Leds... wire series?

[VL Berlina 5speed]

its me again,
is there anyway i can use a stronger resistor to make the LEDs duller as ther way to bright and they are blinding at night,
would i use a lower rated resistor like 140 or somethink? ive got 180 in at the momenet

 

[FXST01]

Higher the resistence, the duller the light will be.

 

[Phreddy]

What FXST01 said - Increase resistance to decrease current.

(you've got LEDs which are particularly high brightness there, so it's likely you will have to pass a bit less current thru them. I'd suggest aim for about 10mA or even possibly a bit less.)

I'd try the 560 ohm and see how it goes, given the other figures here that will allow about 6mA to flow through the LEDs. If it's still too bright, add more resistors in series - just add the value of each resistor in the string to come up with the total. If it's not bright enough with the 560 ohm, then lash out on a couple of different values - say a 270 ohm, a 330 ohm, maybe even a 390 ohm as well. Have fun, experiment! (just don't blow yourself up!)

Cheerz!


Just remember the simple rule - for a fixed voltage (electrical "pressure"), the current (the actual electricity "flow") is limited by the resistance, and they work against each other - more resistance, less current.

Just for reference, blue LEDs lose about 3V, up to 3.3 maybe.

 

[millencolin]

he said they were something like 550's, are these ok?

hey hope the project is going well
sorry no inslut intended but thought it was very funny when u tried to describe the resistors.......ohh congrats now u know ohms law.

cheers
Al

 

[vy_storm]

If you need any resistors sean, yell out and will see what we have got at work.

 

[ssn8r]

connect a 330ohm resistor to the negative of the led and you can fire it up on 12v without worries

 

[Tasmaniak]

Keep the 180Ohm resistor and add in a 500Ohm potentiometer.

This will allow you to go as dim as you want or as bright as the 180.

As a note...do not remove that 180 resistor altogether. Other wise each resistor is going to find about 4 volts up it's backside....This MAY be ok but it will definetly decrease the life span of the LED and be WAY to bright.