Skip to main content

Replies sorted oldest to newest

That's it, there are a number of threads in the forum about these strips.  I've used a ton of them upgrading passenger cars, I usually have two or three rolls of them on the shelf.  At 12V, each three LED segment consumes 20ma, but when I put them in passenger cars, I typically run the whole string on 20ma, they're plenty bright at that power level.

Originally Posted by billhowell75:

John, are LED strips polarity sensitive??? I attach wires/current one way and they work. I reverse it and nothing. It doesn't make sense to me but I can easily adjust.

If DC is applied to the strip,they will light one way and not the other with the wires reversed. If AC is applied (not a good idea) they will light both ways.

 

Dale H

Yes, LEDs are polarity sensitive.  I don't recommend applying AC to the strips.  While it's true they will work on it, you can easily exceed the maximum reverse voltage for the individual LEDs. 

 

I wondered what was happening to my locomotive headlights when I first started using LED lighting, I kept losing them.  Turns out that if a TMCC command locomotive drops into conventional, the bulbs get full track AC through the TMCC receiver board.  The inverse voltage, even with the current limiting resistor, was killing the bulbs after a few months running.

 

Post
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×