Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2008 17:16:37 -0500
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
From: Joe Dunfee <joe-AT-dunfee.com>
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] glowing eyes


A battery, a pair of LED's and a resistor are all that is 
needed.  And I do recommend using LED's instead of regular light 
bulbs, because they will essentially last forever, and you will never 
have to replace them.  The brightness of LED's has improved so much 
over the last decade or so, that brightness will not be an issue.

I think Kathleen's comment was in regards to deliberately overdriving 
them, which may have been necessary years ago to get them bright enough.

Now, the next question is how bright you want them to be.  I imagine 
that you can really only settle that by experimentation.  But, 
perhaps a good way to do that is to purchase some of the cheap 
dollar-store LED flashlights.  If you get one of the kind that have a 
bendable neck, then it would be easy to cut the wires to make your 
own connection to a remote switch.

Another way to do it, without worrying about the Resistor, is to 
purchase a LED replacement bulb for regular flashlights.  These are 
intended to substitute for regular tungsten flashlight bulbs, and 
have the necessary resistor already inside the bulb.  You would then 
need to figure out how you were going to connect them.

If you use plain LED's, it is important to connect them properly and 
use the correct value of resistor.  Here is a link to one site that 
helps to determine what resistor you 
need.  http://www.led-calculator.com/  If you don't know electronics 
at all, it may be very helpful to find someone who does.

Here is a source for all sorts of LED's, including the flashlight 
replacement bulbs.
http://www.superbrightleds.com


Joe Dunfee  joe-AT-dunfee.com
Gordonville, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. 

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