Multi-Color LED's Demystified

[hororadio]

Alright, For my next build, I'm going to be using alot of EVGA products (motherboard,coolers,GPU, etc) and so I want a green glow from the inside of the pc. On the other hand, my original idea was a blue colored interior. So i' trying to decide between the two, when I come across dual colored LEDs, which 1 side is blue, and the other side is green.

Now I know the basics and such to wiring basic LED's, however, how would I go about wiring these "dual" sided LEDs? I heard some things about the current and such of the energy that determines the color you get, so if anyone could share some advice, and perhaps make a sample wiring diagram for the dual sided leds, it will be greatly appreciated.

[Xperiment]

My understanding of dual colour leds is that there are three wires/pins.
A common anode and then 2 cathodes, 1 for each colour.

So you would supply a +voltage to the cathode corresponding to the colour you want the led to light up.

I may be wrong though.

[Luke122]

If they only have 2 pins, then swapping the polarity should change the color.

IE: 1+ 2- = blue, 2+ 1- = green.

Do they have 2 connectors or 3?

[Eclecticos]

I once asked the same question no one could give me a definite answer.
This should help.

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/2497/multicolorfv5.jpg

[hororadio]

alright, is it possible to put a switch in the diagram, so I can switch the colors from green to blue?

[xmastree]

Depends if it's a two wire or three wire LED...

Edit:

If it's a two wire, do it like this:

http://www.cginternet.net/images/led.png

(don't forget to include the resistor, like I did...)

[hororadio]

alright, thanks for all the help guys. Hope to have this beast up and running in dual.

My plan is to pretty much take out every led from the fans and even the power leds, and stick in the dual sided leds. The wiring is going to be a pain in the ass for the fans, especially the leds in the middle of the fans.

[Eclecticos]

-=> Here (http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=681#) is a link for prewired multi-LEDs. Cheap!

[Eclecticos]

My origonal intention was to use a knob to select the colors.

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/5774/switched0.jpg

[halcyonforever]

Xmastree, could you mark on your diagram where one would insert a switch.

Actually what I would like to see is how to wire up one of these LED's with a couple different options.

1. On/Off light
1.1 I think this would work with the current setup just by inserting the load on one line but not the other, still need to see where to put the switch.
2. Option switch
2.1 Example, if you have 2 components that operate inversely, lets say 2 fans a low power and a high power, switching between the two.
2.2 This could also work for a simple fanbus with proper resistors to control the speed, would basically only have off/low/high but heck my first car had less fan control than that. Beats on/off and could provide some modicum of sound control. And it would have an LED to show the speed setting for the fan.

[xmastree]

Xmastree, could you mark on your diagram where one would insert a switch.

Actually what I would like to see is how to wire up one of these LED's with a couple different options. The black square with the six connections is the switch, as viewed from the back. It's a DPDT switch.

[halcyonforever]

The black square with the six connections is the switch, as viewed from the back. It's a DPDT switch.

Excellent, I was looking that as a breadboard. Always nice when the answer is right before your eyes.

[Eclecticos]

KingBrightUSA (https://www.kingbrightusa.com/). . all kinds of LEDs Cheap!

I just ordered myself some Multicolor LEDs for .15 cent each.