So I'm teaching myself electronics and have been going through the experiements in the Make Electronics books.
In this one experiement a 2N2222 is used to turn on a LED via a push button.
I'm pretty sure I had it wired correctly but to my surprise power flowed through the 2N2222 to the LED and and it was lit and then pressing the button to activate the 2N2222 made it brighter.
I tried a second 2N2222 just to make sure I didn't have a bad one. My understanding of Transistors were that they were like switches (relays) but all electronic and didn't expect any current to flow to the LED without activating it.
Was my thinking wrong and transistors allow some current? Or did I have something wrong and my understanding correct and it shouldn't allow any current until the transistor is activated?
In this one experiement a 2N2222 is used to turn on a LED via a push button.
I'm pretty sure I had it wired correctly but to my surprise power flowed through the 2N2222 to the LED and and it was lit and then pressing the button to activate the 2N2222 made it brighter.
I tried a second 2N2222 just to make sure I didn't have a bad one. My understanding of Transistors were that they were like switches (relays) but all electronic and didn't expect any current to flow to the LED without activating it.
Was my thinking wrong and transistors allow some current? Or did I have something wrong and my understanding correct and it shouldn't allow any current until the transistor is activated?