Saturday, August 6, 2011

Nuka Cola Quantum

So I love the fallout series. I love electronics as well. Today I am going to start work on a project. It will be a simple project, but a project none the less. This project has been done before and I take no credit fore the idea, but I am going to make a Nuka Cola Quantum Lamp. This is a simple project that will require a power source (battery), a switch, an led, and a resistor.

So now I am going to describe each element in this circuit.

First lets start out with the LED. Nuka Cola Quantum is blue so naturally we would want to use a blue led. I ordered a grab bag of LEDs off of Sparkfun.com. They don't have the best prices but I like to support them over there. Other places I have bought from are ebay.com and Digikey.com. There are however plenty of other places.

An LED, or Light Emitting Diode, comes in different colors. Just about every color in the rainbow. Each color had a different forward voltage. A forward voltage is the voltage required for the LED to light up. For the bright blue LED the minimum forward voltage is 3.2 volts and the maximum is 3.4 volts at 20mA. This data can be fount on a datasheet. The LED can only handle so much current so we have to add a resistor to limit the current flowing to the LED.

IMPORTANT NOTE: An Led has an anode and a cathode which means that current can only flow in one direction the current must enter the Anode and leave the Cathode. (assuming current leaves from positive to negative)

Here is a basic led circuit similar to the one that I will use.

To determine the resistor value I will derive the equation for finding out the value of the resistor to use in the circuit using KVL. V=6 volts, The forward voltage is 3.2 Volts, and the current is 20milla amps.


so drawing a loop starting above the LED and the current enters the positive terminal of the resistor we get:(Vled is the forward Voltage)
                                  Vled+Vresistor-Vsource=0
solve for Vresistor
                                  Vresistor=Vsource-Vled
substitute Ohms Law
                                   IxR=Vsource-Vled
divide by I(in amps)  R=(Vsource-Vled)/I
This is the equation to find the resistor value you need. Not all values are sold in stores however there is a 5% vary in most carbon resistors so you can round to the closest resistor value.

For My project I will use two 3v coin batteries connected in series for a total V source of 6Volts, My led forward voltage is 3.2v and my current needed is 20mA.

So plugging into the formula we get (6-3.2)V/0.020A=140ohms this is not a standard value you could make this by combining resistors in series or parallel but the 150ohm resistor will work just fine for this project.

So I plan on starting construction over the next couple of days and will be posting but I am in the middle of moving so this project is not a top priority. Also just gave you a quick lesson on LED basics :)

24 comments:

  1. wow, this was very interesting thank you!

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  2. That's very interresting, thanks. I'm curious the see the result :)

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  3. I'm going to have to try this out when you post your construction posts!

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  4. Interesting info... I want to see a demonstration!

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  5. You lost me at "simple project" still like to see the result though :P

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  6. Well its not a coin. It is a battery like a watch battery its round and flat like a coin

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  7. Great idea! Can't wait to see the end product. Be sure to add pictures

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  8. Its cool how you related electronics to videogames, def held my attention/ :)

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  9. Damn if you actually make one of these, you can just shut up and take my money

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  10. Solid...you know your stuff here on electricity and electronics.

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  11. geez louise, this stuff is way over my head.

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  12. Ya it's crazy how this will not work any other way.

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  13. I may just steal this idea of yours!

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  14. I officially grant you the mark of "Smarter Than Me". Congratulations *confetti*

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  15. I'm more interested in seeing the final product.

    Make sure you post pictures!

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  16. not sure but the light emitting diode on the schematic may be backwards.

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  17. no it is in the right direction anode to positive cathode to negative reverse it and you will get no current flow

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  18. definitely post some pictures when you're building this

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