FireFly Diorama


Posted on Feb 7, 2014

Use some tiny blinking LED`s as fireflies. It takes a bit of electronics skill to do this project but it comes out really wonderful. LED`s are tiny Light Emitting Diodes. Thisis a picture of one of the LED`s I used for this project. It is rather small but it really emits a strong light. This is exactly what is used on many electronic devices like tv`s, and stereo`s. If you have an electronic device that has a little red,


FireFly Diorama
Click here to download the full size of the above Circuit.

yellow, green or other color light on it that is an LED. The type I used for this diorama is a blinking style. If you apply to it the voltage from a battery it will automatically blink and in a random pattern so all the LED`s (fireflies) I have in my diorama blink randomly which makes it really nice. About 10 feet of thin wire similar to telephone wire. Approximately 24 gauge if you know wires and electronics. 5 feet of red and 5 feet of black I used telephone wire, stripped off the sheating and used the black and red wires inside it. LED`s are rather sensitive to the current that flows through them and if you connect a battery directly to them you will ruin them. So you really need to attach resistors to each one in order to keep them controlled and operating. If you are going to do this project I recommend you get extra LED`s and a few different value resistors so you can experiment a bit before you actually wire them into your shoebox diorama. Update on this wiring diagram: I got a terrific and very helpful email from Grenathor who re-designed this circuit to make it much more efficient. The diagram above is the re-done circuit and here is what he has to say: The resistor has to be connected in series with the LED. By doing this, you limit the current that will flow through the resistor tothe LED. By varying the resistor, you will be able to vary the LED`s intensity, making it brighter or darker. A standard LED needs...




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