How I made a 9 LED array with battery pack for $2!

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anomoly40

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Hello, Im rather new here so I figured I'd post something I've found to help budget ballers like myself.

I'm making my little boy Mecha armor and after I finish the parts I'm going to add lights to look cool. But after visiting a local electronics shop was shocked on how much LED cost anymore. I went to a large chain hardware store and found these little LED flash lights for $1.97 and that got my wheels spinning. Here's how I modded it to fit my cause.

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There you see the Flashlight. I bought the ugliest color ones they had the most of to help out the store.

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It has 9 LED that are pretty bright considering the size of the flashlight.

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Unscrewing the light you see the LED array, just pop that out...

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and you have this, all the LED are soldered to this circuit board. Simple.

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I then desoldered the spring from the back taking note on what it was connected to.

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I soldered a wire to where the spring was.

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I then soldered another wire to the other side of the LED circuit. If you look closely you can see the metal connecting all the LED terminals. Check it with a battery making sure it lights up before soldering.

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After checking to make sure it'll light up, I carefully soldered the other end of one wire to the battery pack that came with the flashlight.

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Then did the same to the other side.

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There you have it, a $2 9 LED setup.
 

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I used these same type of LEDs for my Iron Man suit. The lights look great but be careful while soldering them as they tend to break quite easy. I also found they run really hot with Alkaline batteries.
 
Also works with the larger touch lights.

if you hold your iron against the LED's two contacts, you can gently remove each one from the board. Attach wires. Bingo! You have a cheap string of LEDs.
 
also, fairy lights. Very cheap on ebay, waterproof come with a battery case. Perfect for use inside the suit. That is what I did :D
 
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