This is probably going to sound like a non issue to most, and believe me that I would for the most part agree, but anyway my wife has some decorative battery powered "candles", which are basically a mock hollow decorated plastic candle with a hollow opaque tip and an LED inside. These things, I have to admit do actually look sort of rustic when viewed from a distance. The LED draws about 10ma at just over two volts. The LED also flickers, which gives a pleasing effect as well. The candle also has a timer function so that it will turn off automatically after a few hours to save the batteries. This is all great, except that my wife thinks that the "flame" is too orange.. She really wants them to look just a little bit more yellow.

With the TV business practically in the toilet, I find that I have a lot more time on my hands these days, and so I'm able to devote more time to keeping the old lady happy if and when a "problem" like this should arise.

The LED that came with the candle is clear but lights up amber and flickers.. I tried one of the type used in flashlights and it's too blue and produces a "cold" light. I tried a yellow colored one and it lights up too, (bright) yellow. I tried both blue and green food coloring on the clear one but that failed to yield the results I was looking for too.

She says that she can live without the flickering effect, but I think that if I can find the right color LED, if I convert this to low voltage AC I'll lose the timer but directly connected add a flicker to the LED.

For that matter it just occurred to me that if I abandon the LED idea completely and just convert the damn thing to low voltage line operation I can then use a small incandescent lamp, Like a # 47 for instance operating at 3.0 volts. I believe that would replicate the exact effect that she's looking for as a "flame". I can hard wire the things but I'd like to avoid this if possible and trying to operate the fixture on batteries with an incandescent lamp would not be practical so Retaining an LED of some sort would be a lot simpler.

I know, I have too much time on my hands. Thank the Chinese and the current crop of garbage they've been shipping over here for it. Does anyone know of a source for LED's in various different shades that might fit the bill for what I'm trying to do? Thanks, Lenny

One source is the surplus dealer Marlin Jones. They have a selection of
colored leds, and also combination leds in one housing. See
http://www.mpja.com/5mm-LEDs/products/442/ for the list. They have a three
lead device with red and green emitters - you could vary the two drive
currents to get the shade you wanted, and even cycle it plus make it
flicker. Lots of opportunity for circuit tuning or microcontroller pwm
programming :-). They also have a red-green-blue four lead led if you want
the full spectrum.

-----
Regards,
Carl Ijames

wrote in message
...

This is probably going to sound like a non issue to most, and believe me
that I would for the most part agree, but anyway my wife has some decorative
battery powered "candles", which are basically a mock hollow decorated
plastic candle with a hollow opaque tip and an LED inside. These things, I
have to admit do actually look sort of rustic when viewed from a distance.
The LED draws about 10ma at just over two volts. The LED also flickers,
which gives a pleasing effect as well. The candle also has a timer function
so that it will turn off automatically after a few hours to save the
batteries. This is all great, except that my wife thinks that the "flame" is
too orange. She really wants them to look just a little bit more yellow.

With the TV business practically in the toilet, I find that I have a lot
more time on my hands these days, and so I'm able to devote more time to
keeping the old lady happy if and when a "problem" like this should arise.

The LED that came with the candle is clear but lights up amber and flickers.
I tried one of the type used in flashlights and it's too blue and produces a
"cold" light. I tried a yellow colored one and it lights up too, (bright)
yellow. I tried both blue and green food coloring on the clear one but that
failed to yield the results I was looking for too.

She says that she can live without the flickering effect, but I think that
if I can find the right color LED, if I convert this to low voltage AC I'll
lose the timer but directly connected add a flicker to the LED.

For that matter it just occurred to me that if I abandon the LED idea
completely and just convert the damn thing to low voltage line operation I
can then use a small incandescent lamp, Like a # 47 for instance operating
at 3.0 volts. I believe that would replicate the exact effect that she's
looking for as a "flame". I can hard wire the things but I'd like to avoid
this if possible and trying to operate the fixture on batteries with an
incandescent lamp would not be practical so Retaining an LED of some sort
would be a lot simpler.

I know, I have too much time on my hands. Thank the Chinese and the current
crop of garbage they've been shipping over here for it. Does anyone know of
a source for LED's in various different shades that might fit the bill for
what I'm trying to do? Thanks, Lenny

On 06/04/2014 17:33, wrote:
This is probably going to sound like a non issue to most, and believe me that I would for the most part agree, but anyway my wife has some decorative battery powered "candles", which are basically a mock hollow decorated plastic candle with a hollow opaque tip and an LED inside. These things, I have to admit do actually look sort of rustic when viewed from a distance. The LED draws about 10ma at just over two volts. The LED also flickers, which gives a pleasing effect as well. The candle also has a timer function so that it will turn off automatically after a few hours to save the batteries. This is all great, except that my wife thinks that the "flame" is too orange.. She really wants them to look just a little bit more yellow.

With the TV business practically in the toilet, I find that I have a lot more time on my hands these days, and so I'm able to devote more time to keeping the old lady happy if and when a "problem" like this should arise.

The LED that came with the candle is clear but lights up amber and flickers.. I tried one of the type used in flashlights and it's too blue and produces a "cold" light. I tried a yellow colored one and it lights up too, (bright) yellow. I tried both blue and green food coloring on the clear one but that failed to yield the results I was looking for too.

She says that she can live without the flickering effect, but I think that if I can find the right color LED, if I convert this to low voltage AC I'll lose the timer but directly connected add a flicker to the LED.

For that matter it just occurred to me that if I abandon the LED idea completely and just convert the damn thing to low voltage line operation I can then use a small incandescent lamp, Like a # 47 for instance operating at 3.0 volts. I believe that would replicate the exact effect that she's looking for as a "flame". I can hard wire the things but I'd like to avoid this if possible and trying to operate the fixture on batteries with an incandescent lamp would not be practical so Retaining an LED of some sort would be a lot simpler.

I know, I have too much time on my hands. Thank the Chinese and the current crop of garbage they've been shipping over here for it. Does anyone know of a source for LED's in various different shades that might fit the bill for what I'm trying to do? Thanks, Lenny


If you don't mind making a little, low power , inverter up to about 100V
dc. Try driving a collection of neon indicators with that DC and much
lower droppers than usually used. The effect is a very convincing
flicker effect and the colour of orange is just about right also. The
neons tend to flicker at different rates, due to production variability
but different types and sizes improves that variability

On Sunday, April 6, 2014 12:33:41 PM UTC-4, wrote:
This is probably going to sound like a non issue to most, and believe me that I would for the most part agree, but anyway my wife has some decorative battery powered "candles", which are basically a mock hollow decorated plastic candle with a hollow opaque tip and an LED inside. These things, I have to admit do actually look sort of rustic when viewed from a distance. The LED draws about 10ma at just over two volts. The LED also flickers, which gives a pleasing effect as well. The candle also has a timer function so that it will turn off automatically after a few hours to save the batteries. This is all great, except that my wife thinks that the "flame" is too orange. She really wants them to look just a little bit more yellow.



With the TV business practically in the toilet, I find that I have a lot more time on my hands these days, and so I'm able to devote more time to keeping the old lady happy if and when a "problem" like this should arise.



The LED that came with the candle is clear but lights up amber and flickers. I tried one of the type used in flashlights and it's too blue and produces a "cold" light. I tried a yellow colored one and it lights up too, (bright) yellow. I tried both blue and green food coloring on the clear one but that failed to yield the results I was looking for too.



She says that she can live without the flickering effect, but I think that if I can find the right color LED, if I convert this to low voltage AC I'll lose the timer but directly connected add a flicker to the LED.



For that matter it just occurred to me that if I abandon the LED idea completely and just convert the damn thing to low voltage line operation I can then use a small incandescent lamp, Like a # 47 for instance operating at 3.0 volts. I believe that would replicate the exact effect that she's looking for as a "flame". I can hard wire the things but I'd like to avoid this if possible and trying to operate the fixture on batteries with an incandescent lamp would not be practical so Retaining an LED of some sort would be a lot simpler.



I know, I have too much time on my hands. Thank the Chinese and the current crop of garbage they've been shipping over here for it. Does anyone know of a source for LED's in various different shades that might fit the bill for what I'm trying to do? Thanks, Lenny

A couple of interesting ideas the multi lead LED's and also the inverter, but a couple of problems too. I certainly will check out those LED's they sound very interesting, but it will be difficult to vary the bias to multi LED's because the chinsey circuit, (whatever it is) can't drive several lights. That means the design and construction of a whole new circuit. I have some spare time but there are many of these lamps and I know she would not really want me to spend it that way.

The other problem is that the neon color orange from for example an NE2 is just about the color of the LED that's in there now, and she hates it. Go figure. To me a light is a light. It helps you see in the dark. But to a woman, a light is an "experience". Lenny

What you really need is a set of RGB LEDs. Vary the voltage to each one using a resistor to get the color you want. Look for a 5050 LED. These contain 3 LEDs in one small surface mount package.

Dan

On Sunday, April 6, 2014 12:33:41 PM UTC-4, wrote:
This is probably going to sound like a non issue to most, and believe me that I would for the most part agree, but anyway my wife has some decorative battery powered "candles", which are basically a mock hollow decorated plastic candle with a hollow opaque tip and an LED inside. These things, I have to admit do actually look sort of rustic when viewed from a distance. The LED draws about 10ma at just over two volts. The LED also flickers, which gives a pleasing effect as well. The candle also has a timer function so that it will turn off automatically after a few hours to save the batteries. This is all great, except that my wife thinks that the "flame" is too orange. She really wants them to look just a little bit more yellow.



With the TV business practically in the toilet, I find that I have a lot more time on my hands these days, and so I'm able to devote more time to keeping the old lady happy if and when a "problem" like this should arise.



The LED that came with the candle is clear but lights up amber and flickers. I tried one of the type used in flashlights and it's too blue and produces a "cold" light. I tried a yellow colored one and it lights up too, (bright) yellow. I tried both blue and green food coloring on the clear one but that failed to yield the results I was looking for too.



She says that she can live without the flickering effect, but I think that if I can find the right color LED, if I convert this to low voltage AC I'll lose the timer but directly connected add a flicker to the LED.



For that matter it just occurred to me that if I abandon the LED idea completely and just convert the damn thing to low voltage line operation I can then use a small incandescent lamp, Like a # 47 for instance operating at 3.0 volts. I believe that would replicate the exact effect that she's looking for as a "flame". I can hard wire the things but I'd like to avoid this if possible and trying to operate the fixture on batteries with an incandescent lamp would not be practical so Retaining an LED of some sort would be a lot simpler.



I know, I have too much time on my hands. Thank the Chinese and the current crop of garbage they've been shipping over here for it. Does anyone know of a source for LED's in various different shades that might fit the bill for what I'm trying to do? Thanks, Lenny

That's a good idea for future projects however this circuit won't handle to added load of two extra LED's. But last evening we had a break through. Yesterday I spent, (wasted) a few hours farting around with LED's, different types, colors, tinting them with food dye, etc. just stupid stuff. I finally finished up, (gave up) and put the OEM LED back in and reassembling the candle. She came home last night, turned on the light, the color as far as I can tell being the same color it was before, and she said to me "what did you do, I love it"?
Whatever is going on here is definitely not related to electronics. Lenny

I believe MAKE: had a project on LED candles, but I'm not sure.

http://makezine.com/2008/09/23/build-an-led-candle-that

http://makezine.com/2006/10/13/how-t...flickers-for-j

On Mon, 7 Apr 2014 12:47:03 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On Sunday, April 6, 2014 12:33:41 PM UTC-4, wrote:
This is probably going to sound like a non issue to most, and believe me that I would for the most part agree, but anyway my wife has some decorative battery powered "candles", which are basically a mock hollow decorated plastic candle with a hollow opaque tip and an LED inside. These things, I have to admit do actually look sort of rustic when viewed from a distance. The LED draws about 10ma at just over two volts. The LED also flickers, which gives a pleasing effect as well. The candle also has a timer function so that it will turn off automatically after a few hours to save the batteries. This is all great, except that my wife thinks that the "flame" is too orange. She really wants them to look just a little bit more yellow.



With the TV business practically in the toilet, I find that I have a lot more time on my hands these days, and so I'm able to devote more time to keeping the old lady happy if and when a "problem" like this should arise.



The LED that came with the candle is clear but lights up amber and flickers. I tried one of the type used in flashlights and it's too blue and produces a "cold" light. I tried a yellow colored one and it lights up too, (bright) yellow. I tried both blue and green food coloring on the clear one but that failed to yield the results I was looking for too.



She says that she can live without the flickering effect, but I think that if I can find the right color LED, if I convert this to low voltage AC I'll lose the timer but directly connected add a flicker to the LED.



For that matter it just occurred to me that if I abandon the LED idea completely and just convert the damn thing to low voltage line operation I can then use a small incandescent lamp, Like a # 47 for instance operating at 3.0 volts. I believe that would replicate the exact effect that she's looking for as a "flame". I can hard wire the things but I'd like to avoid this if possible and trying to operate the fixture on batteries with an incandescent lamp would not be practical so Retaining an LED of some sort would be a lot simpler.



I know, I have too much time on my hands. Thank the Chinese and the current crop of garbage they've been shipping over here for it. Does anyone know of a source for LED's in various different shades that might fit the bill for what I'm trying to do? Thanks, Lenny

That's a good idea for future projects however this circuit won't handle to added load of two extra LED's. But last evening we had a break through. Yesterday I spent, (wasted) a few hours farting around with LED's, different types, colors, tinting them with food dye, etc. just stupid stuff. I finally finished up, (gave up) and put the OEM LED back in and reassembling the candle. She came home last night, turned on the light, the color as far as I can tell being the same color it was before, and she said to me "what did you do, I love it"?
Whatever is going on here is definitely not related to electronics. Lenny
Just a side note... You have mentioned dyes and food coloring a couple
of times. Remember that most LEDs produce a single color. You can't
filter them to change the color. Any filter only dims them. (The
obvious exception is white LEDs that use phosphors to produce a range
of colors. They can be filtered just like incandescent bulbs).

On Sun, 6 Apr 2014 09:33:41 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

This is probably going to sound like a non issue to most, and believe me that I would for the most part agree, but anyway my wife has some decorative battery powered "candles", which are basically a mock hollow decorated plastic candle with a hollow opaque tip and an LED inside. These things, I have to admit do actually look sort of rustic when viewed from a distance. The LED draws about 10ma at just over two volts. The LED also flickers, which gives a pleasing effect as well. The candle also has a timer function so that it will turn off automatically after a few hours to save the batteries. This is all great, except that my wife thinks that the "flame" is too orange. She really wants them to look just a little bit more yellow.

With the TV business practically in the toilet, I find that I have a lot more time on my hands these days, and so I'm able to devote more time to keeping the old lady happy if and when a "problem" like this should arise.

The LED that came with the candle is clear but lights up amber and flickers. I tried one of the type used in flashlights and it's too blue and produces a "cold" light. I tried a yellow colored one and it lights up too, (bright) yellow. I tried both blue and green food coloring on the clear one but that failed to yield the results I was looking for too.

She says that she can live without the flickering effect, but I think that if I can find the right color LED, if I convert this to low voltage AC I'll lose the timer but directly connected add a flicker to the LED.

For that matter it just occurred to me that if I abandon the LED idea completely and just convert the damn thing to low voltage line operation I can then use a small incandescent lamp, Like a # 47 for instance operating at 3.0 volts. I believe that would replicate the exact effect that she's looking for as a "flame". I can hard wire the things but I'd like to avoid this if possible and trying to operate the fixture on batteries with an incandescent lamp would not be practical so Retaining an LED of some sort would be a lot simpler.

I know, I have too much time on my hands. Thank the Chinese and the current crop of garbage they've been shipping over here for it. Does anyone know of a source for LED's in various different shades that might fit the bill for what I'm trying to do? Thanks, Lenny


Color binned LEDs are available. You may have to buy a lot more than one
or three though.

?-)

Pat skrev den 08-04-2014:
Just a side note... You have mentioned dyes and food coloring a couple
of times. Remember that most LEDs produce a single color. You can't
filter them to change the color. Any filter only dims them. (The
obvious exception is white LEDs that use phosphors to produce a range
of colors. They can be filtered just like incandescent bulbs).

Not nessecarily. If the white is produced by mixing blue and yellow
(phosphors), it looks white, but colours are still missing.

--
Husk kørelys bagpå, hvis din bilfabrikant har taget den idiotiske
beslutning at undlade det.

On Tue, 08 Apr 2014 16:29:48 +0200, Leif Neland
wrote:

Pat skrev den 08-04-2014:
Just a side note... You have mentioned dyes and food coloring a couple
of times. Remember that most LEDs produce a single color. You can't
filter them to change the color. Any filter only dims them. (The
obvious exception is white LEDs that use phosphors to produce a range
of colors. They can be filtered just like incandescent bulbs).

Not nessecarily. If the white is produced by mixing blue and yellow
(phosphors), it looks white, but colours are still missing.

I hadn't thought of that, but it makes sense. Thanks. ...Pat

On Sunday, April 6, 2014 12:33:41 PM UTC-4, wrote:
This is probably going to sound like a non issue to most, and believe me that I would for the most part agree, but anyway my wife has some decorative battery powered "candles", which are basically a mock hollow decorated plastic candle with a hollow opaque tip and an LED inside. These things, I have to admit do actually look sort of rustic when viewed from a distance. The LED draws about 10ma at just over two volts. The LED also flickers, which gives a pleasing effect as well. The candle also has a timer function so that it will turn off automatically after a few hours to save the batteries. This is all great, except that my wife thinks that the "flame" is too orange. She really wants them to look just a little bit more yellow.



With the TV business practically in the toilet, I find that I have a lot more time on my hands these days, and so I'm able to devote more time to keeping the old lady happy if and when a "problem" like this should arise.



The LED that came with the candle is clear but lights up amber and flickers. I tried one of the type used in flashlights and it's too blue and produces a "cold" light. I tried a yellow colored one and it lights up too, (bright) yellow. I tried both blue and green food coloring on the clear one but that failed to yield the results I was looking for too.



She says that she can live without the flickering effect, but I think that if I can find the right color LED, if I convert this to low voltage AC I'll lose the timer but directly connected add a flicker to the LED.



For that matter it just occurred to me that if I abandon the LED idea completely and just convert the damn thing to low voltage line operation I can then use a small incandescent lamp, Like a # 47 for instance operating at 3.0 volts. I believe that would replicate the exact effect that she's looking for as a "flame". I can hard wire the things but I'd like to avoid this if possible and trying to operate the fixture on batteries with an incandescent lamp would not be practical so Retaining an LED of some sort would be a lot simpler.



I know, I have too much time on my hands. Thank the Chinese and the current crop of garbage they've been shipping over here for it. Does anyone know of a source for LED's in various different shades that might fit the bill for what I'm trying to do? Thanks, Lenny

Thanks for the candle links William. Some interesting stuff there. Lenny