Turning LEDs on/off

[flameout]

Originally Posted by theawesome1730

don't mix up positive and negative on the LED, they make a nice pop sometimes

For anyone who reads this thread in the future:

Reversing polarity on a LED will not damage the LED (or the Digital Sidecar, for that matter) -- it will simply not night. LEDs are diodes. Feeding them too much power, however, can make them pop.

[theawesome1730]

Originally Posted by flameout

For anyone who reads this thread in the future:

Reversing polarity on a LED will not damage the LED

Only reason I said that is because I actually did make one pop when I wired it backwards.

And like flameout said it won't hurt the sidecar or the LED at that voltage. An LED is a diode so it only lets current through in one direction and also happens to light up.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by flameout

Reversing polarity on a LED will not damage the LED (or the Digital Sidecar, for that matter) -- it will simply not night.

Caution: the above is true only if driving the LED with a source whose open-circuit voltage is less than the reverse voltage which would damage the LED.

A high voltage high impedance source might work fine in the forward direction but damage the LED if polarity is reversed.