Friday, February 6, 2026

 The below was written years ago, but somehow not published.

After a long gap I am back at this and you should see more soon!

(mostly) dry blinking light information

been a while since I've posted, but I have been working on BLINKING LIGHTS!

Ya gotta do a bunch of boring stuff to mkae the pretty lights work
You have to figure out
1 how much current to run through them,
2 how bright you want them,
3 which chips needed to drive them
4 what the display should look like,
5 how to interconnect it (many cable and connector details
6 make a label for the panel
7 buy the appropriate LEDs and resistors
8 how big is the hole you drill to mount them in?

what? How big is the hole? Are you saying they don't even document that?
Yes, that is what I am saying.

Anyway, I could go on and on about all the steps needed, I have just brushed the surface and this is for my "temporary" troubleshooting display.

The theory here is that I document enough of what I have done, so that when I get to final builds, I can reuse the info. Sorry to load up with technical drivel, but I NEED  it.

8 mm outside front top dimension
hole must be smaller
8 mm = 5/16"

1/4"  8/32" is too small

Try 9/32" for LED mounting hole.

LED current
1 LED5RULB 5mm Red LED - Ultrabright futurlec.com 0.22 2v diode drop 150 ohm 20 ma 375 ohm 8 ma
1 LED5BULB Blue Ultrabright 5mm Round LED futurlec.com 0.30 3v diode drop 150 ohm 13 ma 250 ohm 8 ma
50 LED5YULB Yellow Ultrabright 5mm Rnd LED futurlec.com 0.18 2v diode drop 150 ohm 20 ma 375 ohm 8 ma
50 LED5GULB Green Ultrabright 5mm Rnd LED futurlec.com 0.18 3v diode drop 150 ohm 13 ma 250 ohm 8 ma