LED Problems!!

iONic

Joined Nov 16, 2007
1,662
Thanks audio guru, i am confused, and thankyou all for the help, i have attached how i wired up the circuit (i know its basic and silly how i dont get it),

what does that last symbol indicate within the circuit i have wired it up just how the led calculator had shown me, nevertheless i have attached how i have wired up the circuit so whatever is wrong with it please let me know as i am a complete novice also would a higher resistance be better to use without my LEDS popping as they are getting very bright.

BILL: the LEDS forward V is shown as 3.2 from the manufacturers list
The symbol you are referring to is ground (GND) and is the same as the negative (-) terminal of the battery.

The circuit is wired correctly, god job.

Since your 6V battery can have 7V or more fully charged I would increase the resistor values to 220 Ohms for each LED.
With this value of resistor you may notice a dimming when the voltage gets close to 6V, which would be a good indication that the battery needs charging. (Don't quote me on just how noticeable the difference will be.)
 
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iONic

Joined Nov 16, 2007
1,662
Maybe your 150 ohm resistors are actually only 15 ohms? Then the LEDs will be very bright and will burn out.
Never thought of that. That would certainly burn up some LED's.

15 ohm - Black, Green, Black
150 ohms - Black, Green, Brown

I'd still use 180 ohm - 220 ohm resistors, especially considering the project.

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On a side note:

Don't want to put another twist in your project, but you can take a file, or even a grinding wheel to flatten and reduce the
height of the LED to widen the viewing angle. You can try this with 1 LED to see what it does in a dark room. Just be sure to stay clear of the cathode/anode at the bottom portion of the LED.
 
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Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
I have to use a magnifying glass (or DVM) to verify parts like that occasionally. They would also get very hot to the touch, especially if they were ¼W (if they were the wrong values).
 

Audioguru

Joined Dec 20, 2007
11,248
Sometimes cheap Oriental resistors have odd colors like brown, red and and orange the same, brown and black the same or blue and green the same.
Simply measure their value with a DMM.
 

nbw

Joined May 8, 2011
36
LEDs changing colour when they shouldn't (i.e. RGB :) is usually a sign they're getting way too much current. So yes - check those resistors a factor of 10 too light on the resistor (one stripe) equates a 10-fold increase in current. Not too bad if you wanted 1.5mA and gave the LED 15mA instead, but if you were aiming for 10mA and dished out 100mA of current... ouch!
 
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