Rooftop gargoyle with fitted LED eyes

Hey everybody!

Not sure if I found the right place for help, but here goes. Hoping I could get help with a project. Please excuse my incorrect terminology if any. I am sure you all will understand exactly what I want to do.

I am getting a rooftop gargoyle for my house. I want to drill the eyes/pupils out and wire in some LEDs into the pupils. Red or I am sure other colors are cool too. I will likely drill straight back to other side of head. I figure it should be pretty easy to tunnel the LED and wires through and I guess glue in the appropriate place.

Now for power, this is where I could definitely use guidance. Wiring diagrams would be greatly appreciated. Here is what I was thinking. Couldn't I buy a small battery cell and a mini solar panel and essentially have this run all the time? Charge and run off solar in day and run off battery cell at night?

This is where I need help. What size LEDs do you guys think? Looks like common size is 3mm or 5 mm. Battery size? Button style battery enough? Solar panel size? Also, which online vendor would be good to get my supplies?

I need help figuring out diagram and the amount of volts, amps, watts, etc of the appropriate battery, mini solar panel, and LEDs

In addition, I was thinking about having one or two small LEDs shine up on statue to accent it.

Do you think I would be far better off simply running a wire to inside of house for power? If so, are there ways to run delicate LEDs off outlet power inside? Any ideas appreciated!

You can search "rooftop gargoyles" and look at images for an idea. I have not chosen any specific one yet.

thanks!

I think you need to look at some solar garden lights in the store and at night in somebody's yard.
Mine don't work at night in winter following a cloudy day. A red LED on a solar garden light is very dim.
Some people have solar garden lights that light up something but their solar panel and battery are pretty big to provide enough power.

I think powering it from a wall-wart AC to DC power supply is best.

Audioguru said:

I think you need to look at some solar garden lights in the store and at night in somebody's yard.
Mine don't work at night in winter following a cloudy day. A red LED on a solar garden light is very dim.
Some people have solar garden lights that light up something but their solar panel and battery are pretty big to provide enough power.

I think powering it from a wall-wart AC to DC power supply is best.

Click to expand...

Thanks for input. Don't forget it is just to make eyes glow, not for any useful light if that makes sense.

You are probably right about not messing with solar and battery. Can you give me idea of what type of converter you are referring? And does there have to be some type of regulator so too much power does not go to 3 or 4 small LEDs? (2 for eyes and one or two accent)

Is it basically as simple as running all lights in series and simply have two leads going to inside power source?

Thanks

Your cheapest solution is to dismantle a garden solar light and re-use it's contents. You get a solar panel, battery and control circuit included for almost no cost. Remove the existing white LED and wire two high-brightness red LEDs in it's place. Add a 10 Ohm resistor in series with each LED and then join the two circuits together taking note of the polarity. LEDs have a 'flat' on one side of thier body, it isn't always easy to see but the two new ones should have their flats facing the same way and they should be wired the same way as the original white LED.

It should then work, make sure you use high brightness LEDs, ordinary indicator types will be too dim. They come in 3mm, 5mm and 10mm standard sizes but others are available if you search for them. I would avoid 10mm ones if you can because they tend to focus the light in a tighter beam and it may not be visible unless you are directly in front of the gargoyle.

If possible, make it possible to replace the battery. Most rechargeable batteries are good for around 700 - 800 recharge cycles under ideal conditions but you might get less if it's exposed to harsh temperatures. Don't forget the battery will go through one charge and discharge cycle every 24 hours (assuming you don't live in the Arctic/Antarctic circles!) so the number will quickly clock up.

Brian.

An LED is a DIODE. It is not the same as an old incandescent light bulb that is simply an accurate resistor.
The light bulb operates from a certain voltage but an LED operates from a certain current. When you feed an LED from a voltage source then YOU MUST use a series resistor to limit the current or the LED will instantly burn out.

A red LED sets its own voltage to about 2.0V (some will be 1.8V and others will be 2.2V). If two red LEDs are connected in series then a 9VDC power supply can be used and a series 270 ohm resistor will limit the current to about 18.5mA. But a cheapo 9V power supply might produce 15V with such a low power load then the LEDs will burn out.

A white LED sets its own voltage to about 3.3V so two can be connected in series and have a series 120 ohm resistor to limit the current to 20mA when the power supply is 9VDC. White LEDs can shine on and light up the gargoyle. Again the 9V power supply might produce 15V instead which will burn out the LEDs.

Buy Name-Brand LEDs from a Western manufacturer if you can because the cheap Oriental LEDs use iron wires on their LEDs that rust away in a few months outside. The same with batteries. My American Ni-MH battery cells have a stainless steel case that lasts forever. The Oriental Ni-Cad cells rust away in a few months then leak the poisonous Cadmium all over the place.

Frequently a "high brightness" LED is a dim one in a case that focusses the light into a narrow beam. You want a bright WIDE beam.