Tis the season for low-cost White LED’s


As simple as this process may be, it will work best if you set about it in an organized manner.   Perhaps even get a little assembly-line going, so the lights feel like they’re back in the sweatshop in which they were constructed.     The basic process is

1. Remove Entire Lamp assembly from strand.   By using your pliers to grab the little locking tab used to secure the lamp assembly, you can get the whole thing out in one quick tug.   Don’t try to grab the LED itself or you risk breaking the leads.   Just yank out the whole assembly and make a pile for the next step.
2. Straighten the leads and pull the LED from the Lamp Housing.   The leads have usually been bent 90 degrees to form a contact with the socket, so trying to yank the LED directly can result in breaking the lead right off the LED body, essentially ruining the device.   If your pliers are too fat to grab the lead nicely for un-bending, use a dull knife or other thin implement to do the initial un-bending.   Now yank the LED with it’s crooked leads and all and set it on the second pile
3. Straighten the leads.   If you don’t do it now, you’ll be messing with wonky leads for the rest of your project.   Grab each lead with the face of the pliers and flatten out any kinks.   Do both leads in one direction (we’ll call it in-line to the LED body) and then do both leads in the other direction (we’ll call it out-of-line with the LED body).
4. Clip, or mark the positive lead if needed.   Optional.   Most of the LED’s we’ve come across have a long positive lead as you expect.   But some may have had their leads cut evenly during manufacturing.   If this is the case, then mark the positive lead or trim the negative lead so you don’t get confused later.

Now we’ll walk through the steps in a series of photos to give you a better idea of how it’s done.   Feel free to optimize the process with your own ideas.

Step 1 – Remove Lamp Assembly from Strand

Step 2a – Remove White LED from Lamp Housing

Step 2b – The White LED Rework Assembly Line.  

Note the pliers and use of Alaskan Winter, the best seasonal brew on the planet.   Don’t drink beer with your LED hand, it will be covered in lead dust.

Step 3 – Straighten the White LED Leads in both directions

Step 4 – Done – Leads are Nice & Straight.  

Note: These White LED’s came with short cathode already!

Step 5 – Enjoy the fruits of your labor!  



These devices have a fairly wide throw, but obviously will still have a significant spotlight effect due to their standard shape.   The color and brightness are pretty good – I’m guessing these are castoffs from the superbright line which may not have rated in the best color bin.

I’ll try to measure them against some top-shelf LED’s of both the standard and superbright (>10k, 20k, 30k mcd) lines.   The guy in the picture is running at about 7mA but is rated for 20mA so he’s yet to hit his max brightness or his sweet spot for color.   Beautiful!   Or at least better than the sickening 50Hz or 60Hz flicker that you get when using the lights for their intended purpose!   Uggh – don’t move, we’re in the Christmas strobe house from hell!

Well, we hope our little article inspires some of you to tear apart your wife’s or mom’s LED strands and get hacking on some holiday displays that TRULY matter, like a neverending cascade of fake snow down the wall, or a hundred tiny projectors simultaneously beaming cheerful holiday images onto the side of the grinch’s house next door.