Electrical – Toggle bi-colour LED

ledtransistors

I have tried Jasser's solution to toggle LED's using a single transistor at
"Use transistors for controlling two LEDs"

Aim is to use it as a power indicator, using a 3 legged bi-color LED (red=off, green=on), but I fail to see the feasability.

The red and green (separate) LEDS have already been switched and I understand the math to put the right resistors in. This much works!
I'm lost when it comes to the bi-colour LED's common cathode.

Any suggestions? Common anode perhaps? Or PNP?

Rephrase:

In a model railroad I want to be able to choose between a traditional AC transformer (powersupply 1) or digital control (powersupply 2).

The switch (rotation) that I'm using for this has 2 separate channels:

  • one is used to power the rails,
  • the other could be used to indicate which powersupply was selected.

I plan to use either +3.3 or +5V DC (not decided yet) to drive bi-colour LEDS (to save space).

I want both leds to always be on (either red or green). A simpler solution to only power the "selected" led wouldn't properly visualise which powersupply was selected in a when in the dark.
Basically, a LED should be red, unless selected (powered) by the switch (=green).

The original scheme worked for me when using separate LED's for red and green, but when I tied the cathodes together to simulate a bi-color LED, powering green did not switch off red. The new scheme works for me!

Best Answer

To use Jasser's circuit with CC R/G LED you can do this:

schematic

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab