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LED's

R

rda

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi there, excuse my ignorance, but I cannot for the life of me remember the
polarity of LED's. Is it the long or shorter of the legs that is the +ve.


Thanks!
 
U

UncleWobbly

Jan 1, 1970
0
I never could remember this... has the body got a flat on the lower edge?
this is the cathode (-)
....
having just quickly grabbed one and checked, the short leg is next to the
flat so the short leg is -ve
 
A

Activeviii

Jan 1, 1970
0
if you go to the maplins web site and look at the leds in there you will see
all the diagrams you need
hope this helps.
Phil

UncleWobbly said:
I never could remember this... has the body got a flat on the lower edge?
this is the cathode (-)
...
having just quickly grabbed one and checked, the short leg is next to the
flat so the short leg is -ve
 
T

Thrashbarg

Jan 1, 1970
0
Another method is to hold the LED up to the light and look at the terminals
within the LED. The bigger piece is the cathode, the smaller is the anode.I
use this when the legs have been cut.
 
F

Form@C

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi there, excuse my ignorance, but I cannot for the life of me remember
the polarity of LED's. Is it the long or shorter of the legs that is the
+ve.

Look through the LED. The big bit is a cup, with the active bit in the
bottom of it.

The Kup is the Kathode... :)
 
N

nemo

Jan 1, 1970
0
Form@C said:
Look through the LED. The big bit is a cup, with the active bit in the
bottom of it.

The Kup is the Kathode... :)


--
Mick
http://www.nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini information
Also at http://www.mixtel.co.uk where the collection started.
Currently deserting M$ for linux... :)
A good Mnemo-nic way of remembering it! :eek:)

BTW - providing you've got a ballast resistor in series, you can find the
correct polarity by trial and error without damaging the LED. I keep a PP3
9V battery with a 560Ohm resistor soldered to it on my bench for precisely
this purpose. Being a skinflint, I often use recycled LEDs stripped from off
of PCBs with both leads the same length.

Nemo
 
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