My LED isn't that bright.....

[Bucksears]

and I may have to send him to a special school.....

I've got a simple Millenium 1 bypass board that I made using the one on JD's site as a guide. I can deal with the slow illumination, but when the effect is on, the LED itself isn't that bright; not like my Jekyll&Hyde.

The LED is a regular Green 5mm Radio Shack; 2.1V - 25mA - 6.3mcd.
Any ideas? Is there anything that would cause it to be not as bright?
Is it not getting enough voltage?
Are there minimal LED specs that you guys use? i.e. certain voltage, mcd, etc.?

Thanks,
- Buck
www.bucksears.com

[smoguzbenjamin]

Try giving the LED a little more current, it'll shine brighter that way

[petemoore]

I like to take the LED I'm about to want lit, start with around 4k7 [should light it without frying it] limiting resistor, then adjust R value to get brightness. [tag a larger or smaller value resistor than 10k parallel with your 4k7 ?]
 You can blow your led.
 These guys know the other way to do it, adjusting to 20ma current I believe is the method..I've never tried.
 There's a post on yesterdays page I believe about this, a 10k 'value finding' pot technique was mentioned...use a 10k pot as V/R [variable resistance] in series with the LED [starting at high resistance] adjusting till the LED gets bright enough, by connecting that^ to your charged battery. Measure the pots resistance at that setting [don't accidentally rotate the shaft. Then get [or build] a resistor close to that measured value and put that where the pot was...in series with the LED.
 To find the polarity of the LED/R circuit, connect it to the battery, if it doesn't light, reverse the polarity.
 I use alligator clips as heat sinks on LED legs when soldering.

[Wellington Cordeiro]

Experiment to build the millenium bypass 2. It is better than the millenium 1.

[RDV]

Those RS green LEDs are the dimmest LEDs ever. Just get a red one or blue if you want something bright from RS.

Regards

RDV

[Bucksears]

Thanks guys,
All there is to this little board is a 1N914 diode, a J201 transistor, a 2.2k resistor and the LED.
I'm running the pedal off a 9V AC.
Should I try reducing the resistor value?

- Buck
www.bucksears.com

[RDV]

1k will make it a little brighter, a decent LED will make it a lot brighter.

RDV

[Bucksears]

Thanks RDV. I've got a couple of clear/green ones that I think might do the trick. Otherwise, I'll pick something up when I'm out today.

Thanks again,
Buck

www.bucksears.com

[downweverything]

yeah radioshack leds are by far the dimmest leds ive ever used... buy a decent one and you can get it brighter without using more current

[RDV]

Thanks RDV. I've got a couple of clear/green ones that I think might do the trick. www.bucksears.com

The clear/green ones are a lot brighter than the green/green ones, especially with a 1k resistor.

RS has some decent LEDs, but the green/green & yellow/yellows are useless IMO.

RDV

[petemoore]

Twist a little resistor on an LED leg, and connect either end of that circuit to the battery. Reverse if necessary. Adjust R value. Use to be lit in any circuit that provides ~same voltage.

[Eric H]

6.3mcd.

www.bucksears.com

That's your problem --the mcd spec is brightness. Look for one with at least 30mcd.

-Eric

[Peter Snowberg]

High brightness LEDs have mcd measurements in the thousands.

Take care,
-Peter

[Bucksears]

Thanks again guys.
I tried a clear/green one and that did it. It's 630mcd and looks great.

p.s. I'm going to be posting new pics and even some soundclips on my website of the MiniTubes and a couple of others sometime soon.

www.bucksears.com