Cheap blue red green & amber LED source

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Jon
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Cheap blue red green & amber LED source

I was at Target looking around their little $1 nick-nack section and found a cheap kids toy ring. It's soft rubber with a circuit inside that flashes four LEDs rapidly when powered on. For that $1 and some desoldering you can get a nice bright blue LED and have the other 3 spare LEDs for more projects. The board is fairly easy to get out of the ring as there is a small hole that can stretch very wide to work it out. I have yet to really check their sizes, but I know they're small round non-SMT LEDs attached to the board. There is also a small rubber contact button on the board that is the on-off button. It could be useful for a custom button for a project as well. I have plans of changinmg my iMacs power LED to blue, and maybe getting a second ring to use a second blue LED as the sleep color, unless I can somehow just wire the one in place of the bi-color that is stock.

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Pointless?

You can get blue LEDs for about $.85 anyway, so is it really worth it for the hassle?

TOM

Jon
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Last seen: 12 years 10 months ago
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You get 4 LEDs for $1, so it

You get 4 LEDs for $1, so it depends on your sources. If you're paying shipping on an $.85 part, it might be worth while to buy a ring. I've not priced LEDs much, but for a $1 I was a tad suprised to see a blue one in there.

EDIT: They're T1/3mm through-holes LEDs, I believe. DigiKey sells 'em for about $2+ or so. I know lot quantities drop price, and they're available else where, but you can get 10 rings for $10, and get 40 LEDs total. or you can order 10 blue LEDs for $20 + shipping and get 10 LEDs total. I guess it's all up to what your deoldering time is worth to you.

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