How to Make LED Candles

Candles can lend ambiance to your home or office, or you can use them as practical lighting for a variety of activities. You can easily build your own LED candles to replicate the effect you receive from lighted candles.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 9-volt battery and clip
• 100-ohm resistor
• 220-ohm resistor
• 10 mm LED
• Electrical tape
• Wire cutters
• Needle-nose pliers
• Wire connectors

1. Bend or trim the leads on the resistors to shorten them. Match the color coding to mark the difference between the 100-ohm and 220-ohm pieces.

2. Connect the negative end battery clip (normally colored black) with one end of the two resistors. Use one of the wire connectors by twisting or bunching the end of the wires together and push them into the connector.

3. Squeeze the wire connectors firmly using the needle-nose pliers to hold the wires in place together by crushing them inside the connector.

4. Twist the long side of the LED to the set of resistors and connect them with another wire connector. Apply the short LED lead to the long LED lead of a second LED.

5. Place the last two remaining wires together and connect them. They are the positive lead on the battery clip and the negative wire on the LED.

6. Bunch all of the new connections together and wrap them tightly using electrical tape. Don't cover the LED with the tape, so that the battery connection and the LED are in opposite directions. Run the tape between the positive and negative ports on the battery connector without covering up the ports.

7. Attach the 9-volt battery to the battery clip and enjoy the soft glow of the LED candle. Place these LED candles in an opaque jar or container, or in a votive that you might normally place a candle.