need help with LED wiring / creation

[Morganville]

I'm very new to Steampunking and have no experience whatsoever with wiring or LEDs.

I've become very interested in the USB LED creations and wish to make my own as well as other LED lit objects.

I've been reading the other forum posts with how to set up LEDs and such but I still don't really think I understand it.

Anyone willing to give me a short step by step process to hooking up a small 5mm LED to a small battery that would turn on if say it was attached to a USB when it was plugged into a computer and off when it was removed?

Thanks a lot.

[Oneiros]

The computer will supply the power, so no battery would be required.

It's quite simple really, there are other threads dedicated to this on the board, but as a quickie...

USB's run off of 5 volts DC.

Once you know the voltage and ampage you require to run your LED, you need to work out what size resistor you need to place in series with the device.

This link will help you work that part out. http://led.linear1.org/1led.wiz

Connect one end of the resistor to the anode of the LED.

Then connect the other end of the resistor to pin 1 of the USB plug, and the cathode of the LED to pin 4. Insulate as required.