simple LED question

[AUDuke]

I am putting a Tesoro in a water proof box to be used while diving. I am replacing the audio with with LEDs. Does wiring two or more LEDs in parallel diminish or reduce the brightness of the individual LEDs

[ivconic]

In parallel led's will need more current and less voltage. In serie more voltage and constant current. In both cases number of leds will affect brightness. But parallel conection is more risky for leds and for source. Serial conection is harmless. I suggest you serial conection.

[AUDuke]

Thanx ivconic, I will wire them in series.

[ivconic]

Just got an idea; you can try and experiment with 2 color led diode. The one which flashes when wired up either the way. You dont need to pay attention where to wire anode or cathode. In one direction it will flash one colour, in other another colour. Than use 2 or more of that kind and wire in serie. But there are various types of such leds. With 2 and 3 leads. One with 2 leads is more suitable in this case. Depends of what purpose you are planing, as well as voltages source you have. You also should plan one resistor in serie. Source voltage will define resistance. Experiment a bit.
Cheers!

[AUDuke]

Than ivconic I will do some experimenting.

[grungymike]

You might consider using a "vibrator" instead of LED's in your underwater detector. Reason is, any visual alert (LED's, display screens, etc) require you to watch that mechanism instead of the territory surrounding you. I've been using a White's GMT and I have found the display on that machine to be a distraction, I don't pay any attention to it. I prefer either an audio or tactile alerting system, because I'm using my eyes to watch out for snakes, branches, cliffs, unstable boulders, people wearing badges, etc.

gm

[Atul Asthana]

and a vibrator from an old mobile phone is pretty handy.

[Mungoo]

Remember that the reflectors are designed for basically a point light source that radiates through most of a sphere. It's difficult to make a set of LEDs do that. I've been behind a car where the turn signals were invisible until the car had turned about thirty degrees...

[Dr Vel]

Remember that the reflectors are designed for basically a point light source that radiates through most of a sphere. It's difficult to make a set of LEDs do that. I've been behind a car where the turn signals were invisible until the car had turned about thirty degrees...

When I use 18K MCD LED's for meter lights I Dremel the top of it at 2 angles to give a very broad angle of emission, easier to see (in my case lights meter more uniformly). You can also apply the proper roughness to diffuse the light even more. Important to use ultra bright types to have strong output even spread out over a large area. Just be precise and no harm is done to the LED's. Seems if you use a MD which has various tones providing useful discrimination information, a 567 tone decoder circuit per the center frequency of each needed tone to light a specific color LED would be useful, assuming you can discriminate under water. Not sure as I have never run one with the coil in water. If you get good at altering your LED's to give a wide viewing angle, the ultra bright types will be easy to notice even in your peripheral vision while you are avoiding various obstacles. To use the 567 circuit idea, tie all pin 3's together of whatever number 567's (number of desired tone's to be indicated) you use, decoupling through a capacitor from the pin 3's to the audio out from your MD. You can get a good idea how to design this and calculate center frequency by reading the 2 PDF's below.