I have a string of LED fairy lights (5v) that when I connect to power, only half of them light up. If I reverse the polarity, the other half light up. It’s my understanding that I need a h-bridge to rapidly switch back and forward polarities. I’m waiting to ensure that there is no chance that I will see flickering (hence need something in the kHz range?).
I’m wanting information on the type of h-bridge I should be looking for given the intended usage, and how I would wire it in? I looked around and see many options, but non stood out as being the obvious one to use.
Best Answer
An h-bridge provides the means to switch power, but not the control. With typical fairly light string, a simple small signal transistor based h-bridge would work as not alot of current is needed. Something like http://members.tripod.com/robomaniac_2001/id206.htm
Then you need a way to drive the h-bridge. A microcontroller or timer ic circuit like the 555 would work. There will be considerations for the led string resistor that you need to confirm based on the current draw.