Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff
Shining leds through the PCB
OM222O:
--- Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on May 09, 2019, 10:50:16 am ---A side-firing LED, next to a hole in the copper and resist works quite well
--- End quote ---
You are a genius good sir! thank you! this is exactly what I wanted :-DD
I don't know why I thought about THT side view ones but not the SMD ones :-//
Edit: I actually want the light to be diffused, I know its not the brightest but I want it for one of those "digital dice" type circuits which are obviously used indoors so the brightness isn't an issue. it looks very nice if the 6 segments are like an actual dice (circular markings which are created by a circular cut in the copper). The main problem with smd leds is that they are too harsh on the eyes when you look directly at them, since they don't have a colored plastic piece like the THT ones that act as a natural diffuser and I don't really like that.
jmelson:
You want "bottom firing" LEDs. I bought some a while ago by mistake, but I think that is what they are called. To get best results, you need a hole right in the center between the SMT pads. I doubt a red LED will work well shining through a green PC board, but a green one might work quite well (without the hole).
Jon
Nominal Animal:
You could check BigClive's recent video soldering a LED "coaster", using standard small LEDs on the underside of a normal PCB, to see what that looks like,
at 36:49.
OM222O:
--- Quote from: Nominal Animal on May 09, 2019, 09:00:57 pm ---You could check BigClive's recent video soldering a LED "coaster", using standard small LEDs on the underside of a normal PCB, to see what that looks like,
at 36:49.
--- End quote ---
it works well for under glow, but not for an indicator led. as you can see there is a visible band in the middle of each led which is the substrate. what mike suggested seems to work the best so far!
Nominal Animal:
--- Quote from: OM222O on May 09, 2019, 09:09:45 pm ---it works well for under glow, but not for an indicator led. what mike suggested seems to work the best so far!
--- End quote ---
I did not intend to imply otherwise, just to point out what the simplest option would look like, since I had just seen it in a video. :)
I would like to see what the other possibilities look like, though, for future reference for myself. In particular, bodging a standard SMD LED upside-down, say a small distance (1-2mm) off the board itself, using extended "legs" (cut-offs from TH LEDs, say), bent into an ∫ or C shape, so no holes need to be drilled. I don't like the glare of direct LED light, especially in the dark, and have used e.g. electrichicken's tape as a diffuser; so, perhaps silkscreenless PCB would work well as a diffuser in some use cases?
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