Untitled Gardening Project #79

[xiphmont]

Using cyanoacrylate glue, which bonds to acrylic very well, glue four warm white 3mm LEDs into the four holes drilled in each acrylic cube.

Remember kids, warm white is the new 'blinding l33t blue'.

I'm using four LEDs here not because I want insane brightness, but because white and high-brightness LEDs have a much shorter life span than older low brightness, pure-color LEDs. The useful life span is inversely proportional to the drive current, so by using four LEDs I can collectively drive them at a lower current for much longer.

Comments

[wendyhouse.livejournal.com]

I was very sad when portnoyslp pointed out to me that this might not actually be a gardening project.
However, that said, the fountain you are building in my imagination is WICKED cool!

[xiphmont.livejournal.com]

They don't die, they just lose brightness on an exponential curve. For most discrete white LEDs, the curve dips to somewhere between 70%-50% brightness in 10,000 hours when driven at 20mA. These will be driven at about 3mA, so about ten years to 50% and about 20 years to 25%.

Monty