In article 0, Mike
Ring writes
John Rumm wrote in
:

Mike Ring wrote:

A LED would have to have 228V dropped across it's resistor, at about 10
mill thats about 2.3 watts - definitely not the way to go

. You would also need a reverse diode to bypass the LED so that
when the reverse phase comes along your LED does not go pop!


I am told the LED will not pop, the reverse current is limited by the
resistor to the forward current, and it can take this quite happily like a
xener.

In my working days I have been known to wire LEDs the wrong way round,
(Noooh?....well, once or twice), and it never hurt them.

Not true, LED's are only tolerant to a small reverse voltage, much less
than a normal diode. If you are working from a 9 volt PP3 then they will
be OK connected backwards. At 240V mains they will be destroyed by the
reverse polarity.
--
Tim Mitchell