DIY LED Lighting

LED lighting is an intense light that uses less energy and generates less heat than a typical light bulb. While LED lighting sets are available from a typical home improvement store, the DIY lighting can be done and enable you to generate light with custom designs, colors and brightness. These DIY LEDs can be used in exterior and interior lighting fixtures, as well as in flashlights. You will need to have an area to work in that will not be disturbed while you are making your LEDs.

Empty the Halogen Bulb

• 1

  Remove the white cement inside the bulb located around the bulb's pins. Use a small screwdriver and gently twist the tip into the cement base. Do not force the screwdriver into the bulb, as you may break the bulb.

• 2

  Place the bulb face down on a table and tap the two pins with a hammer. The bulb should fall out and leave the reflector empty.

• 3

  Set the reflector aside in a safe location. You will now need to make a "Holding Disc."

Making the Holding Disc

• 1

  Secure a piece of aluminum sheeting. Printing companies discard many of these each month and for this purpose, a used sheet is as good as a new one. Cut a 4 centimeter (cm) disc from the sheet. This disc should fit within the reflector easily.

• 2

  Create a paper template so that each of the holes you punch into the disc are evenly distributed. Glue the template onto the disc and insert your office perforating punch. Punch 22 5-millimeter holes into the disc using the punch.

• 3

  Go to the online LED array calculator in the Resources at the bottom of this article. Enter in the parameters of your LED project which is a 12-volt array with 22 LEDs.

• 4

  Put the disc into a holder that keeps it suspended without interfering with the holes that have been punched into it. The little white "tables" that come with your delivery pizza may help.

  Insert the LEDs legs up into the holes with the anodes next to a cathode. The anode denotes the positive current flowing into a terminal and the cathode is the positive current flowing from the cathode. Use super glue on each LED margin so that the legs stand firm. Do not apply the glue to the legs. Use compound glue on top of the super glue so that the legs will not cause the end to move when bended. Let this sit for 24 hours.

Connect the LEDs

• 1

  Consult the scheme you got from the LED array calculator. You should have to make five strings of four LEDs each and one string of two. Using wire cutters or a nail clipper, trim the LED legs and bend each anode so that the leg touches the cathode next to it. The positive legs should be slightly longer than the negative ones.

• 2

  Complete the five strings of four LE's and one string of two. Make sure that each anode is only attached to one cathode next to it. Using a solder gun connect all the positive legs together, so that they do not touch the negative ones.

• 3

  Solder the six resistors to the negative legs. Be careful not to touch the LED legs too close to the base with the soldering gun. Solder the negative legs together to get a single negative wire that is attached to each negative LED.

• 4

  Solder a copper wire to the negative LED legs. Repeat this for the positive LED legs. The negative wire has to be shorter than the positive and cannot be touching the positive wire. Fill in the gaps between wires with a hot glue gun so that no wire is able to touch another one.

• 5

  Insert the LED disc into the empty bulb and push until the disc touches the inner reflector. Glue the areas around the legs with a generous portion while holding the LEDs firmly. Mark the positive copper wire and the negative copper wire with a pen, then trim the wire so that both are the same size. Connect the LED to a battery -- positive wire to positive terminal and negative to negative to test the light. Repeat this procedure for each bulb you wish to create and insert into your interior or exterior lighting.