Quick LED Backward Current Question

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Mon May 28, 2007 2:52 pm

The title says most of it. I redid my LED mod with much brighter LEDs and some more crap to diffuse the light.

I tested it (with no resistor) and the last time hooked it up backwards. Smoke from the enamel on the wires melting off ensued. Are the LEDs still good? Or are they pretty much dead.

The Power Supply was +5V from a computer PSU Tim hooked up and labeled, and no resistor was used.

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Mon May 28, 2007 6:15 pm

The answer is no.

Bibin · Post by **Bibin** » Mon May 28, 2007 8:32 pm

See, a question like this is pointless, since you can yourself find the answer in nearly three seconds.

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Tue May 29, 2007 12:41 am

the forward voltage on those is like 3.6v. if you go higher than that with no resistor your current is pretty quickly approaching infinity and you can guess what happens.

look into the end of the lights. it will probably look blackish instead of pale yellow.