so i am working on a model house for a highschool physics project
the main part of the project is to wire the house with numerous led's and such

we are looking to buy a bunch of led's online, but have no clue as to the different specifications and what they mean
we want white led's, sufficiently bright enough to light a small room(20" x 8" x 12"), about 50 of them(we plan to share some with other groups)

 

What is your battery voltage?

 

we can and probably will use a bunch of combinations of batteries ranging from AA to 9V and a couple rechargable packs we ripped from electric drills(our last project) which are like 3.6V and 4V or something

so basically, we will make the batteries match what we need in terms of voltage, but it will not be something huge like 50V or 120V or anything

 

Why you dont go to an electronics shop and ask for white leds. There are smalll , medium and big ones. Ask them the operating voltage and the current needed by the leds they sell or ask them the number of the led so you can find information about them on the internet. Then you decide what power supply you will use and what limiting resistors to use for the leds.

 

A lightbulb in a home has a very wide angle. Some cheap LEDs are made to appear brighter with a lens that makes a very narrow beam. Select bright LEDs that have a wide angle. Get their detailed datasheet.

if you don't know how to connect LEDs then don't. Ask us how before you burn them out.

 

Looking at typical lower current white LEDs the forward voltage is about 3.5-4V. So a 6V (lantern battery) or 9V would work. The 6V would last longer.

Like Audioguru says, read up on them before you light em up.

 

I would suggest radioshack, for something that small in quantity, once you add shipping it will be more expensive. Radioshack sells 20 packs that run on 2-3 volts (They don't really, more like 2.7) just get 2 or 3 twenty packs.

Just connect these in parallel with switches and the batteries, and you'll be fine. The e-book on this site has a nice setion on series and parallel circuits

 

Just connect these in parallel with switches and the batteries, and you'll be fine.

No.
1) It is bad practise to connect LEDs directly in parallel. They share the current poorly.
2) You should never connect LEDs to a battery without a series current-limiting resistor.

 

The 20-pack assortment that Radio Shack sells isn't a terrible value for being available locally, but there are only a couple of white LEDs in each assortment. You would do much better by buying them online. Radio Shack wants absurd prices for individual "super bright" LEDs.

You can spread the light provided by the superbright LEDs either by using reflectors to bounce the light off the model house's ceiling, or by making chocolate-chip shaped ala "Hershey's Kisses" reflectors from aluminum foil to spread the light around.

 

we've been to radio shack and didn't like the options they had(we don't want a variety pack, we want all white, as our color scheme is pure black and white) we are gonna place a few blue mood lights in the bedroom, but we already have some of those
what is the best site to order led's from?

 

Go to digikey.com or mouser.com