led help

Alright im trying to put L.E.D.'s in for light's on one of my models, the guy at the radio shack said just soder the blaxck wire to the short metal end and the positive (red) wire to the longer end. I had a lot of trouble with this and couldnt soder the wires on so I went back and got an led with a resitor (I dont know wat that is but they said to get it) and wires already on. so when I got home I sodered the battery holder they gave me with the wires to the wires that came with the led, popped in a battery and nothing happened, can someine help me fix this or tell me wats wrong? (The battery is fine I have checked it):mad: here is a pic of wat i have right now.

How Volts in your LED asking for??? You only got 1.5v connected....

I figured out wat was wrong with this the led i had hooked up uin the pic only shines stright out and not out from the sides i just wasnt looking directly into it and didnt notice it.

A true L.E.D. takes 5 volts to forward bias it's junction. That looks more like an indicator lamp not a L.E.D. Radio Shack people can be totally ignorant when it comes to electronics. I know because I have been an electronic tech for years.

Originally posted by 935k3
A true L.E.D. takes 5 volts to forward bias it's junction. That looks more like an indicator lamp not a L.E.D. Radio Shack people can be totally ignorant when it comes to electronics. I know because I have been an electronic tech for years.
I'm ignorrant too! Can you do a tech piece on LED lighting for all of us?? I'd love to have LED's in the front of my Crown Vic cruiser that flash like strobes, I've seen it and it looked awesome!!