Series LED help please

Streak

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 31, 2002
Messages
711
Location
ex South Africa now SoCal
I have been testing some blue 5mm LED's from a new manufacturer.
I placed 3 or 4 LED's in series and ran them off a small 33A 12v battery.
Sometimes all three lit up sometimes one of them did not want to light up but flickered a bit.
When the one that flickered was tested in isolation across a 3v lithium coin battery it seemed dead.
What is going on here? Being in series, Vf should not be a huge problem. I tried direct voltage as well as through a 1K resistor, same problem.
I have tried this with 3 different batches of LED's and each batch has this problem.
Same problem with greens but the whites are OK.

Could it be a bad batch of LED's or static
damage?

By the way, the final product requires that the LED's are mounted in series and run off this liitle 12v battery sometimes with a resistor in series.

Thanks for the help.
 

INRETECH

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 22, 2002
Messages
1,318
Location
HILLSBORO, OR
If you ran the LEDs without a resistor, its a good chance that you exceeded the max current of the device and destoyed it; its not going to work again

Keep adding up the forward voltages of the LEDs until it is just under 12v, then use Ohms Law to calculate the series dropping resistor to dissipate the excess voltage

For example, if you had 3 3.5v LEDs, that would total up 10.5v - you would need to "get rid off" 1.5v, assuming the LEDs are 20ma - the equation would be:

I=E/R
R=E/I
R=(12-10.5)/.020
R=1.5/.020
R=75 Ohms

1/4 Watt should work just fine

Most light bulbs are "forgiving" and will take a incredible amount of overload for a short time before they "blow out", LEDs are not as forgiving and will not take the excess current

When an LED fails - it can either be "open" or "short"

Also remember, that LEDs are semiconductor devices and only work when the current flow thru the device is in the proper direction, not like light bulbs that work either way - so you could have connected them "backwards" as well; and this could have damaged the LEDs as well

Always use a current meter when designing with LEDs, since the LEDs would be in series - monitor the current thru the string and keep the current under 20ma - assuming you are using T1-3/4 (5mm) Parts
 

php_44

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 4, 2001
Messages
210
Originally posted by Streak:
Thanks Mike/Entropy.
What I find strange is that this happened when I used 4 LED's in series. 4 Leds would have a total Vf greater than 12v so no resistor should be necessary.
3 would light up and one in the middle would not. Pull one working led out of circuit and all of a sudden the remaning 3 work.
All a bit confusing!!
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Here's my guess....
InGaN LEDs that have experienced quantum well damage due to static electricity or overcurrent can exhibit the following strange behaviors:

o They will act as a low value resister for
small currents and not light up. So in a series
string they will be dark for low currrents while
the other LEDs in the string will light.

o At higher currents they may light - though not
as brightly as a non-damaged device.

o At very high currents (60mA - like when you
connected the LED to a 3V lithium cell) the
quantum well damage can get vaporized allowing
the device to work normally again for a time.
Generally though this LED would not be as
efficient and might be prone to becoming dark
again.

I've observed these behaviors in several vendor's
LEDs, and talked with a few LED guys about them.
The LED guys suggested the failure mechanisms I
mentioned. I had to return a batch of LEDs due
to static damage causing symptoms like this.
 

Streak

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 31, 2002
Messages
711
Location
ex South Africa now SoCal
Thanks Mike/Entropy.
What I find strange is that this happened when I used 4 LED's in series. 4 Leds would have a total Vf greater than 12v so no resistor should be necessary.
3 would light up and one in the middle would not. Pull one working led out of circuit and all of a sudden the remaning 3 work.
All a bit confusing!!
 
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