LED bulb polarity

[Colin Lindsay]

I bought two red LED Stop and Tail Light bulbs online last night and the confirmation e-mail states they're positive earth; my mistake! I've messaged the seller in the hope he'll swap them for negative but if not, how polarity sensitive are they if I fit them to a negative earth Triumph? Will they just be dimmer / no difference / or blow the electronics completely?

[RogerH]

Generally if you reverse the polarity they will suck light in rather like a black hole    not work

They are conventional diodes that produce light - wow.   

A normal diode blocks one way and allows current to flow the other way.

TRy and get them swapped.

 

Roger

[Pete Lewis]

colin youve not been the same since you made a flood   ha !!

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

That really was a senior moment, Pete. I spent so long making sure all of the other fittings / voltages and things were correct I missed the two big words at the start that said "POSITIVE EARTH".

The seller did say they'll fit all Triumphs MGs and other British cars of the period... but obviously only the positive earth ones.

[rlubikey]

If you're handy with a soldering iron, do as I did and break the glue joint, swap the leads over and hey presto!

Cheers, Richard

[Colin Lindsay]

7 minutes ago, rlubikey said:

If you're handy with a soldering iron, do as I did and break the glue joint, swap the leads over and hey presto!

Cheers, Richard

If the seller doesn't swap, and I've no reason to suspect he won't if I pay the postage, then I may have to look at that. Not the first thing I've repaired to destruction.