# Source: https://learn.adafruit.com/battery-power-for-led-pixels-and-strips/diode.md

# Battery Power for LED Pixels and Strips

## Diode Fix for Alkaline Batteries

> “I don’t know if you wanna trust the safety of our country&nbsp;to some, uh…silicone diode!”

> > — General Beringer, _WarGames_

![](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/001/335/medium800/leds_1n4001.jpg?1396771117)

A single&nbsp;[1N4001 diode](https://www.adafruit.com/products/755)&nbsp;has about a 0.7 Volt drop across its leads. Wired to our 6 Volt battery pack (when using alkaline cells), this yields 5.3 Volts output.&nbsp;That’s within our 5V±10% target window, so this simple component addition is&nbsp;all that’s needed to&nbsp;use the battery pack with the LED strips and pixels.  
  
This same solution can&nbsp;be seen in our [Digital Programmable LED Belt Kit](http://adafruit.com/products/332 "Link: http://adafruit.com/products/332").  
  
Diodes have a specific _polarity,_ passing current in only one direction_…_the silver stripe is the + end.&nbsp;So we want to connect the + terminal from the battery pack to the “dark” end with no stripe.

Danger: 

Danger: 

Cut the **red** wire of the battery pack short by about an inch.

![leds_redclip.jpg](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/001/336/medium640/leds_redclip.jpg?1396771186)

Strip off about 3/8" insulation from the red wire.

![leds_redstrip.jpg](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/001/337/medium640/leds_redstrip.jpg?1396771193)

Then “tin” the end of the wire with a bit of solder&nbsp;to keep it from fraying.

![leds_redtin.jpg](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/001/338/medium640/leds_redtin.jpg?1396771200)

Clip the end of the diode (the “dark” end, _without_ a silver stripe)&nbsp;to a similar length, then solder the red wire to this.

![leds_diodesolder.jpg](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/001/339/medium640/leds_diodesolder.jpg?1396771208)

Clip the other end of the diode&nbsp;(the side with a silver stripe).

  

![leds_diodeclip.jpg](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/001/340/medium640/leds_diodeclip.jpg?1396771213)

Cut off and slide a 2" piece of heat shrink tube onto the red wire. Keep sliding it all the way past the diode.

![leds_shrinkslide.jpg](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/001/341/medium640/leds_shrinkslide.jpg?1396771221)

Now solder the positive wire from your LED circuit to the “stripe” end of the diode. Or you can add a plug/receptacle pair between the two to make them easier to separate and service later on.

![leds_diodesolder2.jpg](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/001/342/medium640/leds_diodesolder2.jpg?1396771231)

Take the piece of heat shrink you slid over the wire before…

![leds_diodeslide.jpg](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/001/343/medium640/leds_diodeslide.jpg?1396771237)

…and slide it back over the diode and the solder joints.

![leds_diodepreshrink.jpg](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/001/344/medium640/leds_diodepreshrink.jpg?1396771243)

Shrink the tubing to grip the diode and wires. You can use a heat gun, lighter or the edge of your soldering iron.

![leds_diodeshrink.jpg](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/001/345/medium640/leds_diodeshrink.jpg?1396771252)

Taa-daah!

![leds_diodeshrunk.jpg](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/001/346/medium640/leds_diodeshrunk.jpg?1396771262)

The black wire from the battery holder then connects to the ground wire of the LED circuit (or plug/receptacle, if you’ve installed one). This side is much simpler than the diode-equipped wire:

Slide a small 1" piece of heat shrink onto the black wire (this image shows a much shorter piece…oops…go a little longer than this).

![leds_negslide.jpg](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/001/347/medium640/leds_negslide.jpg?1396771272)

Solder together the ends of the wires. The dreaded _inline splice!_

![leds_negsolder.jpg](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/001/348/medium640/leds_negsolder.jpg?1396771284)

Then slide and shrink as you did before. Done!

![leds_negshrunk.jpg](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/001/349/medium640/leds_negshrunk.jpg?1396771292)

- [Previous Page](https://learn.adafruit.com/battery-power-for-led-pixels-and-strips/about-batteries.md)
- [Next Page](https://learn.adafruit.com/battery-power-for-led-pixels-and-strips/powering-the-microcontroller-too.md)

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