led wiring help

**dpzelenak** · 03-29-2011

ok so i bought some leds and now im trying to wire them up and im not sure if i have the right pieces, since i dont realy have a clue as to what im doing i furgured i'd ask,..i went to this website(Current limiting Resistor calculator for leds) and it told me that i need 220ohms and 1/2 watts(whatever that means)..and i just want to make sure im doing it right..on the website it asks for a voltage drop and on the package is just says foward voltage and im guessing thats its the same thing and a voltage drop..and when i do wire them up should i put the resistor on the voltage side or the ground side?
,thanks in advance

**BillBoost37** · 03-29-2011

Pictures or make model of what you bought... then please tell us what you drive.

**dpzelenak** · 03-29-2011

**BillBoost37** · 03-29-2011

Easiest thing to do is look up the color etc on google and you'll find a few sites that tell you what resistor to use.

**dpzelenak** · 03-29-2011

thats what i did and thats the site that came up..so i guess thats right...whats the 1/2watts for?

**chamilton89** · 03-29-2011

The 1/2 watt is the power dissipation rating for the resistor. A 1/2 watt resistor is going to be fairly large. I would look at trying to combine multiple LEDs in parallel to have the LEDs dissipate my power therefore letting the resistor disipAte less and it would be easy to wire for you!

**chamilton89** · 03-29-2011

You can also combine 7 LEDs in series which would provide a perfect voltage for each of your LEDs.

**dpzelenak** · 03-29-2011

so if i wire 2 of them in series i would need a 220ohms resistor and a 1/2 watt resistor

**dpzelenak** · 03-29-2011

Originally Posted by chamilton89

You can also combine 7 LEDs in series which would provide a perfect voltage for each of your LEDs.

thats later but not for what these will be used for, the most i might use is 4

**chamilton89** · 03-29-2011

Originally Posted by dpzelenak

so if i wire 2 of them in series i would need a 220ohms resistor and a 1/2 watt resistor

No, if you wire them in series, you would need twice the voltage of one led. You would need a different resistor to comp sate fir throat voltage increase.

**dpzelenak** · 03-29-2011

this is the set up the website gave me

thats why i asked

**chamilton89** · 03-29-2011

Here is a good site that explains all of this. It's very simple and is just ohms law which asks voltage input voltage required and resistance of the led. Let me know if you need any more help!

**dpzelenak** · 03-29-2011

im sure i will, but its not gonna happen for probloy another week..ill play around with it until i can throw it all together and ill post what i come up with and im sure there will be more questions
thanks for your help

**dpzelenak** · 03-29-2011

ok did another one hows 470ohms and 1/4watts..sound, better,,,i think i found what i was doing wrong

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