Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

I'm here, I'm here! Let the bells ring out. Let the bands play. It's too good to be true, but it is, I'm here!

What size batteries are you using and what voltage. Remember, each LED drops about 2-4 volts across it, depending on LED color. If you are using 3 to 4-1/2 volts, you have maxed out your batteries.

30-32 AWG stranded wire requires a special stripper due to the (usually) Teflon jacket (insulation). At that size, stranded is stronger than solid core, but solid will allow you to bend the wire and it will retain it's shape better. You can find small guage wire at most electronic supply stores, Rad...

Well, you have the resistor value correct at 120 ohms, but you have the wrong resistor in your hand. According to the color bands, you have a 2100 ohm (red=2, brown=1, red = 2 zeros, gold=5% tolerance). The color bands you want is brown (1), red (2), brown (1 zero) and either gold or silver for the ...

Ok, we all assume that you have TWO round PC boards that the LED's solder into. If that is true, make ONE as normal. Then take the SECOND round board and flip it over so that the back is now the front. Install the LED's on the NEW front side. Wire the 2nd board to the rest of the circuit as per the ...

Okay, for the hub . . . #1 - Get yourself a soldering iron and a small roll of solder. If you have a piece of solid copper wire (like "Romex" house wire), strip the insulation off of two pieces about 1/2" long. wrap the ends of your lighting wires around each piece of copper wire and ...

Kahless, Sounds good. The only flaw I can see is with your green LEDs (in series). When running LED's in series, you need to subtract the voltage for each LED. I think it should be 6V -2.4V twice or 4.8V total voltage loss. That would give you 1.2 volts across the resistor at 10mA giving you a resis...

"OK. It's a little more complicated than that. But it is hard to explain without 27 8x10 glossy photos with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one. But that's the gist. _________________ John Fleming " You can get anything you want at MMI's restaraunt, 'cepting Johnny. :P

You can also go to www.digikey.com or www.mouser.com

Mike

I think a bigger concern is not electrical, but mechanical. Surface-mount components are extremely sensative to the heat of a soldering iron. It isn't as easy to mount as a through-hole, leaded part. Use the heat sparingly and try not to leave the iron on the part too long. That is a recipe to unbon...