illuminated switch question

[brihyn]

Just received one of these in my box of goodies yesterday:
http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=73&products_id=396
Being an LED, I'm going to assume the legs have polarity (a positive leg and a negative leg), correct?
If so, which is which? The only distinguishing feature I can see is one leg has the wire wrapped around it once, the other twice.

[PL1]

I always test them before installation and put the negative leg on the side of the switch holder that has the larger black plastic piece. (easy to remember later that the black wire goes to the black plastic) 

You can either hook them up to 5v if you got the handy USB power tap cable or use the diode check setting on your multimeter.

Getting the polarity wrong when checking won't hurt the LED.   


Scott

EDIT: Resistor on the + leg gives 2 wraps, but check it anyway. (Also verified on another LED.)

[brihyn]

you're right, wrong polarity won't blow out the top of the LED...now putting 5V on an LED without a resistor...yes (Not that I ever did that in my electronics class so many years ago).
Thanks for the reminder...those classes were too long ago.
Ok, so I forgot to ask my second question...I assume that these lights don't have an in-line resistor?
The other illuminated switch I got had more details on GGG's site. This one, not so much.

[PL1]

Look at the pic above of a field-stripped LED/holder.

There's a resistor hidden inside the LED holder.


Scott

[PL1]

Just double checked the GGG site.

The LEDs you have will run on 5v or 12v, same as the ones I got from Paradise.

For constant-on, all you need is two 0.250" daisy chains (one for power, one for ground) tied to the USB power tap/molex.




Scott

[brihyn]

awesome, thanks for checking. I have a 5V wall wart found in the junk pile, so I think I'm good....or will be once I replenish my connecter stock.