The LED Test

A friend has asked me to build her a simple LED circuit. With the budget she gave me, I have parts to create up 8 of them, with about RM2 or so to spare. So, this weekend I will put them all together. What you see in the following pictures are the prototype circuit I was testing before it becomes fact. You might want to ignore the other components in the background as they're part of another test.

Being the Engineer I (was), there were a few questions that kept bugging me:
1) Shall I make it more efficient?
2) Shall I make it easy to install?
3) Shall I give it different LED colours?
4) Shall I test them with other LEDs and record their performance?
5) What if I reduce the component count?
6) How about miniaturising it further?
7) Shall I, etc. Well, you know how Engineers want to make things better (heh)

Then, reality struck me hard in the face and I had to use the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) method and stick to the job at hand. But the way its meant to be, the LED would have to be angled from another spot to light the intended area and not straight from the keyhole.


8mm Jumbo White LED


5mm Normal White LED
(Surprisingly, the 5mm White LED is brighter)


8mm Jumbo Blue LED


As the 8mm LED dims after about 15 seconds
(After more than 3 minutes, its still glowing but very dim)

So, goos or not?