LeD's in series with N64 red LEd + Portable

Stoweboarder · Post by **Stoweboarder** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 12:44 pm

ok, so i was thinking about adding come LED's to the N64 that im making and i wanted them to be near the main red LED at the front of the board between the controller ports so i was thinking

cant I just add one of two lights onto that LED?

in series or even parallel

or would the extra lights just be really dim or something?

sorry about no pic, i dont have my usb for the camera

also, in the next few weeks or so, my friend and I will be posting all our pics with the connections to ask the community to evaluate our portable, so as the not have the thing fry when we turn it on

thanks!1

palmertech · Post by **palmertech** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:22 pm

You can add as many LEDs in parallel as you want, within reason. They should be bright.

If you are making a portable, though, don't power them off that. If is not very battery efficient. But if this is just a Pimp64, then go right ahead.

Stoweboarder · Post by **Stoweboarder** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:47 pm

soooooo....is that a yes

im adding leds to the power light

and its a portable

deviouskoopa · Post by **deviouskoopa** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 2:03 pm

I'd make sure the LEDs you are adding all have the same forward voltage as the N64 LED, otherwise the currents through them will be different/not good. You should be fine if you use only red LEDs though.

Stoweboarder · Post by **Stoweboarder** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 2:04 pm

if anyone knows what voltage the LED on the N64 is that would be awesome

Kyo · Post by **Kyo** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 2:09 pm

Having them share a resistor is generally a bad idea. Also, if you use 3.4V diodes, you can just run them straight off the 3.3 line

deviouskoopa · Post by **deviouskoopa** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 2:42 pm

Kyo wrote:Having them share a resistor is generally a bad idea. Also, if you use 3.4V diodes, you can just run them straight off the 3.3 line

They'd be alright without a resistor to limit the current? I've never tried that before...

palmertech · Post by **palmertech** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 5:36 pm

Kyo wrote:Having them share a resistor is generally a bad idea.

Enlighten me. Why? I usually use one or two 1watt resistors in parallel, is that safe to run, say, 8 LEDs off?

Stoweboarder · Post by **Stoweboarder** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 6:14 pm

taking this in another direction

what would be the best way to connect 2 or 3 LEDs to an N64 portable with a polaroid 0700 lithium battery (i think they are like 7.2 volts or so)?

palmertech · Post by **palmertech** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 6:16 pm

What color?

Stoweboarder · Post by **Stoweboarder** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 6:21 pm

i suppose red would be fine, but knowing it for even green or blue would be good too

ya, blue is good too

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:09 pm

Each color will be a different voltage. If the LEDs are in parallel only the one with the lowest forward voltage will turn on (in the ideal situation). In reality the V-I curves dont make perfect 90-degree angles and you may get a few dimly lit ones in addition to the brightest one. If your LEDs are the same part from the same batch then their voltages are probably matched well and you can get away with putting them in parallel.

If you use one resistor for multiple LEDs, you are still just putting them in parallel.

If you use no resistor for an LED, the current thorough the LED will be incredibly sensitive to voltage fluctuations, and you can end up burning out the LED or just wasting a lot of electricity. Most indicator LEDs dont need much more than 10mA, and an LED might say it uses "20mA @ 3v", but that means it probably uses about 250mA at 3.3v, cause remember... /its a diode/.

Stoweboarder · Post by **Stoweboarder** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:18 pm

so your saying that if I wired a couple LEDs to the 3.3V that the N64 gets with a resistor

I would be good?

what type of resistor would work best

Kyo · Post by **Kyo** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:31 am

Even if they're part of the same pack it's bad practice to do so. We've had this discussion, in a perfect world it would work, but it's not a perfect world. One of them will always use more than the others, which means that eventually, they'll fail. Now, this isn't just a wild theory, it's something that happens. It has happened. It's a mistake in Ben's guide.

deviouskoopa · Post by **deviouskoopa** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 3:32 am

Stoweboarder wrote:so your saying that if I wired a couple LEDs to the 3.3V that the N64 gets with a resistor

I would be good?

what type of resistor would work best

Check out ledcalc.com or a similar site to find which resistor(s) you need...