LED Board Project

Report
Objective- the objective of this lab was to complete a working LED
board that can be presented to the class and follow the standard rules
Dr. Wang gave to us as qualifications.
Materials- the materials used to make the LED board included wood,
led lights, soldering iron, resistors, MSU AET label, 9 Volt batteries and
wiring.
Procedures- First designs of the board were created to make the
assigned letter T. The designs were made from the Auto Cad software,
after the designs were created the search for the right piece of wood
took place after the piece of wood was found the design of the letter
took place on the board, once that was complete the board was then
drill pressed in the desired holes for the LEDs to be, then the board
was cut to the desired criteria for the project which was 8 by 8 inches.
The board was then placed on the sander to help even out the surface.
Then holes for the MSU symbol and the switch were drilled on the
board. Then the buildup of the back for the electrical feature took
place. After this step the board was ready to be painted, after several
coats the board was finally ready to be wired and here are the
procedures for that. The LEDs our group decided to use were 3mm
bright blue. The operating voltage for each LED is 1.7-2V with a
limiting current of 0.02A or 20mA. Using 36 LEDs our group had to
evenly divide the LEDs into 6 branches of 5 LEDs and two branches of
3 LEDs. The branches are connected in parallel from one another and
in addition each set of LEDs is also connected in parallel within a
single branch. The reason each branch is in parallel is because voltage
drops do not occur in parallel circuits. The goal is to supply each
branch with an equal amount of voltage. Each LED in the set of a single
branch is connected in parallel in order for current to equally be
divided within each LED. Because it takes roughly 1.7- 2 volts to
operate each LED, connecting 5 LEDs in series would not allow enough
voltage to be distributed to each of the 5 LEDs. Therefore, the LEDs
would not light up. Parallel circuits is the key to operating LEDs the
correct way! Because the LEDs used in this project are limited to
20mA a limiting resistor is required to prevent each LED from burning
out. Below are the calculations used to find the total resistance needed
for each branch. Note! Our power supply consisted of three 9V
batteries connected in parallel!
5 LEDs X 0.02A = 0.1A
9V / 0.1A = 90 ohms

This tells us for each branch consisting of a set of 5 LEDs a limiting

resistor of 90 ohms would be needed to prevent the total current, for
that single circuit, from exceeding beyond 20mA. For certainty our
group used a 100 ohm resistor.
3 LEDs X 0.02A= 0.06A
9V / 0.06A= 150 ohms
For each branch consisting of 3 LEDs a limiting resistor of 150 ohms
would be needed!
Once making all correct connections a toggle switch was then added
to control the on/off position of the entire circuit.

Results- the LED board worked and produced light whether the room is
dark or light, and the placement of all items fit in the correct spot.
Conclusion- the importance of this project is that the project needs to
be sought out and many different factors take place in making the LED
board the best it can be. Each aspect is as equally important in this
project so that the performance and quality both are at high levels.