Model Railway Forum

Hi, i am trying to use some 3mm Bi LED's red/green on a panel i have made up, but the legs on the led's dogleg out & stop them going into the panel mounts. Has anyone seen a 3mm Bi LED with straight legs. "The more i read this the stranger it reads" lol

I have never seen bi-colour 3 legged LEDs with straight legs, they are all like the one you show.
The Bi-colour 2 legged LEDs do use straight legs but require reversal of polarity to change colour - a bit more complex to wire up compared to the 3 leg versions.

You may have to cut a slot each side of the mount to allow the legs to sit in.

They would fit in a 5mm holder, but would mean drilling the holes again & it wouldn't look right a 3mm led in a 5mm hole. & even if i used 5mm Bi led's i think i wold have the same problem, but 2mm larger.
I might try a 5mm holder with a 3mm led with a band of heat shrink around the led.

Won't they fit into the Kingbright RTC-31 panel LED clip? https://www.rapidonline.com/kingbright- ... ip-55-0160

Depending on the panels thickness you could just push the 3mm LED into a pre drilled hole from the rear. Bezels aren't always necessary.

I don't think I've seen straight leg three lead LEDs in 3mm? Particularly as there really isn't that much room on the LED package to have three straight legs.

Slot the mount with a hacksaw blade.

I have gone with 5 mm holders & they dont look as bad as i thought. A bit of heat shrink on each led will take up any space & look ok. A bit of black or blue tack to hold the led in place from behind.

What I normally do with all LEDs is to drill the hole in the panel so that the LED is a close fit and use a dab of Evo Stik or araldite to hold it secure. Avoids having to use holders.