Hi guys, is there an on line circuit design tool for non-engineers that I can use to ----- Create a circuit then submit it to the tool and it will tell me if it will work? I have designed an LED circuit to create lights on deck posts in my yard. After doing much research about LED's I have made a circuit to support 9 LED's at one post cap but my dilima is if I put multiple post caps in that 12v/120w ciruit what is the limit ect. ect. I found an led wizard that says I can put many leds in Parallel which I would assume the post caps would be but I would perfer to see my finished circuit to be sure it will work before continuing . Thanks MJC, HV Master by trade- LV hobbiest by Heart.
hi there
have a look at this tutorial on LEDS
see if that helps, come back with any other questions
cheers
Dave
have a look at this tutorial on LEDS
see if that helps, come back with any other questions
cheers
Dave
If you are looking to find a program that will test whether a circuit will not work, consider LTSpice from Linear. It is free. If it works in LTSpice, it will probably work in real life. I don't think there is any simulator that will tell you whether a circuit will work.
http://www.linear.com/designtools/software/
John
http://www.linear.com/designtools/software/
John
shumifan50
- Jan 16, 2014
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- Jan 16, 2014
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@davenn thanks for the tut link, it is most informative and I learned a lot.
Following the tutorial on the link given by davenn, it seems like a nice solution is provided by this single chip constant current regulator:
Constant Current Regulator
It contains a suggested circuit for driving strings of 10 power LEDs ( a single post for your project) at less than £3 per post. The application notes also provide designs for suggested protection circuits.
However your 12V supply will not give enough headroom, the application note suggests 48V. But the current will be reduced.
Following the tutorial on the link given by davenn, it seems like a nice solution is provided by this single chip constant current regulator:
Constant Current Regulator
It contains a suggested circuit for driving strings of 10 power LEDs ( a single post for your project) at less than £3 per post. The application notes also provide designs for suggested protection circuits.
However your 12V supply will not give enough headroom, the application note suggests 48V. But the current will be reduced.
Daveen , the led tutorial is very informative , I have read this info in the past. thanks
jpanhalt, Tried the LTspice program, I was able provide my design save it in the program but not get it to do anything else , so it seems to be just a large waist of time it wont work for me . thanks
Shumifan50, Don’t really know what you mean by headroom. I’m assuming you mean the supplied voltage which would be actually 11vdc . There would be three 20ma white leds in series (3.2Vf each) with a 70 ohm resistor which would give headroom of 1.4vdc. (11-9.6= 1.4vdc/20ma=70ohms) the 9 5mm leds you vision are not all in series but 3 series strings in parallel to provide 9 leds per post cap. I want to provide 6 post caps with 6 or 9 leds each in the configuration above and put all 6 post caps in parallel with each other. The led wizard I used says I can use leds in this config. But I just want to be sure before doing so. What do you think?
jpanhalt, Tried the LTspice program, I was able provide my design save it in the program but not get it to do anything else , so it seems to be just a large waist of time it wont work for me . thanks
Shumifan50, Don’t really know what you mean by headroom. I’m assuming you mean the supplied voltage which would be actually 11vdc . There would be three 20ma white leds in series (3.2Vf each) with a 70 ohm resistor which would give headroom of 1.4vdc. (11-9.6= 1.4vdc/20ma=70ohms) the 9 5mm leds you vision are not all in series but 3 series strings in parallel to provide 9 leds per post cap. I want to provide 6 post caps with 6 or 9 leds each in the configuration above and put all 6 post caps in parallel with each other. The led wizard I used says I can use leds in this config. But I just want to be sure before doing so. What do you think?
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