70 amp charger cooking 12v LEDs?
Will using one of the upgraded 70amp Progressive Dynamics charger/converters fry my new 12v LEDs (unregulated version)? I've seen talk of leaving the old converter in place, deck mounting the new o...
Forum Discussion
westend wrote:
Forum member Dave/Sparky did applied voltage tests with many common LED replacements. He found all would endure at least 15V. I think you're going after a problem that may not exist.
FWIW, my LED SMD panels may see 14.8V on many days in the Winter when the temp compensated solar is pushing higher voltages. I haven't lost a one.
I'm sure many do run well on 15V, the ones I have in the trailer now do. However, some early ones I tried from China with a simple dropping resistor and early style LED's did NOT. it only took a few weeks of camping before they started dying, and in a few cases the LED's got hot enough to unsolder themselves from the ceramic board and fall off.
Having designed many circuits with LED's in them for indicators many years ago, I suspected that would happen and was unfortunetly correct. Design the circuit knowing LED (and general diode) characteristics and they will last a LONG LONG time.
