I posted this how-to on PlanetChristmas in 2005 when I discovered that my Light-O-Rama boards (CTB08) did not play well with the leds I was using for my Nascar Trailer Display.  Unfortunately, all of the posts from last year were lost when the PlanetChristmas Boards decided to crash and burn.  I've been asked by several PC members to re-post my solution to the led problem.  I want to thank everyone that helped me figure out what would and wouldn't work.  Also, if you read nothing else, please read the following statements.

I am NOT an expert at anything.  Like I said on my intro page, everything I know is self-taught and sometimes I really don't know what I'm doing.  The only way I managed to come up with the terminators was simply a dogged determination to make my led lights work.  Electricity is dangerous and if any of the steps in this how-to makes you the least bit uncomfortable, don't do it.  Actually, the easiest way to get them to work correctly is to plug a set of minis into each channel, but since I can't ever leave well enough alone, here goes.

Materials

Male end of an extension cord.  If you've been building D-Light Boards or LOR Hobbyists boards, you have tons of these lying around.

1 watt resistor.  I used a 39k, why?  It's what I had on hand, simple as that.  I'm sure any other value would work, but I don't think you would want to use a smaller wattage.  Resistance creates heat, that's why plug-in air fresheners work.  I did actually de-construct one to see how they worked.  All they are is a loop of wire between the hot and neutral wires encased in plastic.  I measured the resistance at about 9 ohms. 

Soldering Iron

Electrical Tape

Hot Glue Gun

Wire Stripper, Scissors, Diagonals, and an extra hand.

Step-by-Step

1.  Split and strip about 1/2" of insulation off both wires on the plug.

2.  Place the resistor between the wires and twist the resistor wire around the plug wires several times.

3.  Solder the splices, so you have a good electrical and mechanical connection.  This is where the extra hand comes in handy.  There is no way I can hold something in one hand and solder with the other, besides those clamp thingys are really cheap.  Harbor Freight or any craft store has them for about $5.

4.  Trim the splices to about a quarter inch each after they've cooled off.

5.  Cut and lay out several pieces of electrical tape sticky side up.  Don't skimp on the tape, you will want to make sure you use enough to cover the wires and resistor, so there is no chance that you could shock yourself or anyone else.  Like I said earlier, if you don't feel this is safe for your application, then don't build it.

6.  Place the bare terminator on the tape making sure you'll have a good overlap of tape.

7.  Glue Gun Time!  Don't skimp on the hot glue either.  Slather that puppy up.  Make sure you use enough to completely cover the bare wires and resistor.

8.  Let the glue cool enough to handle, and then fold the electrical tape into a packet around the terminator, making sure you don't leave any loose edges for water or whatever to get in.  Again, be careful with hot melt glue, not only does hot glue stick well to skin, it burns! 

9.  Let the terminator cool and Viola!  Plug it into your led string and no more problems. 

Now you're probably thinking, what about using polarized plugs?  If your led strings are like mine, most of them are non-polarized, but if you've actually read the step-by-step up to this point, I'm sure you already know how to work around that little dilemma.  I won't go into it here, as I've found that tip generally opens up a whole other can of worms.