Re: [Paddlewise] LEDs was Night Vision

From: Steve Jernigan <jernigan_at_chester.uccs.edu>
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1999 09:58:10 -0600
At 08:56 PM 6/24/99 -0400, Larry Bliven wrote:
>i am making a pannel of 36 closely spaced jumbo red leds. (2500 mcd each)
>
>anyone got tips on how to attach them to a circuit board so that they point
>with parallel centerlines? say +/- 1 degree?

Hi Larry et al!
The base of the LED (where the leads come out) is nominally the reference
plane, and the emission peak of most devices is perpendicular to it. Find a
chunk of pre-drilled "breadboard" material with holes on 0.1 inch centers,
and copper pads on only one side, or with no copper at all. Use a tiny dab
of superglue to mount the LEDs with their base flush against the unclad
side of the PCB. (sometimes the base will have little "feet" molded into
it; in this case, be sure all of the feet are in contact with the circuit
board) Carefully bend the LED leads to form your interconnecting circuitry,
and solder using a minimum amount of heat.
This procedure will get you as close to having all of the diodes emitting
on the same axis as is reasonably achievable. If you need better accuracy,
you will have to use a photometer and adjust each diode individually, which
is probably not worth the bother. Hope this helps a bit!
ByeBye! S.
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Received on Mon Jun 28 1999 - 08:57:27 PDT

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