I want to start off by saying I'm a complete noob, I know how to solder, I kinda understand the basics of components.
I have a USB Charged radio for work, all of my co-workers have radios. There is no charging dock for the radios and I've 3d printed a charging dock. I understand parallel circuits so I have no problem charging 6 radios at a time. thats working fine. The problem is that I want to have a status LED for each dock. When a radio is charging I want the LED to illuminate.
My understanding of circuits is that if I have a 5v source, and the radio takes like 4.8v that would be a 4.8v drop across the radio, the remaining .2v isn't enough to power an LED. So I know that the LED would have to be in parallel not in series, however, how can I take the remaining .2v and open a transistor for the LED, I tried a comparator, however, either thats not a good solution or I'm stupid and can't figure it out. I've done many many google searches before coming here.... There isn't much help, and the search terms used is cluttered with silly DIY videos on youtube that are 98% unrelated.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I'm very interested in learning circuitry better, and would love to stick around on this forum if you guys would have me.
Many thanks,
Russell
I have a USB Charged radio for work, all of my co-workers have radios. There is no charging dock for the radios and I've 3d printed a charging dock. I understand parallel circuits so I have no problem charging 6 radios at a time. thats working fine. The problem is that I want to have a status LED for each dock. When a radio is charging I want the LED to illuminate.
My understanding of circuits is that if I have a 5v source, and the radio takes like 4.8v that would be a 4.8v drop across the radio, the remaining .2v isn't enough to power an LED. So I know that the LED would have to be in parallel not in series, however, how can I take the remaining .2v and open a transistor for the LED, I tried a comparator, however, either thats not a good solution or I'm stupid and can't figure it out. I've done many many google searches before coming here.... There isn't much help, and the search terms used is cluttered with silly DIY videos on youtube that are 98% unrelated.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I'm very interested in learning circuitry better, and would love to stick around on this forum if you guys would have me.
Many thanks,
Russell