WHY ITS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND HOW POWER RELATES TO LEDsWHY ITS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND HOW POWER RELATES TO LEDs
LEDs are different from conventional lighting systems in that they are electronic components with specific power needs. If the power is wrong, the lamps can burn out or the fixtures in your lighting system will produce light of varying brightness. Why? LEDs require current limiting. For example, if you connect an LED directly to a battery it would burn out because it tries to suck out all the power it can. To limit the current, all LED circuits need a limiting device in line with the LEDs.
Quickie Review of Electrical Terms
Volts - Electrical pressure, sort of like pressure in a pipe.
Amps - Electrical current. Its like the gallons-per-minute volume of a pipe.
Resistance - A property in all electrical equipment where power is converted to heat, thus lost. A copper wire would have low resistance; a heating element would have high resistance expressed in ohms.
Power - If you combine volts x amps, you get watts, which is a unit of power. In a power supply, you can increase the amps by reducing the voltage, or vice versa, thus fine tuning your power according to needs.
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