RGB Wiring Help

[Shadar Al'Niende]

I am somewhat confused by this LED and need help to wire this up for purple...



The specs are as follows:

- Seperate input wires for Red, Green and Blue allowing customization of colors
- Driving voltage and current per channel:

*
Red: 2.5V ~ 3.0V, 350mA
*
Green: 3.2V ~ 3.8V, 350mA
*
Blue: 3.2V ~ 3.8V, 350mA

- Note: each color channel is able to take a maximum of 350mA of current, thus a 1050mA combined current input and the 3W rating.

It looks to me that the R, G, and B have a + pad but its a common neg pad on the bottom right. Soooo.... If i was to use one of these with a cheapy hasbro board (no poof <= 6v) my power options are a little tricky. I could use a single 18650 and wire it parallel (this would halve the 24000 mAh rating between both led's giving them roughly 1A ea) OR, i could use a NiMH solution for 6v, and wire the Blue and Red in Series with the Red last.

Here are my concerns....

1. If wiring in series, will the voltage split damage the blue die? Has anyone done this specifically?
2. If wiring Parallel, would i simply splice the board pos --> led pos so that each +pad gets a lead going to a single lead off the board? Do i use the common neg by just running this to the board?
3. Will the board run ok off of 3.6-3.7v?

I am leaning toward the NiMH solution personally for various reasons but if its not do-able that way...

Thanks in advance guys!

[Rhyen Skytracker]

What exactly are you trying to do with this LED? Are you going for a color change option or going for a mixture of colors to get something like purple? If going for a color change you would need some way to choose what color you want. A rotary switch or BCD rotary switch works for that. If you want to have a specific color like purple you would need to resister the red to tone it down to get the shade of purple you want. Since these are 350 mA max you would need to either use a 350 mA driver for a single color or just use a single resistor then split off from the resistor to go to each LED. You would still need to resistor the red LED too if trying to get a purple color.

[Shadar Al'Niende]

I was planning on wiring it up for Purple, (i will edit that into my first post) I know with the LEDEngin RGB's you can wire the blue and red in series leaving the red last and will not need a resistor. I assumed this may be the same....

So it sounds like my only option is parallel wiring with resistor/pot (i'm planning on using a pot for the red) on the red die?

[Lord Dottore Matto]

Yeah, series on that LED will give you pink. You need a pot on the red.

[Rhyen Skytracker]

To get purple you need to wire them in parallel and you will need to find the right size resistor to give you the shade of purple you want. You will probably use between a 1 ohm - a 4 ohm resistor. You can use a potentiometer to dial in the right color and them get a resistor that size. That iw the way I do it. I use a potentiometer first. Try to get a 100 ohm pot if you can. Anything any greater and you won't get any change on the upper end of it. The lower the pot the more resolution you get in the dial.

[thejedilestat]

i have used this same led with MR SB and a hasbro econ SB it works find running all 3 leds... i have used 3 push on off switch setup with it to mix the colors (hasbro econ SB)and i have ran it with one neg to each pad from an MR SB

that being said with mine when i try ti mix R+B it stays red

same with R+G anoying that the red over powers the other 2 but i do have a busted push on off switch(TCSS) when i turn the red on with that switch it works just fine its an ok purple i can not get a white its more of a light light light pink

[Shadar Al'Niende]

Yeah, series on that LED will give you pink. You need a pot on the red.

To get purple you need to wire them in parallel and you will need to find the right size resistor to give you the shade of purple you want. You will probably use between a 1 ohm - a 4 ohm resistor. You can use a potentiometer to dial in the right color and them get a resistor that size. That iw the way I do it. I use a potentiometer first. Try to get a 100 ohm pot if you can. Anything any greater and you won't get any change on the upper end of it. The lower the pot the more resolution you get in the dial.

Thanks guys! So, just to clarify... the pad on the bottom right would have the neg to board (single wire) and the pos coming from the board would be y-spliced to provide a pos lead for each die (Red and Blue) with a pot/resistor on the red?

i have used this same led with MR SB and a hasbro econ SB it works find running all 3 leds... i have used 3 push on off switch setup with it to mix the colors (hasbro econ SB)and i have ran it with one neg to each pad from an MR SB

that being said with mine when i try ti mix R+B it stays red

same with R+G anoying that the red over powers the other 2 but i do have a busted push on off switch(TCSS) when i turn the red on with that switch it works just fine its an ok purple i can not get a white its more of a light light light pink

Thanks Lestat, what was your power solution? Do any of you know if this setup will run well off 3.6/3.7v?

[FenderBender]

That LED is marked in reverse if it is the DX LED. The common - is actually the positive and the + pads are all negs. It runs "OK" off of 3.7, but ideally you want 4.5/4.8V. If you are using a Hasblow you want 6V (force action, not the newer ones).

Oh and get a 1W 250ohm pot. That will give you the most accurate read for the power supply that you need.

[Shadar Al'Niende]

That LED is marked in reverse if it is the DX LED. The common - is actually the positive and the + pads are all negs. It runs "OK" off of 3.7, but ideally you want 4.5/4.8V. If you are using a Hasblow you want 6V (force action, not the newer ones).

Oh and get a 1W 250ohm pot. That will give you the most accurate read for the power supply that you need.

I was hoping you would chime in couple questions then.

1. I had heard the pads were reversed but with a common pos i would just reverse the colors in my last statement right?

2.Also, without using an 18650, and wiring parallel, my run time is going to be awful! Any suggestions?

[Jedi Master Taka]

Ok, I will apologize in advance for this completely newb question. But I just got a few of these as my 1st venture into the RBG world. With the Pads set backwards, how do you resister these? Don't you always resistor from the positive? I haven't done a lot past direct drive and hasbro eco boards so please speak slowly and use small words. *L*