Led voltage and current question

[dizzy_chicken]

Hi im making a led matrix with about 1000 leds running in parallel. Instead of running off batteries and them dying quickly, i have a 12v wall adapter and led controller box. The led controller output is 12v, 1.6amps (say max 5A on the box but my multimeter says 1.6) however im going to run 5mm leds in parallel which use approx 3-5v and 30mA. Just wanted to know what type of resistor/ circuit i would need to bring in down voltage AND current so the leds wont burn. Please post asap...i need to know soon

[Hero999]

Please post the schematic.

If you want to connect 1000 LEDs drawing 30mA each in parallel you need a 30A power supply.

What's the forward voltage of the LEDs?

Connecting them in parallel is wasteful, you should connect as many in series as possible, for example if they're red LEDs and have a forward voltage of 2V you could connect them in 200 strings of 5 connected in series which would reduce the current requirement to 6A.

[dizzy_chicken]

so i would run a few leds in series to drop the voltage down to run the leds and place in resistors to drop the amps? Oh i forgot to add before, would i need a protection/driver circuit to protect the leds in case of power spikes if i was running leds straight off a wall adapter (if i do can you suggest a simple design?)

[Hero999]

You shouldn't need a protection circuit.

Just ensure the adaptor can provide enough current and its voltage rating is high enough to power all the LEDs.

You still haven't said what their voltage drop is.

If you don't know, it can be guessed from the colour: infrared are below 1.2V to 1.6V, red and orange LEDs are about 1.7V to 2V, yellow and yellowish green is 2V to 2.4V, pure green, blue, violet, pink and white are around 3.5V.