which led for snes please?

[sammyleekilljob]

Just a quick tech question, what type of led do I need if I want to change the color on mine? I need the ratings/etc please, I have spent quite a lot of time looking but can't find the answer, apologies if it's covered elsewhere.

[NFG]

As a general rule, all LEDs are the same.  You have to go out of your way to get an LED that isn't suitable, as they're typically for weird applications.  

You want a 3.3V LED.  try not to get one that's like 400 candlepower or something, you'll blow your retinas out.

[DoubleDownOn11]

I always use water-clear (clear lens) hyper-bright or super-bright LEDs.  Here's the purple one's I've used on my SNES and Mini SNES consoles.  The purple matches the SNES consoles best I think.

[Scias]

speaking of leds, anyone seen those itty bitty led's?  The surface mount ones that are square and impossible to solder?  I was wondering where I could find some.

[TJ_Kat]

eBay

[kendrick]

You can shop where you want, but I wouldn't buy components on eBay. MCM electronics had some in stock as late as a week ago, but right now there's about a two-week lead time to get surface mount LED components. Here, have a look:

http://www.mcminone.com/search.asp?keyword...cookie%5Ftest=1

You can also check out the old reliable www.mouser.com site for tons of LED units, including the surface mount variety. Their prices are generally terrible at low quantities, but they don't require any kind of minimum.

-KKC, who delights in turning people away from eBay as much as possible.

[headphones]

Go to jameco and get a sack of assorted leds for like $4. You can check the values with a voltmeter and you get like a jillion of them in all sizes, shapes, and colors.

[chriswalker8511]

Will colour changing led's work and ive found one i have bt its a bit bigger, does that mean it needs more power ect??

[kendrick]

A color-changing LED generally changes its hue based on differing voltage or polarity. There's no reason it won't work in this application, but you won't be able to make use of its whole range of function unless you add a control circuit or some additional logic that changes the input based on the state of the machine.

[chriswalker8511]

okay, thanks. ill just stick to single colours as im not very good at electricals

[phreak97]

it's not quite true that all leds are the same.. for example if you put a high intensity led in a dreamcast it will be quite dim. some leds run at around 2v. but for the snes any high intensity led will do the job.

from my experience buying leds off ebay is perfectly fine, i used to buy hundreds and sell them to my friends either as they were or modded into something. and when theyre 15 cents instead of $2 each from a local shop, who's complaining if one or two dont work out of the packet? the failure rate i had was about 1 in 50.