Why the LEDs burned with the right driver

currentdriverledresistors

I am trying to connect, in parallel, 18 LEDs that have these specs:

LED

  • size: 10mm;
  • Voltage: 3.2V – 3.4V;
  • Current: 20mA.

Driver

From my calculation, by putting 18 LEDs in parallel I need a total current of 360mA, so by driving a (max) current of 350mA i do not need a resistor (to limit the current) and it should not burn the LEDs, however after a blink they all burned.

What am i missing?

Best Answer

You have two problems.

  1. Voltage - the power supply you are using provides a constant 350mA by varying the voltage. Unfortunately, it can only go down to 9Volts. That is too much for one LED. You would need (at least) 3 LEDs in series for that to work.
  2. Parallel LEDs - this is a bad idea. LEDs don't all react the same. One will switch on at a slightly lower voltage than the others, and will get most of the current which will cause it to go BOOM in short order. Then the next LED wil get overloaded and the next and the next, and so on until you are out of LEDs.