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Let’s have some fun. Let’s build an LED menorah for the upcoming holidays.

  • Time: 1 hour
  • Cost: $1.27
  • Difficulty: easy

Parts

The parts and tools you'll need for a homemade LED menorah.
  • 2 (4-light) bright yellow LEDs (BG Micro, $0.20)
  • Yellow LED right angle (BG Micro, $0.12)
  • SPST pushbutton (BG Micro, $0.10)
  • CR2032 with legs (BG Micro, $0.65)
  • Short length of wire
  • Instant bond cyanoacrylate glue

Instructions

1. Bond the two 4-bright yellow LED bars together with glue.

The lights for an LED menorah, unlit.
Bonded.

2. Fold down and solder all of the LED cathodes together. Repeat the same technique with the all of the LED anodes. You should now have a cathode run and an anode run.

3. Bond the yellow LED right angle to the top of the joined LED bars.

4. Fold and solder the LED right angle’s cathode to the bar’s cathode run. Likewise, fold and solder the LED right angle’s anode to the bar’s anode run.

Part of an LED menorah.
What you should see after step 4.

5. Snip off two adjacent legs (i.e., on the same side of the switch) from the SPST switch. The switch should now have two legs. Bond the SPST switch to one end of the joined LED bars. Solder one leg of the switch to the LED’s cathode run.

6. Bond the CR2032 battery to the bottom of the joined LED bars. Solder the positive (+) leg to the anode run.

A nearly finished LED menorah.
Nearly finished.

7. Solder a short length of wire to the remaining free leg of the SPST switch. Solder the other end of the wire to the negative (-) leg of the CR2032 battery.

8. Press the button to illuminate the LED Menorah.

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