Welcome to a series called Electronic E-Bytes, where we dive into a different topic for 5 minutes every other week. I was a little bit late this week due to sickness, but here we are! This week, we have a little bit of a different E-Byte, where we’re making magnetic LED throwies that you can throw anywhere and have fun making in 5 minutes or less!
LED throwies consist of only a few inexpensive parts and can be made for about $1.00 per Throwie. You can reference the parts list below to buy the parts and get throwin’!
Part: 10mm Diffused LED
Vendor: Amazon
Average cost: $0.20 avg per LED
Part: CR2032 3V Lithium Batteries
Vendor: Amazon
Part: 1-inch wide Strapping Tape
Vendor: Your local hardware store
Notes: One roll will make many throwies
Part: 1/2″ Dia x 1/8″ Thick NdFeB Disc Magnet, Ni-Cu-Ni plated
Vendor: KJMagnetics
Step 1
Take one of your batteries and one of your LEDs and your strapping tape. Put the battery between the terminals of your LED and make sure the LED lights up. If it does, use your strapping tape and wrap around the LED and the battery like 2 times. Make sure it is secure before you move on.
Step 2
Grab the assembly from the last step and the strapping tape. Also get 1 magnet. Place the magnet on one side of the LED assemble and wrap 2 layers of tape around the whole assembly and your magnet and do a test throw on your fridge or a whiteboard or something magnetic. If it sticks and stays lit, great job, you’ve done it!! Make more and throw your cool throwies around your city or home! They should stay lit for 1-2 weeks. Also, they’ll not irritate your police too much because they go away eventually.
Until next E-Byte…
Thank you for reading Electronic E-Bytes: LED Throwies! For more projects and E-Bytes, click here. The next E-Byte will come out in 2 weeks, on June 15, not Tuesday per the usual because of Flag Day.