On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 00:30:14 GMT, "Ted Swirsky"
wrote:

I can't believe it's so hard to find simple parts any more. Radio Shack
seems to have become worthless in the past few years.

I installed a 120V neon indicator (pilot) lamp in some of my wall switches
to tell me when an outside or otherwise unseen light is on. Seems like
these little neon lights get dimmer over time until they are worthless.

I've heard of 120V LED pilot lights. Are they much better than the neon
ones?

I'm looking for a known mail order supplier who will sell me only two or
three at a reasonable price and not kill me on shipping. I'm surprised I
didn't see them on the Hosfelt Electronics site. I've found them on some
other sites but the prices seemed kind of high to me. I thought someone
here would know of some good suppliers.

I'd just buy a switch with a pilot light, but some of the places I
installed them are double wall switches (two in a group) and are of the
fancy rectangle switch kind instead of the older toggle switch. I just
drilled a hole in the switch place between the two switches for the lamp.

Any help or comments or alternate ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Neon lights are hard to beat for simplicity and light output.

LEDs are practical in that application. I have a LED night light it
stays on 24/7 and I replace the three leds about every four years
because they get dim

Don't use a resistor to drop the voltage if you use a LED - use a
capacitor. costs more, but dramatically lowers the heat and power
consumed.

I use a bridge rectifier for the three leds and a .47 UF 200 VAC cap
to limit the current into the rectifier. (at 60 cycles and 120 volts
- 240 volts would be half that value) Use a 100 ohm 1/4 W resistor in
series with the cap. Ideally it "should" be a flameproof resistor but
the standard carbon film ones open without burning if the cap shorts.
(which I managed to do while assembling my light - didn't even singe
the paint on the resistor - tiny flash of light - and shorted all
three leds)

The resistor limits the inrush current to the led and works as a fuse.
You could ditch the rectifier and use two leds in a back to back
configuration to work on each half cycle of the sine wave. One LED
and a diode in series with the LED or across the LED so it is forward
biased when the LED is reverse biased.

If you use half wave power you can double the current for the same
light output. Calculate the capacitive reactance to determine the cap
size needed for the voltage and frequency of your mains and current
you intend to run.
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