Where can i buy Blue LEDs cheap

inveterate

Golden Member
Mar 1, 2005
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I need them to make a 5 axis disco light show for my computer case, Those blue leds from xoxide are like 2 bux each, wtf. Anyone know where to get um cheaper?
 

dendrofrogger

Banned
Feb 15, 2005
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Xoxide.com is pretty inexpensive in their pricing. If you just want the LED bulbs to do your own wiring, then try Radio Shack or other local electronics store.

-Bill
 

TheStu

Moderator<br>Mobile Devices & Gadgets
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Sep 15, 2004
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Do not go to RadioShack, they will ream you every step of the way.... Look on Ebay, recently I saw 100 ultra bright 3mm Blue LEDs for like $20 or so....
 

mindwreck

Golden Member
May 25, 2003
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Originally posted by: TheStu
Do not go to RadioShack, they will ream you every step of the way.... Look on Ebay, recently I saw 100 ultra bright 3mm Blue LEDs for like $20 or so....

ebay. I just got some this week. I recommend buying some from "besthongkong." very cheap and I got 50 for 8bucks shipped.
 

Mark R

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Chi Wing, or BestHongKong on ebay.

Very cheap but bright LEDs, I think I paid about $0.15 each for blue ones. Not particularly great quality, but satisfactory for most purposes. I've also heard that they tend to burn out if you run them at their rated spec, but they're so cheap you might as well run them at half power.

Of course, if it's bang for the buck you want - then look no further than the Luxeon star. Yup, they're expensive (about $15) each, but they are nearly 100 times the power of ebay LEDs. (Yes, I have tested a single Luxeon LED against a bank of 50 ebay LEDs).
 

inveterate

Golden Member
Mar 1, 2005
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wo,,, Them lexeon star site very complicated, I don't know which one to buy, and they don't tell me the voltages or anything, I plan to run this off my comp supply, so i'd appreciate if you have the specs for those leds. What's the difference between the radiation patterns thingy, THX
 

Mark R

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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If you really are interested in the luxeon LEDs then here is a basic run down of what you need to know:

Ignore the 'emitters', 'snap leds' etc. - all you are interested in is 'luxeon star'.

There are 2 main types:
1) Narrow beam (called star/O) - these are like a normal high-brigtness LED with a very narrow, very bright beam.
2) Everything else - Don't worry too much about lambertian and batwing - they're very similar, in that they are 'flood lights' pumping out light in every direction (like a normal light bulb). The lamberian patten is slightly smoother - the batwing has a dark spot directly in centre of the beam.

They also come in several power levels:
1) Luxeon
2) Luxeon III (3x the power, 1.5x the price)
3) Luxeon V (4x the power - but too expensive, so ignore these).

I would recommend using a standard luxeon star. You should get good results if you connect a single blue star to the 5V supply using a 3.9 Ohm 1 Watt resistor.

If you want to use the more powerful luxeon III. Then I would recommend using a 1.8 Ohm 2 Watt resistor and connecting to the 5V supply. You must use a heatsink with Luxeon IIIs - an old 486 heatsink should be fine.

I normally buy mine from Luxeonstar.com