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[Garretjax]

Hey I'm looking into putting in some leds in my helmet and gauntlets. If anyone could point me in the direction of some good tutorials for someone whose never done ANY electrical work before that would be super helpful. Also a good place to buy the supplies would be awesome as well. I've seen some tutorials online but try seem to be more for people already semi familiar with electronics. Any help is appreciated

[Legion]

For parts, I'd recommend RadioShack. Pretty much everything you need from solder, to bulbs, wire, resistors, etc.

First thing you need to know about LEDs is they have fairly low electrical tolerances; apply too much power and they will burn out fast. Resistors are going to be your most important component. This is a great resource for making sure you have the right size resistor for your LEDs. Plug in the numbers and it tells you the size you need; if ever in doubt about a resistor, go up a size to be safe.

When it comes to raw LEDs, the long lead is typically power and the short is ground.

The way power flows, you want the "hot" side of your power source (typically a red wire leading from the battery hookup) going to the long lead and a wire going back to ground on the battery (usually a black wire).

You can add a switch to either end of the circuit, power side or ground side; the light will only function if there is a direct path for power to ground, and the switch will break that link regardless of where you place it.

[Garretjax]

Thanks this is really helpful, when installing these in your gauntlets or helmet do they produce alot of heat or is that something i dont need to be to worried about

[Legion]

Practically none whatsoever, as long as they aren't given too much power. Keep them within their tolerances and there should be no appreciable effects other than the light.

[LightningLion]

Each type of LED requires its own voltage. The one on pic above is typically powered by 1.5V.

If you want to use multiple LEDs you can (bit you shouldn't) wire them in series: one after another, short lead to next LED's long lead. But if one of the LEDs die, all will shut down. As they're in series you'll need number of LEDS x 1.5 volts to power them each one adds up it's voltage. In the end you migjt need some serious batteries and that's useless.

What you should do is wire positive lead from battery to all anodes? (long leads) together, and all catodes? (short lead) together back to negative side of battery.

This way all LEDs will require the same voltage (1.5V for example) but bigger amounts of current, and you might need to add batteries in parallel (keeps the voltage but increases the current output).

[Darth_Vemon]

I used LED modules (some already have the resistor built in) that are rated for 24VDC.  They're more expensive, but so much easier to work with, and are preset for color, so you dont have to worry about calculating the  proper voltage or overheating the battery. 

As far as suppliers, i deal with industrial supply companies, but I've also gotten stuff from Amazon.

[jett drexel]

if you go take a look on flea bay you can get kits, 3 coloured leds with battery all you have to do is fit them to your kit.