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Ralph Mowery Ralph Mowery is offline
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Default What resistor to use for a single LED

In article ,
says...
ut I do
like the idea of putting two LEDs reversed polarity in there. Easy
enough to do...


Now I'll ask what is certain to be a dumb question. But maybe I'll learn something.

If we have two LEDs in parallel in reversed polarity, and we put 12 volts across them, aren't we exceeding both Vf and Vr? will they share the current, at some calculable ratio?

Sorry for my ignorance, that electrical circuits class was in the 80s.




LEDs do not really have a voltage rating as such. They are current
devices. You just have to limit the current to a safe level. That is
why there is almost always a resistor in series.

For many circuits you can forget the voltage of the led and just figuer
the resistance value dependin on the current your led will need for the
brightness you want. If very low voltage circuits, say under 12 volts,
substract the 1 to 3 volts the led is rated at from the supply voltage.

The LED will have a voltage across it of about 1 to 3 volts depending on
the type in the forward direction. That voltage is almost the same no
matter what the current is within reason.