Lowering voltage for LED's??

[dog812]

I am using 4 AA to get 4.8v, that i what the charger i have does.. , i want to lower the line to 3.6v. Is it better to resistor each LED or the main line with 1 resistor?


Also i see some leds use 3.6 and some 2.2v. What will happen to the 2.2v ones if i run 3.6v through them?

 

[Andy1845c]

You need to use a series resistor inline with the LED/s. You should always use a current limiting resistor with leds.

Feeding a 2.2v led with 3.6v will kill it.

Do some searching here for more info in using leds and current limiting resistors. There are 100's of topics.

 

[dog812]

yah that is the prblem haha...
well i went with a resistor for each led.. 68 ohms for the 3.6 v led, and 150 ohm for the 2.2 led. Hope that works.

 

[Andy1845c]

Sounds about right. I don't know the max current for your LEDs, but with the numbers you posted, your 3.2v leds are getting 24mA and the 2.2v LEDs are getting 17mA though them.