Brighter angel eye led rings?
 

I am wanting to make my led rings brighter so they can be seen in daylight!

Does anyone know a way of doing this?

Inside there is what looks like two 3mm leds in each ring in the shape of a T
with a resistor on each one which I presume brings it down from 12v to about 3v??

If I replace the leds with 12v 3mm ultra bright ones and bin the resistor will it just blow?

Ideas please

Craig

Yes.

You cold make them brighter by replacing the resistor with one a smaller the value of the one there, but at the risk of blowing the LEDS. This link will enable you to decode the colour code on the resistor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistor_color_code

If you replace the LEDS then you need to calculate the current required to flow through each LED, which you will have to get from the data sheet for the LED.

You will then need to caclulate the value of the resistor to give you the required current

The general formula is R = V/I
where R is the resistor value (ohms)
V is the voltage (Volts)
and I is the current (amps)

So if the current required is, say 5mA (0.005 Amps) and you have a 12 volts supply then the resitors value would be 12/0.005 = 2400 ohms. The nearest resistor values would be either 2200 or 2700 ohms.
2200 ohms will give you a brighter result as marginally more current will go through the LED

You will have to make sure the resistor is rated correctly for the power dissipation. The power dissipated is given by the formula W=V*I where W= Watts
In the example above the power is 0.005 * 12 = 0.06 watts, so an off the shelf 1/4 resistor would be fine, however if the current required is 1 amp then you would need a 12Watt resistor, and thats a fairly meaty item.

HChris thanks for detailed reply although it kinda makes me think I won't bother now! Ha!
What would happen if I just wired 12v leds without resistor but much brighter items?

Cheers
Craig

More than likely the LEDS with blow. The resistor is there to keep the current through the LEDS to it's designed value without any resistor at all then PHUT!

You could always try a smaller value (say 75% the current value), but then you will risk blowing the LEDs

Cheers I think I will try combo of both brighter led and lower resistor! Less are so cheap it can't hurt

Craig