Making a moonlight effect

[Jen]

So I went to Radio Shack and picked up some stuff... 4 blue LEDs, some PC boards and some hook up wire (red black and green) So what do I do next? A friend of mine has a soldering iron, and im hoping some solder as well, and will hopefully do the job for me. I take it I need a plug to rip apart to wire it to.

How long, and labour intensive is the job?

 

[Lateral Line]

LEDS run at low DC voltages, you cannot connect them to a normal power outlet. Also, depending on the spec of the LED, you will need to wire a current limiting resistor either in series with a series connected LED train, or one on each LED for a parallel wired group.

The value of the resistor is dependent upon the voltage and the characteristics of the LED's but is easy to work out. The value of the resistor, R, is given by...

R = (VBattery - VLed) / ILed

... where VBattery is the voltage of the battery, VLed is the forward voltage of the LED, and ILed is the operating current.

If you do not limit the current, the LEDs will burn out quickly.