Devices (they will not be "light bulbs") will undoubtably not be an EPA Super Site if you should "break" one, as with the "curly fries dipped in yogurt" replacement replacement units that this "Got You Under My Thumb, Got My Boot On Your Neck" government is now mandating that we use since they have so unConstitutionally outlawed Tom Edison's "bright idea."

How ironic that the President just told us that we should emulate the entrepreneurial spirit of good old Tom Edison to jump-start the economy and creat jobs while reading from the ever-present tele-prompter... and at the same time, with the hand behind his back he signs a bill which renders Edison's incandescent bulb illegal, and causes a factory that makes incandescent bulbs to close and lay off all of those who worked there! Unbelieveable!

At least Tom's bulb doesn't have any mercury in it, moron!

Are there any actual thinking grown-ups up there in the White House and the House and the Senate?

[faraway]

... he signs a bill which renders Edison's incandescent bulb illegal...

That is interesting and surprising. We got that law two or three years ago here in Europe. It is still not very well accepted by the people. However, here are no 100W bulbs in production anymore. Some stores built up huge inventory to satisfy customer demand.

[P5se Camelback]

... he signs a bill which renders Edison's incandescent bulb illegal...

That is interesting and surprising. We got that law two or three years ago here in Europe. It is still not very well accepted by the people. However, here are no 100W bulbs in production anymore. Some stores built up huge inventory to satisfy customer demand.

I'm going to voice my opinion and my concerns about these things here ...

... and then I'm going to return to working on preparing the shell of my locomotive for paint and decals.

I don't know if stores have been "stocking up," but I am aware of many individuals who have decided to "go rogue" and insure they will have the capability of illuminating their living spaces with the warm, inviting light of an incandescent bulb. I am one of them.

This whole "New World Order" foolishness scares the crap out of me! Is this to be "The Federation," as in the Star Wars films? Will we still all be free to be who we are, with unalienable rights (insert the Bill of Rights here) or will there be an oppressive governmental power such as China's or Iran's who will tell us how much water we can use to flush our toilets or what kind of lighting device we can use to read our copy of Lenin's "Communist Manifesto" at night or what we can or can't eat or to arrest us if we should light up a cigarette as we walk down the street in the great out of doors?

Oh ... wait ... that's already happening now!

So you want to come into my home and remove my incandescent bulbs?

Have you met my friend and roommate, Mr. Ruger?

[tomustang]

How ironic that the President just told us that we should emulate the entrepreneurial spirit of good old Tom Edison to jump-start the economy

Edison stole and bought many of his patents, our commander and chief is telling us to do the same with money issues?

At least Tom's bulb doesn't have any mercury in it, moron!

It's not like you'll put it in your mouth like a thermometer

This whole "New World Order" foolishness scares the crap out of me! Is this to be "The Federation," as in the Star Wars films? Will we still all be free to be who we are, with unalienable rights (insert the Bill of Rights here)

(Rebellion = Star Wars ) Federation is Star Trek

I agree with you, as America wanted cheaper the incandescent won, but if they kept refining fluorescent (instead of putting it on the back-burner) for the 80 years its been around it would have been the leader in 'house lighting' years ago which would have phased out the incandescent.

I don't see the need to ban, but if you show 'the people' how much more effective and cost saving CFL's are compared to Incans the US would eventually drop the Incans or how its put now 'in the cheap, barely used bin at stores'

... and then I'm going to return to working on preparing the shell of my locomotive for paint and decals.

Can't wait for the progress

[rrinker]

Aren't the 0603 LEDs bluish? You have to watch that with LEDS since they won't resemble prototype lighting well.

The number indicates the physical device size, not a specific color, so you can get 0603 SMD LEDs in every color. 0603 is about .063" x .031" (yes, for whatever reason the specs are in English not Metric).

Copied from the wiki entry:

01005 (0402 metric) : 0.016" × 0.008" (0.4 mm × 0.2 mm) Typical power rating for resistors 1/32 watt
0201 (0603 metric) : 0.024" × 0.012" (0.6 mm × 0.3 mm) Typical power rating for resistors 1/20 watt
0402 (1005 metric) : 0.04" × 0.02" (1.0 mm × 0.5 mm) Typical power rating for resistors 1/16 watt
0603 (1608 metric) : 0.063" × 0.031" (1.6 mm × 0.8 mm) Typical power rating for resistors 1/16 watt
0805 (2012 metric) : 0.08" × 0.05" (2.0 mm × 1.25 mm) Typical power rating for resistors 1/10 or 1/8 watt
1206 (3216 metric) : 0.126" × 0.063" (3.2 mm × 1.6 mm) Typical power rating for resistors 1/4 watt
1210 (3225 metric) : 0.126" × 0.1" (3.2 mm × 2.5 mm) Typical power rating for resistors 1/2 watt
1808 (4516 metric) : 0.177" × 0.063" (4.5 mm × 1.6 mm)
1812 (4532 metric) : 0.18" × 0.12" (4.5 mm × 3.2 mm) Typical power rating for resistors 1/2 watt
2010 (5025 metric) : 0.2" × 0.1" (5.0 mm × 2.5 mm) Typical power rating for resistors 1/2 watt
2512 (6332 metric) : 0.25" × 0.12" (6.35 mm × 3.0 mm) Typical power rating for resistors 1 watt

--Randy

[P5se Camelback]

O.K. ... so now I need someone to explain resistors in watts!

I thought it was like "1K" and that was ohms ...? What do I know? Nothing!!

I'll never figure out electricity ... because I can't see it!

It just doesn't compute!

[BR60103]

bIl:
The watts indicates how much power you can send through it before it melts.
If the watts are big enough, the ohms are what does the job.
But I'm really not sure how to calculate enough watts!

[rrinker]

For DC, watts = volts times amps. In the event of knowing only the resistor value in ohms and the current in amps, you cal also use current squared times resistance.

For the typical use of a 1K resistor with a white LED, at 12 volts that's about 9ma, or .009 amp. Or .108 watts - so a 1/8 watt resistor will be ok, although I usually just use 1/4 watt. For those SMD LEDs in a palce like a number board, you don;t want a real bright spot in the middle of the numbers so you may have to go with a bigger resistor, 1.8k or 2.2k. 2.2k will be about 5ma, which works out be about .055 watt, so the 1/8 or even 1/16 watt resistor will work (smaller than 1/8 will almost always be a SMD resistor - the smaller the wattacge generally is a physically smaller resistor).

Thus ends the electronics lesson for tonight.

--Randy

[tomustang]

Copied from the wiki entry:

blah..
blah..
I don't want to do them all in bold..
20 10 (5025 metric) : 0.2" × 0.1" (5.0 mm × 2.5 mm) Typical power rating for resistors 1/2 watt
25 12 (6332 metric) : 0.25" × 0.12" (6.35 mm × 3.0 mm) Typical power rating for resistors 1 watt

--Randy

ah I see what they did there, clarification appreciated

[P5se Camelback]

Thanks, Randy. I appreciate it. (Oh, and I got along quite well with the EE's ... what they did was also looked upon as black magic.)

I copied your electronics lesson to an MS Word page and have printed it out on a 5x7 index card for daily reference. I included your name at the bottom to remind me to whom I am indebted for making the effort to try to get me to understand. Thanks. I appreciate the effort!

Now ... looking at those SMD 0603's, it appears that the have a black mask with a tiny round hole in the middle on one side, and whatever is going on on the other side is waaaay too small to see with the naked eye (through the package.) I'll have to open the package tomorrow and look at them under the Optivisor. Then I'll have to drive over to Radio Shack for some red and green magnet wire to try to solder leads onto one of them. With 500 of the little buggers to play with, if I screw up a few during the learning process, so be it.

[I spent the day trying to figure out (i.e., track down) why I was summarily blocked from accessing another forum ...
~~ The Reading Modeler ~~
... for supposedly launching an "unknown attack" on them.
All is well now ... apparently there have been a large number of foreign spam attacks,
with highly suspect intentions from Russia and Poland over the past two weeks!]

[rrinker]

Some day I will write all this LED stuff down for the LAST time and put it on my web site, I can't sya how many times I've repeated it on various forums.

ANd I too seem to now be locked out of the Reading Modeler site. I think he gets overzealous with blockign IP subnets when those attacks come. Or that software he's using doesn't allow actual subnets with masks, since my IP is blocked that means the entire Comcast Reading area is blocked and I doubt that's where the attacks were coming from.

--Randy