Beginners DIY LED Build

[BBQHILLBILLY]

Are you going to use the hanging kit or mount them to canopy?

[rrasco]

Found the problem.

The last wire connecting the last 2 LED's were on the wrong posts.

I'm confused by this. Looking at the pictures, you wired up both the + and - on every LED where you only needed one wire to/from each. But you state the last LEDs were on the wrong posts as the problem. I only point this out because I don't want someone to duplicate your wiring in post #32 thinking it is correct. It is not. What I believe was happening was that you were over-driving the LEDs with that wiring and the driver was shutting down to protect itself. Then came back on and shut down again. Rinse and repeat.

[BBQHILLBILLY]

I think he fixed it. But your right, and I think you would agree rrasco, the LED diode is an electronic switch. You apply the voltage on the + side, or consider it an input. The switch closes and the current comes out the negative side - or output. That - side is now the input to the next LED diode on the +side, and hence you repeat . . . In post 32, Im actually surprised the driver didnt get shorted or as you were saying overdriven. Electronics are fun.

[Tempset]

Yeah I fixed it.

I haven't forgotten about this build. I'm working on the next sections of the build.

Ill update very soon.

[rrasco]

I know you fixed it, just trying to clarify how you did so.

[Tempset]

LED Build Part 4 - Soldering(correctly)


We start with an assembly of tools.



Soldering Iron. THIS model is a 30 watt borrowed from my dads house. Walmart sells them pretty cheap.




Wire. I bought 18gauge because it closely resembled the thickness of wire that was shipped with my order. All they had at Walmart were red & black. So I chose black. Given a bigger selection - I would chose blue wire for the blues & white wire for the whites.






Pocket knife(just in case).



Wire strippers/cutters



Battery powered tester. You can see it uses 2 "AA" batteries. Be careful not to leave the switch in the "on" position. I've found the batteries drain faster that way.




Solder. Buy the solder used strictly for electronics..




First task was to place the LED's in such a manor that allowed me room to solder them without bumping into other LED's.




You'll need to measure how long you want your wire to be between LED's.
I simply hold the wire from pad to pad & snip it appropriately.



Strip both ends of the wire you just cut. You only need a tiny amount on each end exposed:



Prep the soldering iron by adding solder to the iron by touching it to the tip & letting it melt into a "blob". I should note here that MY soldering iron isn't created with a pointy "tip", but rather a flat ending & a slight curve. This may differ from yours - but the principal should remain the same. Get some solder on that tip man!


Applying Solder to the Iron. This is necessary for tinning the wires & for applying solder to the LED pads.
http://i511.photobucket.com/albums/s...7/IMG_8429.mp4


Tinning the wires. After applying solder to the iron - You simply roll the wire around in the solder to get it coated with the solder.
http://i511.photobucket.com/albums/s...7/IMG_8430.mp4


After tinning the wire you will use, you need to add some solder to to LED's pad so the wire to connect to.
http://i511.photobucket.com/albums/s...7/IMG_8431.mp4




Attaching the wire. Keep in mind, I did not allow the thermal paste the required drying time to cure during this step & that is why you see 1 of the LED's move slightly as I bond the other half of the wire to
http://i511.photobucket.com/albums/s...7/IMG_8433.mp4


I realize there may be other ways to solder wires to these LED's & that's great. The method shown in the video's above worked great for me. And once I got the hang of it - it was extremely easy to make all the LED's work together. I do not claim to be the authority on soldering OR claim to have the best work around.


All the LED's work & that's a foundation I can build upon.

[Kyle86]

Im thinking of getting the rapid led retro kit but wasn't sure the color combo i should go with, it comes with 24 cree leds. the default is 12 royal blue and 12 white