(10 of) RGB 5050 SMD LED (5mm Surface Mount)

Details

Want to play with some surface mount LEDs for fun? Just the thing right here, 5050 (5mm by 5mm) SMD RGB Leds, 6 pin (R, G and B each have their own anode and cathode).

Sold in a pack of 10 for just $2.40!

Very bright* (high luminous intensity) to my uncalibrated mark-one-eyeball, as in you don't want to look directly into the beam bright. I'd guess a 2-3 thousand mcd.

Can be hand soldered (takes a little practice though) the easiest way is to put some solder on each of the pads of your board, sit the LED on top, and reflow with the iron while holding the led down.. Don't skimp on the flux (a dab of flux on the "pins" of the led wouldn't hurt either, flux is good mmkay).

Rough specs as provided from the manufacturer…

Red: Wavelength 600, Current 20mA
Green: Wavelengt 1100, Current 20mA
Red: Wavelength 300, Current 20mA
Color rendering index : 80 +
Beam Angle : 120 °
Product life: 5W-10W hours

Remember to use a current limiting resistor, no resistor = instantly destroyed LED in most cases.

* A word about LED “brightness” or luminous intensity numbers, a lot of LEDs out there on the market have wildly high MCD ratings, but for some LEDs (IR, UV particularly) an MCD number doesn’t even make the slightest bit of sense – sellers in the markets still put a high but *usually* believable MCD number on the label, they know you can’t test the claim. In short, the number xxxx MCD may or may not be true, especially if you see very very high MCD figures. The best and really only way to see if a specific LED (or indeed batch of LEDs) is bright enough for YOUR purpose, is to buy a few and try it out. Luckily, LEDs are just a few cents!