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Battery Operated LEDs

Battery operated Mini LED lights

We often get asked, "Can I run my LEDs on a battery?" 

If you want to have your LED light battery powered, the great news is you really have a lot of choices.  Because LEDs have such a low power draw there are plenty of battery types that can run your LEDs nice and bright for a long time. 

We also often get asked, "what's the smallest battery that can run an LED?"

To answer the small battery question, we have the cr1225 battery with holder.  This micro battery is only 

12.5mm or 0.5 inches across!  for size comparison, a penny is .8 inch so this battery is roughly half the size of a penny. and our battery can run 4 LEDs nice and bright as you can see from this picture of the tiny 1225 running 4 of our cool white chip sized LEDs.

The bigger coin cell, the cr2032 holder with switch shown here can run up to 10 LED lights nice and bright. This coin cell is a nice choice for its small size and great capacity

On the other end of the battery size spectrum, a pair of AA batteries can run 50 battery powered individual mini led lights for 4-5 hours!  That's a lot of lights! Or the AA pair can run a few battery LED lights non stop for several days. Larger Batteries such as AA or AAA or 9 volt will last longer before replacement is needed. And larger batteries can power more LEDs overall and also more types of LEDs in the same project. A bigger battery may not fit into micro modeling projects.

So Then... What option is best for your project?

There are a few factors that will influence your small or large battery selection including:

  • the Space available to hide your batteries
  • the Number of LEDs in your project
  • the Types of LEDs in your project
    • Solid - Steady lit LEDs
    • Flashing LEDs
    • Flickering LEDs
    • Solid and Flashing LEDs in the same project
    • LEDs that are driven by a circuit board
  • the Runtime before a battery change is required, or Battery Life
  • the Brightness you need from your LEDs
  • the Battery Voltage

Chip Light Kit
Chip Light Kit
Miniaturist 1:144 Lighting Set
Miniaturist 1:144 Lighting Set
Special Lighting Package Scale Dolls Houses
Special Lighting Package Scale Dolls Houses

 Battery Size:

Larger batteries can mix sold and flash and not have the solids flash along better than smaller batteries. And the 9 volt can run circuits such as our siren circuit or sequence circuit, and other circuits 

Smaller batteries such as our small or mini coin cells have the advantage of size.  Often, small projects do not need as many LEDs or types of LEDs.  In this case smaller batteries will work just fine. If you only need a few LED lights in your micro project then our smaller "coin cell" style batteries are a great choice for your battery operated mini led lights.

LED Lights with battery pack:

We have complete LED lighting kits that include a coin cell or AAA battery holder or 9 volt battery snap that include:

  • 1 to 5 lights
  • the battery holder
  • the on/off switch

Kits like our Chip Light Kit and Mini Lighting packet use our cr2032 holder with switch.  Kits like our Lighting package use either AAA or 9 volt holder with switch

If you are new to LED lights and want to light a small project these kits are an excellent place to start because everything is figured out. No "scavenger hunt" needed.

Just glue the lights into your project and then connect them to the battery holder.  Put the battery holder in the back or underneath the project and enjoy your nicely lit project!