Re: LED at 60 HZ? (was RE: Radio Shack Strobes)

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: David Speck <dave-at-davidspeckmd-dot-org> 

Eric,
Way too much work --

Just use a few high brightness red LEDs in series, and drive them with a 12 
volt transformer from the control panel of a scrapped microwave oven. 8 or 
9 red LEDs at 1.8 volts typical forward drop will light only at the peak of 
the waveform, and give you an adequate strobe effect.  A white LED does use 
a phosphor which will glow for a long time after it is de-energised, and 
will not work suitably.

HTH,
Dave

If you have enough in series, they won't conduct till nearly the peak of 
the 60 Hz sine wave, giving you a narrower output pulse width.  Include one 
standard rectifier (1N400X) in series with the string to provide reverse 
voltage protection.

> > heres an idea, tie enough diodes in series with it so that it drops
> > the voltage to whatever the led needs. Say it wants 1 volt. 120 - 1 =
> > 119 volts that need to be dropped. 0.6 * x = 119. 198 would be
> > suitable for x. It would need alot of 1n4007 in series with it, but
> > the led would receive power only at the top of the waveform.
>
>Does it sound like a good idea?