[DBrow]

"Were these "toys" still illuminated?"

They probably were still operating. A single CR2032 coin cell has .022 Ah capacity, and a single D alkaline cell has 15 Ah capacity.

One CR 2032 will keep one LED (with no dropping resistor) lit for about a week continuously, so four D cells should keep 30 LEDs lit for at least three weeks. If the signs had light sensors that shut them off in the daytime even longer. (.022/15)/30=20

I have an LED flashlight that has three LEDs and three aaa batteries- the battery life given in the product literature is 200 hours or about 8 days continuous. An incandescent of similar size, like a Mini Mag, would go flat in a few hours of burn.

The LED signs were not boxes, they were open circuit cards with all the components visible. You can even see resistors.

[APFel]

Very well. I like your technical information a great deal, and it answers several questions. But it looks as though you address the hypothetical as well, so lets get a little more hypothetical.

What percentage of Boston dwellers would recognize a resistor? What percentage of them could recognize a resisitor from a distance? And those who COULD recognize a resistor and perhaps mistake these "lite brites" as an explosive device, could assume a resistor might be a part of a trigger circuit or something else? For that matter, would Joe Average Bostonian know the function of ANY circuit board upon distant examination, whether it is to power a LED array, play Pac Man or functions as a television chassis?

What are the odds of one of these devices failing, especially since as you said the electronics were exposed? Would the weather cause one or more of these devices to stop glowing? What are the odds of one of these devices failing due to poor craftsmanship?

And if ONE of these failed devices, affixed to the pillar of an overpass or something else that one might deem as important infrastructure, is mistaken for an IED or whatever... Boom, We have what happened in Boston.

I'm seriously curious about this. So far, the BPD have been made out to look like idiots on the Internet and in the MSM, but I believe that they behaved appropriately given the circumstance.

APf