Question about LED's + Resistors
 

Sorry for my lack of knowledge but, do the resistors HAVE to be soldered onto the negative side? Or can they just be spliced into and kept in tact with electrical tape? I'm going to attempt the LED Dome light this weekend and just wanted to be sure.

Thanks.

Soldering is best and it goes on positive side.

oic, thanks. but this link shows the soldering into the short leg. he states the long leg is positive therefore the short leg is negative right?

http://www.petah.org/maxima/dome.htm

Solder it to long part.

Resistors can go on eather side if i'm not mistaken.

?? now i'm confused, the pictures on the how-to shows the resistor being soldered onto the short leg, but you're saying to solder onto the long leg ??

I'm saying it works on both sides...as far as I know. So eather positive or negative sides work.

as far as i know it can go on either side.... i should of payed more attention in physics

but i have done my entire car with the resistor on the pos side and have had no problems

where does it show being soldered to the short leg?

It doesn't even matter if it's showing it soldered to a long or short leg. Correct me if I'm wrong but the wonderful thing about leds is that the are reversible. Either said can act as the positive or negative.

icic, awesome, thanks guys. but to wariow, the pic of the LED being soldered into one of the legs, i thought since both legs with the resistor on were equal that it would be wise to assume the resistor was soldered onto the short leg (pic #6 of the website). well anyways thanks

No they are definitely not reversible - IE - not if you want them to emit light anyway.................

Why you think one leg is shorter?
:tardsmash
If you are talking one resistor and one LED, then it doesn't matter where the resistor goes - if you are talking about a bunch of LEDs and a complex design to form an array of LEDs, then you better know about electronics and it then depends on the design on where the resistor goes ................. things may go up in smoke

LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. Diode = semiconductor that allows current to flow in one direction only. It must be oriented correctly.

The placement of the resistor for a single LED is your choice. Just don't put it in parallel! :bill:

parallel?? what do you mean by that? seems like you know your stuff =)

yes.. the resisitors can be soldered to either side. Dont worry about that part :D

Ant

http://physics.bu.edu/py106/notes/Circuits.html

wow that link brings back memories of freshmen year