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LED's; How bright is too bright?

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Timoe:

I actually have to remember to not look directly at my trackball, its that bright.

One 4 cluster superbright blue LED.

The incandescent is unacceptable but the LED is a retina burner!

juggle50:

Will it reduce the life span of the led to put in a resistor higher than the rated forward voltage?  I've heard that underpowering an led is poor of the the led.  I'snt putting a resistor on to dim the led essentially underpowering it?

I just ordered some of these.  http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=LEDS&cart_id=9034441.25713
Scroll down to "led lense".  These claim to turn the led into a 180 degree viewing angle.  I am going to experiment with them as soon as I get them. 

Also, if you've got enough try sanding down the tops of the led's, this takes the  edge off the "spotlight."

Finally, don't forget the Knevel method of building plastic washers and mounting two to the sides.  Some people find this effective.

whammoed:

Dimming the LED will actually make it last longer.  It reduces the heat generated at the source and will lengthen its usefull life.

somunny:

I just finished converting a freebie pc power supply into a variable bench supply.  I'm going to put together a mock-up and see how bright these suckers are...

Steve

southpaw13:

How did you convert the power supply?

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