230V LED indicator on 12V supply

Smellyglove · Jul 8, 2013

I don't know if this is the right forum, but I have an electrical question..

Will 230V LED indicators (small led lights) work on a 12V DC supply?

Or will it not because of the AC/DC issue? Or will it just glow faintly?

raouliii · Jul 8, 2013

LEDs are low voltage, DC devices by their nature. A driver module consisting of rectifier and transformer is necessary for them to operate on an AC power source.

A 230VAC indicator is more likely to be neon or incandescent and 12VDC will not light it. Are you sure it's a LED indicator?

Smellyglove · Jul 9, 2013

It's these

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300581214481?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

BadNewsBrewery · Jul 9, 2013

I'm going to go out on a limb and say no. They're listed at 230vac, not 12vdc. Maybe you could pull out all the transformers and rectifiers and such and wind up with just the diode and hope that it can handle the 12vdc? Or find an LED that suits your needs.

raouliii · Jul 9, 2013

BadNewsBrewery said:
... find an LED that suits your needs.

This.

passedpawn · Jul 9, 2013

raouliii said:
LEDs are low voltage, DC devices by their nature. A driver module consisting of rectifier and transformer is necessary for them to operate on an AC power source.

A 230VAC indicator is more likely to be neon or incandescent and 12VDC will not light it. Are you sure it's a LED indicator?

I would guess there is nothing but a 22k series resistor in there and another diode in parallel with the LED but in the reverse direction. The second diode is to make sure that the LED doesn't blow due to the reverse voltage in that half of the AC cycle.

If so, it might light (barely) at 12VDC. But not enough to make it useful.