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[Captain fizz]

when wiring led circuits, is it necessary to use a resister for each led or can they be wired in pairs with only one resister?


Simon

[g6swj]

Simon,

Have a read of this - hopefully it explains it fairly well

http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/22291/why-exactly-cant-a-single-resistor-be-used-for-many-parallel-leds

Jonathan

[Captain fizz]

Thanks Jonathon, individual resistors it is.


Simon

[Stan]

P/M sent also.

Stan

[Brian60]

However that only addresses led's in parallel. It is perfectly acceptable to link them in series with only one resistor

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

You can use one resistor for a matched pair of LED, but at some point you will have to
increase the wattage of the resistor. If there is too much amp draw, say for a 1/8 watt resistor it will burn out.
Resistors are available in several watt ratings.  So it would depend on the "maths".

 

Most of the time I have a resistor at each LED.

I know others that will run them in series and add up the voltages to match the power.
But like Christmas lights if one goes bad you lose the string. A voltage spike can do that.