Where to go to learn about LEDs/electricity?

[eyeeatingfish]

I am getting into this flashlight modification stuff and would even like to figure out how to use LEDs as interior lighting, however I have no idea where to start. Are there any recomended books or anything like that? Any general thread here that says all about how to calculate how much volts and what regulators or resistors to build in and whatnot?
I checked the idiots guide but that doesnt seem applicable.
Thanks in advance.

 

[djblank87]

Check out CPF Wiki there is good stuff there. Or just Wikipedia by itself. CPF google search can render all kinds of information from the past to current things that can be done with flashlights.

Hotwire's
Battery Packs
LED's
Mag85
Mag ROP
Bulbs
Drop-Ins
Tailcaps
Batteries
Every flashlight company out there

The list is long and what ever you can think of most likley can be found in a CPF google search. When I first to CPF there were a few things I did not know but the Wiki and google search can anwser most questions.

 

[eyeeatingfish]

There is a bit too much crap and advertisements to sift through on the internet

 

[djblank87]

There is a bit too much crap and advertisements to sift through on the internet

I agree, there is a lot of junk out there, but the CPF google search only pulls up topics that were posted in CPF. So you only get what your looking for.

 

[flashgreenie]

if you want to know how LED(light emitting diode) works, any basic electronic textbook should have that info.
Here is some really basic info
http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/diode.htm
Not sure how much you know about basic electricity concepts?? Does Ohm law means anything to you?? V=IxR??

 

[thekobk]

Its a little hard to find but radio shack had a small book called something like "getting started in electronics". This book has lots of small projects you could build or you could go to radio shack and pick up one of electronic project kits.

 

[NA8]

I have no idea where to start. Are there any recomended books or anything like that?

On the light side, here's an interesting website:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html

On the heavy side, check out your local community college for their classes on electronics.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Eyeeatingfish,

I believe there is a thread in the sticky at the top of this section that covers some of the basics.

Tom

 

[edc3]

Hi eyeeatingfish,

I got a copy of Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest M. Mims III for Christmas. I haven't gotten too far into it, but I like the way it's written. It starts out with the basics, then goes through components, ICs and includes 100 circuits you can build. It's made to look like somebody's handwritten notebook, with writing and drawings on lined paper.

Have fun,

Don