I decided I wanted to try my hand at LED lighting instead of GOW or flashlight bulbs. I decided on a simple project to start. I am building the 1/1000 PL TOS Enterprise. I want to add lights. I am lighting the saucer with one white LED and the bussards with one red LED each for a total of 3 LED's. Here is where my question comes in. I already have the LED's, they came in a multipack at Radioshack but there are no specifications on the package. I want to run this setup on a battery pack. What batteries do I need for correct voltage? Do I need resistors? I discovered that one LED will run off of 2 AA batteries without blowing out. That is approximately 3 Volts. Would one 9 volt do it? Do I need to wire them up in series or parallel? I don't know where to start. :freak:

Hi Pitfall.
Try this link out http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz it helped me a lot when I first started lighting my kits which was only about 18mths ago for me. Just be aware that some coloured leds run at differant ma than the std 3v white ones. Even if you only run 1 or 2 off a 3v battery pack try to add a resistor in just to keep the ma flow steady. This is a 1/1000 NX-01 which was my first major attempt at lighting. I used 7 leds all up at 3v with 20ma per led. I thought I was being clever and set them up to run off a 3v battery pack in series. :rolleyes: But I didn't allow for the combined ma's of them a 140ma in total. Hence it drains the two AAs in a couple of hours. :drunk: I tend to use my lighting in paralell rather than series because if one of the leds in the series fails then all the ones after the failed one won't work...
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg27/AJ-1701/Little%20NX-01/th_Picture2551jpg.jpg (http://s244.photobucket.com/albums/gg27/AJ-1701/Little%20NX-01/?action=view&current=Picture2551jpg.jpg)http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg27/AJ-1701/Little%20NX-01/th_Picture278.jpg (http://s244.photobucket.com/albums/gg27/AJ-1701/Little%20NX-01/?action=view&current=Picture278.jpg)http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg27/AJ-1701/Little%20NX-01/th_Picture2771jpg.jpg (http://s244.photobucket.com/albums/gg27/AJ-1701/Little%20NX-01/?action=view&current=Picture2771jpg.jpg)

BTW good luck with your projects.:thumbsup:

Cheers,

Alec.

Thanks for the link Alec! :) I picked up one of the NX-01's too and plan on tackling it after I get my feet wet with the TOS E. I hope mine ends up looking as good as yours.

Your welcome and thanks. :) Though I must confess that I'm no electrician but its fairly easy stuff to learn :thumbsup: And the blokes on here are always willing to give help too

Right now, she sits covered in primer and will probably stay that way for awhile. I plan on ordering some templates to do the aztek pattern on it. The engine bussards are illuminated as well as the planetary sensor on the bottom and the bridge dome. After getting it all together and much swearing, I noticed that one of the engine bussards doesn't glow as well as the other. I'm not sure why but maybe the LED in it has a different rating. It's possible since I bought a multipack and nothing was labeled. Oh well, live and learn. maybe I can tone the brighter one down with some careful application of paint.
This is a stepping stone for me, I have a NX-01 Enterprise in the same scale waiting on being built with lights. It will use 7 LEDs and the navigation deflector, engine bussards, and the engine grills will be illuminated.

Daytime, no lights

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc243/Malbona/IMG_0013-1.jpg

Daytime with lights and flash

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc243/Malbona/IMG_0014-1.jpg

Daytime, lights and no flash

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc243/Malbona/IMG_0015-1.jpg

Looks good so far :thumbsup:

Yeah it is a pain when some part of the lighting just dosn't play the game.

...I noticed that one of the engine bussards doesn't glow as well as the other. I'm not sure why but maybe the LED in it has a different rating. It's possible since I bought a multipack and nothing was labeled. Oh well, live and learn. maybe I can tone the brighter one down with some careful application of paint...

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc243/Malbona/IMG_0014-1.jpg

It looks like one is using much more current than the other, and I don't think paint is the answer. You should be able to get a much closer match, using the right LED's in a compatible circuit. LED's aren't that expensive, such that you should have to settle for this situation.

Yeah, I didn't want to crack it open. I finally did and replaced it. It looks better. I just finished the NX-01's lighting. It was easier since I got my feet wet with the first one. I actually am thinking of picking up another TOS E and make the lighting setup more elaborate, similar to the NX-01. I've learned a lot in little time. LOL.