Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Digi-Key Canada rocks!

I'm working on making my own astronomical flashlight. Prototyping is progressing. The only thing I need to track down are some old school Germanium diodes.

Placed an order with Digi-Key Canada for some interesting bits... Right-angle 8-pin DIP socket (ed58408-nd)—I'll use this to be the LED holder. A tiny 100 kilo-ohm thumbwheel potentiometer (3352t-104LF-nd)—for brightness control (or, more correctly, pulse width modulation). And best of all? Some "super red" waterclear 5mm LEDs (67-1612-nd).

These babies, made by Lumex Opto/Components Inc, are bright, at 2800 mcd. But most importantly: they emit light at 660 nm! That's the dominant and peak rating. They are deep red!

Phil piggybacked on the order. He requested some CLA sockets with locking mechanism and rubber cover (as212-nd) and a special cable. He wants the 12 volt sockets for his new gel battery project...

I placed the order without fanfare online on the 12th. Sunday. It showed up today! Incredible.

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Right angle DIP: $4.98.
Pot 100k ohm: $1.40.
CLA socket: $3.40.
Deep red LEDs: priceless.

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