Electronic – Switching intensity of LED’s

led

Here is my problem. I built this circuit and for some reason it works. FYI, the diodes are red 5mm LED's, the transistor is 3904 NPN, and the resistors are what are shown in the schematic. Logically it should not work when you press the PBNO. The red 5mm diodes should be destroyed. According to simulating, the current is above 300mA. How is it possible this circuit physically works? The lights are dim, then when you press the PBNO, they become bright, which is what I was after.

schematic

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

Best Answer

First, this is not a good circuit. The current with the switch open depends on the current amplification factor of the transistor, which can vary widely. If you just want to vary the brightness of the LEDs you could put an extra series resistor (beyond R2/R2, value to taste) and short that resistor with your switch (change R2/R3 to limit the current to your desired value).

The reason that you don't burn out your LEDs is probably that you used a 9V battery, which has considerable internal resistance. In your simulation you probably used an ideal voltage source, which has 0 internal resistance.

Another reason might be that a LED does not die immediately from a high current, it merely has a significantly shorter lifetime.