PicoBuck, current, and small LEDs

Components & Accessories LEDs
1

I’m sure I’m over-thinking this but I can’t put it together in my head at the moment. I blame 2 weeks of isolation!

I have a Picobuck LED Drive. I have 3 groups of small 3mm LEDs I want to control. The LEDs are wired in series. Each has a forward voltage drop of up to 3.2V, at 3V take about 20mA of current.

The Picobuck supplies, by default, 330mA, will this burn out my LEDs? I have a limited quantity available so I didn’t want to test it and risk burning them out. Do I need a resistor before the Picobuck?

2

Hy Ryan.

The PicoBuck will not work with low current LEDs, just high current ones. It will burn out your LEDs. All you’re going to need is some resistors to limit current and possibly a transistor or MOSFET to turn them on and off.

3

Thank you! I had a feeling I’d burn those up. Thanks again for your help.