Advanced LED Pendant

In this instructable I will show you how you can make your own LED pendant.

You should check my previous LED pendant instructable, I show some great tips there.

Is jewellery part of beauty? We'll find out.

• Solid core wire (fairly thick)
• 4 SMD LEDs
• 3V coin cell battery (any kind, I used CR2032)
• Utility knife
• Pliers
• Tweezers
• Soldering iron and solder
• Side cutter
• Ruler
• A small piece of leather or cloth

The top part is our negative part. First you need a piece of wire. I used an about 12.5cm long piece. Cut the piece from your roll and straighten it. It does not have to be exactly 12.5cm long.

I used a piece of leather when bending the wire with pliers. This way they will not leave any marks on the copper.

You have to make two loops on the ends of the wire and bend these loops backwards in 45 degrees.

Now you have to find the centre of the piece and bend it there in 90 degrees.

And this was the top part of the pendant.

The bottom part is our positive part and it holds the battery.

Cut a more or less same sized piece of copper and straighten it. Find the centre of the wire and make two 90 degree bends around it. It should be around the size of the battery, as it should be able to hold it. If the two bends are too far apart, the battery will fall trough. If they are not far enough, they will not hold the battery in place.

Now you need two more 90 degree bends. The walls of this holder should be as tall as the battery thickness.

After that you need to bend the two arms in 45 degrees each, which gives us a nice 90 degree angle.

Now you have to determine the polarity of the LEDs. These bigger SMD LEDs are just too big for the battery test. Their pins are too far apart, so you will either need a multimeter or a pair of wires and maybe a helping hand. (On the first picture the anode is on the ruler side, just in case you have the same LEDs)

After finding out the polarity, you need to solder the negative side or the cathode to the top part. Here you can get creative. First tin the back part of the copper where you want the LEDs. Then turn the LED face down and put the top part next to it. Heat the solder blob on the copper gently and use the tweezers to move the LED to the copper. Solder all the four LEDs to place.

After soldering the LEDs to the top part, put the bottom part to its place. Now you can fine tune the bends of it. The copper wire should touch all the LED anodes. Now tin the copper and solder it to the LED anodes.

If you are quick and gentle with the tinning, the solder will not be visible from the front, only the copper.

Now you can use the side-cutter to cut off the excess of the bottom part. Try to place the battery in place. If it is too tight, you can bend the centre of the top part outwards. If it is too loose, you can bend a curve to the battery holder part of the bottom piece (last picture). While bending the complete piece be very gentle, the LEDs can break very easily.

Insert your favourite chain or lace into the loops, put it on and head to the next bar, club or festival. I don't mind if you change the design, I bet you can come up with a better idea. I would be happy to hear from it or any other suggestions in the comments.