Martha Stewart Living Icicle Set

Date: November 2010
Store: Home Depot
Price: $15 (22 cents per LED)
LED Color: warm/soft white
LED Size: mix of 3mm and 5 mm
LED Lens: Inverted Wedge
LED Count: 70 leds.
Current limiting resistor: embedded in power supply?
Rectification: full DC power supply
Lead material: steel, subject to rust
Power: not chekcked.

Notes:

So far this is the only set I've found in 2010 that implements a DC power supply. The simple DC power supply is made with a bridge rectifier and a smoothing capacitor. The rectifier plus the capacitor converts the AC waveform into a slightly wobbly DC voltage. LEDs were designed to run on DC, so they light up nicely.

The power supply is enclosed in a the weathertight white box that looks the same as the all the other LED light sets with DC power supplies I've run across. If you want to hack LEDs without putting together your own power supply, this is a good place to start.

I have not yet tested these with a ammeter or oscilloscope.