Interested in starting to learn to make LED signs (Basic Q's)

[Chris M]

I want to start learning to make LED signs. I want to start simple, making something like this:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Custom-LED-Sign/

Would I be better off buying resistors and LED's and just start experimenting?

Or would a breadboard kit be a good investment to start playing around? Something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MB-102-830-...579?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item338f3a4c33

I am a total noob with this stuff, but want to start learning by experimentation.


Eventually I want to play with Arduino, but I am too inexperienced, and wanna start just with LED's.

Note* I am wanting to learn this for my amusement/hobby, not for making stuff to sell.

Any advice?

 

[Rui Monteiro]

Hello Chris M,

I'm not an professional and like you I'm an hobbiest to. I started with electronics few months ago, but I feel free to unswer you some points I feel you should know.

For that kind of signs you showed on the first photo, there are some points to take in account:

1. your knowledge about leds.
2. each led consumes aproximatly 20 mA. Only for the V, you have 25 leds, so the total consumption will be very high ( 25 * 0,02A = 0.5A ).
3. i suggest you may start with the protoboard you showed later and with simpler circuits.
4. In practice there are ways to work with so many leds simultaneously but the tecnology behind it it is a little bit hard to understand with so low knowledgment you have so far.

Start to understand some electronic basic principles like:

1. voltages, currents (dc and ac)
2. resistors and basic circuits
3. diodes
4. capacitors
5. transistors (bipolar ones for start)

If you google, you'll find many tutorials. If you feel I can help you more, feel free to ask.

Good luck.

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

Hi Chris M and welcome to Electronics Point

I like the look of that VOLT sign.

There are several board options for the display boards. Many of them are described in a good article at http://www.robotroom.com/Breadboard-Hints-And-Tips2.html and shown at http://www.futurlec.com/Protoboards.shtml and http://www.jameco.com/1/1/52326-sb404-solderable-prototyping-board.html and http://kornakprotoblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/introducing-solderable-pc-breadboards.html. Here's a summary.

• No-copper pre-drilled (grid perforated) board. This is a sheet which has holes pre-drilled in a grid, usually at 0.1 inch (2.54 mm) spacing in both dimensions. You put the leads of your LEDs or other components through the appropriate holes and bend them over to hold the part in position, and use the leads themselves, and/or pieces of hookup wire, to interconnect the components with solder.
  
• Single copper pad per hole - see http://www.petervis.com/electronics..._Matrix_Circuit_Board_Stripboard_50x70mm.html. Each hole has its own round copper pad, so you can mount your components rigidly against the board. You interconnect the components using pieces of wire. You can either build up a sparse track pattern using uninsulated wire (component leads are often used for this) as shown in http://cdn.instructables.com/F74/AAJM/H337K5MG/F74AAJMH337K5MG.LARGE.jpg (not a very space-efficient method) or you can use point-to-point wiring with thin enamelled or plastic-coated wire, or insulated wire-wrap or hookup wire, as shown in http://www.electronicsinfoline.com/New/img/news/200902/9073_0.jpg.
  
• Tri-pad board - pads are connected in groups of three. See http://www.robotroom.com/Traffic-Light/Three-Hole-Solder-Pad-Perf-Board.jpg and https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/MFrey_PCB.JPG/400px-MFrey_PCB.JPG
  
• Other arrangements including breadboard pattern - see http://www.robotroom.com/Circuit-Board-Tips/Double-Sided-Patterned-Perf-Board.jpg and http://www.robotroom.com/Circuit-Board-Tips/Miniature-Perf-Board-In-Leftover-Space.jpg and other sales pages.
  
• Stripboard aka Veroboard - grid drilled board with full length copper strips in one direction; see https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/StripBoard.png/400px-StripBoard.png. Also available with north-south strips on one side and east-west strips on the other side.
• Undrilled, unetched copper clad board - can be used to make your own PCBs using chemical etching and manual drilling. I used to do this but it's time-consuming, it's messy, and the resulting quality is poor; it's much better to get PCBs manufactured IMO.

One or more breadboards are worth having for prototyping the control and driver circuitry, but breadboards are not designed for permanent construction. Once you have it working, you can transfer it to any of the types of prototyping board listed above, to free up the breadboard for further experimentation.

You will probably need to start using microcontrollers if your requirements are more than very basic. There are many options. PICAXE is a range of ICs that you can program in their own nasty BASIC-like language (see http://www.picaxe.com). There are many small microcontroller-based boards that include a USB port and various extras and are constructed on a small rectangular circuit board with two rows of pins that can be plugged into a breadboard or soldered into a prototyping board (see https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11113 and https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9530 and https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12587). There are full microprocessor-based boards with various peripherals and application-specific add-on boards (see https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11021 and https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12053).

That's only a small selection of what's out there. Google is your friend!

 

[Arouse1973]

I want to start learning to make LED signs. I want to start simple, making something like this:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Custom-LED-Sign/

Would I be better off buying resistors and LED's and just start experimenting?

Or would a breadboard kit be a good investment to start playing around? Something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MB-102-830-...579?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item338f3a4c33

I am a total noob with this stuff, but want to start learning by experimentation.


Eventually I want to play with Arduino, but I am too inexperienced, and wanna start just with LED's.

Note* I am wanting to learn this for my amusement/hobby, not for making stuff to sell.

Any advice?

Love the sign, see if you can get a book on LED projects, that might be the way to go.
Cheers
Adam