LED CD Light Using 8x 10mm or 5mm Warm White Leds

Going green is a big thing for me...along with recycling.
With this project you will be recycling unwanted CDs and lowering your power consumption.
I run these off my solar set up and have now been off the power grid for 4 months.

I have a lot of different LED projects and will slowly be sharing them... keep an eye out.

Ultimately these lights are intended to be run off a solar power setup, wind or hydro power at 12v DC... but you can easily make these lights run on 24v DC if you wire all the LED's in series and use a different resistor, if that is what you are running.

Lets get started.

1, What You Will Need.

1x CD for template... the clear cd that comes with burning CDs is great for the template
1x Unwanted CD... In this case "Glamour Puss, when the cat's been spayed"... (hah)
8x LED's (10mm warm white here) 5mm will work fine.
2x Resistors...(use the resistor calculator on the net)
1x 3.5mm drill bit & drill.
1x Suitable length of 2 core wire... speaker cable is fine.
1x Suitable lenth if solid wire, im using green garden wire from the local hardwhere store.
1x Connector strip
1x Roll of insulation tape
1x Marker pen.
1x Pliers.
1x Terminal screwdriver.

2, Making Template and Drilling CD.

So make a template with your CD...mark 8 holes evenly spaced and then drill them out.
Use a larger drill bit 8mm or 10mm with your fingers to take the burrs off.
Then mark dots on your CD using your template and drill them out...and take burrs off.

3, Marking + and - on Your CD

Now you need to mark + and - at opisite ends of your CD..
all you + legs on your led's will point to + and all your - ends will point to-

4, Adding Your LED's

Now poke your leds through the holes and push them against the cd and bend the legs out so the +ends are facing + and - ends facing- and twist the + and - ends togeather like in picture.

5, Adding Resistors

Now all the leg have been twisted together apart from the 2 legs at the + end you need to add a resistor to each of the = legs here.
You can solder them but twisting is fine.

6, Adding Your Solid Wire.

There are many ways to do this...in this case I have bent it with my pliers and put it on like a screw.
another good way is by drilling 2 holes and putting the wire through them then twisting it.
or gluing of course.

7, Connecting Cable.

Now strip your cable about 1 inch and twist it around your + end and - end like in pic.
you can also solder here to if you want.

8, Taping the Wire.

Now you want to tape your 2c cable to the solid cable to make it tidy.

9, Adding Connector Strip.

Now add the connector strip where you want it on the solid wire.
Of course you do not need this... you can run your cable directly to your power source.
Mark on the connector strip + and - so you know which is which.

10, Mounting or You Stand

You can twist the wire and mount it to the wall or any surface with a screw and washer, here I have just bent it and placed a weight on it to make it stand up...
There are many ways to do this, just do what suits you needs.

11, Adding 12v Power Source

Here I have just wired a 12v car plug to the end.
It may be a good idea to add a switch if you will have it connected permanently.

12, Finished.

Now plug it in and give it a test.

Now you can experiment with different LEDs with this project.
Also try angling them outwards to make a wider spread.
Try mixing white and warm white LEDs in the circuit.

Happy building!