I need to drop about 5 Volt in an elegant manner

[AndrewT]

Would he get better performance from the LEDs if that 700r resistor were replaced with a 20mA CCS? An adjustable CCS ranging from 5mA to 20mA could be even better for setting the required brightness.

LM317+resistor=CCS

 

[KatieandDad]

There are hundreds of ways of illuminating an LED - He wanted a simple solution.

 

[sofaspud]

What can be said? Sometimes questions, life, people, can be difficult.