I need to duplicate an LED

Galaxy Of Rust · Post by **Galaxy Of Rust** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 7:19 am

I don't know much about LED's. But I need to duplicate the LED from Transformers Quake Wave's head. I want to hook up 1 LED to a tiny slider on/off switch.

Besides not knowing anything about how to do this there is another problem. The battery they used is hard to find. So I would like to use a different size battery that's easier to get.

I tried searching Youtube but I couldn't find anything that would help with this specific project.

Here are some pictures of Quake Wave. Hopefully you can tell me how to duplicate this & exactly what parts I'll need.

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd3 ... 26498c.jpg

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd3 ... 61d25d.jpg

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd3 ... f47906.jpg

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd3 ... 091000.jpg

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd3 ... 1e6a58.jpg

I'm not going to duplicate the purple part. I need to know how to do everything else. I'll design my own holder. I just need to get the right parts & make sure I solder the wires in the correct places. The switch here has 3 prongs but the wires are only connected to 2. Nothing is marked so I'm going to have to learn the correct way to hook everything up.

I thought I would need to get flat metal battery contacts like in my Bionica figure but I just noticed this one just has the battery touching 2 balls of solder. So it looks like I just need something to hold the battery, the switch, LED & 2 wires. I might be able to figure it out on my own but I just need to know what kind of switch to get & where to get it. And does the battery size matter much?

Moderator Edited to remove inline images.

Tchail · Post by **Tchail** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 9:21 am

It's hard to tell from the picture, but it looks like a 3mm yellow LED, which should be about 2.2V.

What's the number stamped onto the coin cell battery? It may not be as hard to find as you think.

BTW - No inline pictures are allowed on the board, only links.

Galaxy Of Rust · Post by **Galaxy Of Rust** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 5:03 pm

Tchail wrote:What's the number stamped onto the coin cell battery? It may not be as hard to find as you think.

There was a big thing about it when the figure was released. You can get the batteries online, popular size in Asia, but it's hard to find in any stores in America. So I was hoping to use a size that's easy to find in the USA.

Where can I find a tiny switch like that? Does Radio Shack carry them?

tetsujin · Post by **tetsujin** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 6:47 pm

Galaxy Of Rust wrote:
Tchail wrote:What's the number stamped onto the coin cell battery? It may not be as hard to find as you think.
You can get the batteries online, popular size in Asia, but it's hard to find in any stores in America.

Miniature batteries are a total rip-off if you buy them at retail in the US. Compared to the same batteries online it's usually a price increase of 5-10 times. I wouldn't even worry about finding them in stores.

The figure's instructions list two battery types: CR1025 for the arm and CR1020 for the head. CR1020, I guess, is the one that's hard to find, but the instructions do list other alternatives for the head which are easier to find - like SR920.

Of course, if I wanted to get fancy... (Bear in mind I don't own this figure, so this is just a guess of what might be possible based on the pictures in the instructions)
1: The chest panel appears hollow, and it hinges open to allow you to stow the head for gun mode. There may be enough space in there for a battery circuit.
2: The gun arm is connected to the backpack via a "wire" - both lights could run from the same power supply if this fake "wire" were replaced with a real one. (The backpack gets pulled apart to form the front end of the gun barrel - but then the exposed portion of the top backpack panel gets folded down flush with the back - so if the wire runs through that panel, the wire at the back side of the panel can still be hidden in gun mode.)

So I figure it might be possible to stash a small rechargeable battery and a charging circuit in the chest, then run wires to the head and gun arm. Then to recharge the battery you'd open up the chest panel and plug a USB cable into the charging circuit inside.

Galaxy Of Rust · Post by **Galaxy Of Rust** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 7:31 pm

tetsujin wrote: Miniature batteries are a total rip-off if you buy them at retail in the US. Compared to the same batteries online it's usually a price increase of 5-10 times. I wouldn't even worry about finding them in stores.

Yeah, that's true. I didn't think of that. I had to replace the battery in Bionica's head & I got a 10 pack real cheap online. I only needed 2 for Bionica so I was hoping I could use the leftovers for this. Bionica's battery is 1.5 LR1130. If that works for a 3mm LED then I'm all set.

I'm planning to put these in 12" 1/6 figure heads. Like those cheap 12" Iron Man figures they have at walmart. So it needs to be very tiny. Just the LED connected directly to the battery & switch. Everything needs to be the same as the pictures above.

Now that I think about it, it might be easier to just copy Bionica. She has 2 LR1130's & a 3mm LED. Just need to connect them to a tiny slide switch & that should do it.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 8:12 pm

I have been told, and after a few hours of online search through battery cross indexes I agree, that the CR1020 can be replaced by a CR1025. Same dimensions & voltage, longer amperage.

Tchail · Post by **Tchail** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 9:24 pm

As for switches available at Radio Shack, you might want to check out this:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Value=SPST

It's been awhile since I've been in there, so I don't know for sure...

Galaxy Of Rust · Post by **Galaxy Of Rust** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 9:52 pm

Tchail wrote:As for switches available at Radio Shack, you might want to check out this:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Value=SPST

It's been awhile since I've been in there, so I don't know for sure...

I'm going to head up there in a few days to look around & ask some questions. And pick up some tiny wires.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 10:08 pm

...and then there is Mouser http://www.mouser.com/

tetsujin · Post by **tetsujin** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 9:24 am

Kylwell wrote:I have been told, and after a few hours of online search through battery cross indexes I agree, that the CR1020 can be replaced by a CR1025. Same dimensions & voltage, longer amperage.

That would surprise me, 'cause the numbers for a CR cell are dimensions:

10: 10mm diameter
25: 2.5mm thick

So one would expect a 1025 to be a half millimeter thicker than a 1020.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 1:40 pm

tetsujin wrote:
Kylwell wrote:I have been told, and after a few hours of online search through battery cross indexes I agree, that the CR1020 can be replaced by a CR1025. Same dimensions & voltage, longer amperage.
That would surprise me, 'cause the numbers for a CR cell are dimensions:

10: 10mm diameter
25: 2.5mm thick

So one would expect a 1025 to be a half millimeter thicker than a 1020.

Nominally their dimensions, give or take a 5/100s of a mm. Ah'm just stating what multiple groups have posted and the absolute lack of 1020's by the major battery manufacturers. Even the cross indexes by Duracell, Energizer, Panasonic, etc don't list a 1020.

tetsujin · Post by **tetsujin** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:11 pm

Kylwell wrote:
tetsujin wrote:
Kylwell wrote:I have been told, and after a few hours of online search through battery cross indexes I agree, that the CR1020 can be replaced by a CR1025. Same dimensions & voltage, longer amperage.
One would expect a 1025 to be a half millimeter thicker than a 1020.
Ah'm just stating what multiple groups have posted and the absolute lack of 1020's by the major battery manufacturers. Even the cross indexes by Duracell, Energizer, Panasonic, etc don't list a 1020.

That is one possibility I'd considered: that 1020 isn't a proper type, and someone hijacked the designation to label a "low-capacity 1025"...

But, why bother? Why not just sell their low-capacity 1025 as a 1025?

And let's take the case of this Shockwave (sorry, "Quakewave") figure:
The instructions state that the arm battery has to be a 1025, and the head battery lists several compatible types, including 1020 but not 1025. If a 1025 could work there, why wouldn't it be on the list?

That's the main puzzler for me: if a 1020 were just a low-capacity 1025, then why wouldn't the instructions for Quakewave just say "two 1025's" instead of all this complication?

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:46 pm

And there is that. Makes no sense as to why they couldn't fit a half a mm larger battery in the head thus making logistics easier.

tetsujin · Post by **tetsujin** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:14 pm

Kylwell wrote:And there is that. Makes no sense as to why they couldn't fit a half a mm larger battery in the head thus making logistics easier.

Sometimes a half a millimeter is just a half a millimeter too much.

Could be they designed it as a 1025 slot but screwed up, and said, "Rather than retool this... Are there any other battery types we could list in the instructions that do fit the receptacle we made?"

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:18 pm

tetsujin wrote:
Kylwell wrote:And there is that. Makes no sense as to why they couldn't fit a half a mm larger battery in the head thus making logistics easier.
Sometimes a half a millimeter is just a half a millimeter too much.

Could be they designed it as a 1025 slot but screwed up, and said, "Rather than retool this... Are there any other battery types we could list in the instructions that do fit the receptacle we made?"

LOL! Oh I can see that.