5 ms·
Sort of, but not really. LEDs can easily be wired in parallel as long as you use resistors to balance them. If you dial in the voltage real tight you can get a
by Itsdijital 7y ago
Sort of, but not really.
LEDs can easily be wired in parallel as long as you use resistors to balance them. If you dial in the voltage real tight you can get away with minimal losses in the resistors. If you are really fancy you can use transistors and shunts to actively balance then for even more efficiency.
The reason why series is more popular is actually because it is cheaper and(can be) more efficient. It's not uncommon for cheap led lights to just throw 40 leds in series with a dead simple "driver" (read: rectifier, smoothing caps, and a resistor)to run it right off 120V.
- rahimnathwani 7y agoRe: your last sentence, does that mean the whole unit dies as soon as one LED fails?
- jcims 7y agoNot the person you’re replying to, but yes. Series config you lose the circuit if the LED fails open and it shuts the whole string down naturally. Similar issues can affect parallel. If one LED fails open and you don’t adjust the current, you’ll start overdriving the other LEDs and shorten their lives...potentially dramatically. You could add current sense and shut down the board or even adjust current, but then costs go up. Typical LED strips are small serial strings of typically three lights connected in parallel. That way if something goes wrong you knly lose a few lights.