11/8/2016

HowtoBuildaSimpleLEDDriverCircuit

BuildaSimpleLEDDriverCircuit

Inthisproject,wewillshowhowtobuildasimpleLEDdrivercircuit.
ALEDdrivercircuitisacircuitwhichcanpoweronandlightanLED>
Wewillsimplyuseatransistorandafewresistorstobringaboutacircuit
which,withminimalcurrent,canproduceenoughcurrenttodriveandlightan
LED.
Thepointofthiscircuitistodemonstratethatifyoudonothavesufficient
currentpowerfulenoughtodriveanLED,youcanconnectatransistortothe
circuitsothatitprovidesenoughcurrentamplificationtodriveit.
Ofcourse,ifyou'repoweringanLEDandyoucanconnecttheLEDdirectlyto
apowersource,youwon'tneedaverysophisticateddrivercircuit.Therewill
beenoughpowerfromthatpowersourcetolightuptheLEDwithouttheneed
foratransistor.However,sayyouhaveacircuitthatisoperatingoffthepower
suppliedbyachipandthechipcanonlyoutputaverylowamountofcurrent.
ThiscurrentmaynotbeenoughtodriveanLED.Oryoumayhaveachipthat
allowsforenoughcurrenttolightanLEDbutyoumaywanttolightseveral
LEDsinparallel.ForeachLEDthatyouwanttolightinparallel,about15mAof
currentareneededmoreperLED.AchipsuchastheAtmega168or
Atmega328allowsforaboutamaximumof20mAofcurrentoutputperoutput
pin.Thus,youcoulddriveasingleLEDonanoutputpin.However,ifyou
wantedtodrive2LEDsinparallel,youwouldneedadrivercircuittogetmore
current.Thus,drivercircuitsusingtransistors,areverycommon.
Thiscircuitexploitsthefactthattransistorscanfunctionascurrentamplifiersin
circuits.Weusethetransistortosupplytheamplificationnecessarysothatthe
LEDcanbedriven.

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11/8/2016

HowtoBuildaSimpleLEDDriverCircuit

Thepartsweneedtorunthiscircuitareshownbelow.

Parts

NPN2N2222transistor(orsimilar)
SPSTSwitch
LED
3AABatteriesorDCpowersupply
330Resistor
1KResistor
Forthetransistor,wesimplyuseanNPNtransistor.Thiswillbesufficientfor
providingamplification.
TopowertheLEDandthecollectorofthetransistor,weprovide3voltsof
power.Thisvoltageisnecessaryforthetransistortowork.NPNtransistors
alwaysneedpositivevoltageappliedtothecollectorinordertowork.Thisis
calledreversebiasvoltagesothatthecurrentinthetransistorcanflowfrom
emittertocollector.This3voltscancomeeitherfrom2AAbatteriesconnected
inseriesorfromaDCpowersupply.

LEDDriverCircuit
TheschematicoftheLEDdrivercircuitwewillbuildisshownbelow:

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11/8/2016

HowtoBuildaSimpleLEDDriverCircuit

Whentheswitchofthecircuitisopen,nocurrentflowstothebaseofthe
transistor.Therefore,thetransistorcannotturnon.Bipolarjunctiontransistors
needbasecurrentandsufficientpositivevoltagetothecollectorinorderto
provideamplification.Sowithnocurrent,thetransistornortheLEDturnson.
Whentheswitchisclosed,basecurrentflowsthroughthetransistor,turningit
on.Thetransistornowprovidesamplificationtothecurrent,turningtheLED
on.
IftheLEDwasjustconnectedstraighttothe10Kresistor,withoutany
transistor,itwouldnotproducesufficientcurrenttodrivetheLED.Thecurrent
throughtheLEDwouldbeI=V/R=1.5V/3K=0.5mA.Thisisnotsufficientto
driveanLED.AnLEDtypicallyneedsabout15mA.WiththeNPNtransistorin
thecircuit,amplificationisusuallytothedegreeofabout100to150.Therefore,
thecurrentwillbeamplifiedby100,whichis0.5mA*100=50mA.50mAisnow
sufficienttodriveandlighttheLED.
SoyouseehowthetransistorallowsacircuittobeanLEDdriver.Withoutit,
therewouldn'tbeenoughpowertodriveit.Thepointofthiscircuitisthatifyou
haveinsufficientcurrentoutput,youcancreateadriving,oramplifying,sothat
youcanhavesufficientcurrent.LEDsarecurrentdrivendevices.Therefore,an
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11/8/2016

HowtoBuildaSimpleLEDDriverCircuit

LEDdrivercircuitisonethatsuppliessufficientcurrenttodrivethem.Thiscan
bedonewithasimpletransistor,asshownabove.

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