Thread: Flicker Flame LEDs

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I made some candles recently using some flicker flame LEDs I ordered from Electronic Goldmine. I really like these because I can use the smaller diameter PVC for the candle itself. I'm not limited to using the larger PVC sizes that the LED tealights fit into.
These were made using 3/4 inch PVC and I'm using the CR2032 coin batteries for power. This battery is small enough to be hidden up inside the candle itself. ( The black thing that looks like a wick is actually some heat shrink on one of the LED legs.)
I bought the LEDs on sale, so I guess the total price for each candle is around $1.75.





Here's a video of one:




If anyone's interested, here is the link for the LEDs:

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.co...?number=G17848

And the Batteries are on sale:

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.co...?number=G17896

Awsome job, they look great!!

Is there a way to wire several candles in a series and use a 9v battery to power them?

I was thinking of doing a candle opera with 3, 4 or 6 candles but would like to wire them together with a hidden micro switch on the fake candle opera.

Thanks, svaillan!
Since this LED (and most of them) run off of about 3 volts DC, you should be able to put three of them in series with a 9 volt battery. You might want to add a small resisitor in the circuit just to make sure the LEDs don't burn out.

Or you could wire more than three candles in a parallel circuit. Just would have to use a resistor that drops the 9 volts down to 3 volts. A parallel circuit will use up your battery power faster also.

I wired up three in parallel with a resistor and used an old phone charger that I had laying around. It works great, I have about 50 hours run time on mine with no problems so I think I got the resistor calculations right. Great job on the candles they look fantastic, I like the way you cut the ends at an angle, gives them a more realistic look.

Yes very nice job. What was the rating on the resistors you used? did you hide one per candle inside it? Im new to LEDs and still getting to know this whole resistor thing and how it relates to battery life. OMG great idea Soundmankkc, about using the old phone charger. I must have a million of them!

Nice job!!!
Of course everything you make is.

Originally Posted by soundmankkc

Great job on the candles they look fantastic, I like the way you cut the ends at an angle, gives them a more realistic look.

Thanks, soundman! I really like how they turn out when cut at an angle like that.

Originally Posted by caju12831

Yes very nice job. What was the rating on the resistors you used? did you hide one per candle inside it?

I only powered them one at a time using the CR2032 coin batteries. They put out 3 volts, so I didn't need a resistor. Somewhere online there is a LED resistance calculator. I'll try to find it.

Originally Posted by halloween71

Nice job!!!
Of course everything you make is.

Thanks, Halloween71! I appreciate it.

Here are the calculators that I used for my LED spotlights...

Single LED:
http://led.linear1.org/1led.wiz

Multiple LED (also works for single LED): View as wire diagram, it makes it very clear as to how to connect them and exactly where the resistor goes.
http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

Hope this helps...

If you are not familiar with LED's there are some inputs that may be foreign to you (they were for me). This should help you with the inputs on the calculators:

Diode forward voltage

If you have good specs from your supplier, you'll have something that looks like "3.4V @ 20 mA" which defines forward voltage and current at one point on the operating curve. If you don't have good specs, here's a table to help you make decent guesses:

LED color voltage (Volts)
IR - 1.5
red - 2.0
orange - 2.0
yellow - 2.1
green - 2.2
true green - 3.3
blue - 3.3
white - 3.3
UV - 3.3
blue (430 nm) - 4.6

Diode forward current

If you have good specs from your supplier, you'll want to enter the typical forward current in milliamps here. For 3mm and 5mm LEDs, this is usually 20 mA or close to it. A few special, high-power LEDs exist, but they always come with specs. So if you need to guess, use 20.

Oh by the way, I really like the candles! The design will work great for a candelabra.