Resistor for 4-LED Rotating Micro Beacon with Cool White LED Lights
I just purchased a 4-LED Rotating Micro Beacon with Cool White LED Lights and have already tested it. It looks great! I read that it is meant to be used at 5V, however in my application I will be running a circuit at 6V. What size resistor should I put in series with the beacon? Alternatively, what is the LED voltage drop and maximum current rating? With that, I could do the calculation myself. Thanks in advance!
2 replies
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Hi, thanks for your note-- I'm happy you like the beacon! Thinking about how to make it work with 6V isn't as straightforward as calculating a resistor for single or multiple LEDs, since there's also a microcontroller in the mix. Based on our testing, the beacon consumes 10mA or less at 5V. Doing the basic math with the assumption that the entire beacon was a single LED with a 5V voltage drop and 10mA current rating (probably not entirely accurate but likely close enough as a rough estimate), a 100 ohm 1/8 watt resistor should work. We haven't tested this, but if for some reason it fries the beacon, let us know and we'll send a replacement.
Let me know if this setup works for you, and of course I'd love to see photos/videos of the beacon in action!
Thank you.
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Hi Rob. Thanks for the advice! I decided to play it safe and double the resistance you recommended to see what would happen. At 6V with 200 ohms in series with the beacon it seems to work just fine and is not noticeably dimmer than when run at 5V with no resistor. Since this works, I will not try 100 ohms for fear of frying the microcontroller.
Attached is a short video of the beacons in action, but obviously I have a long ways to go before this project is done.