Now that I've started playing around in this very popular arena, I'm starting to wonder if these amazing little circuits are stressing out the LEDs they're driving.
I ask because when I looked at the current waveform for the LED in my current JT circuit, this is what I saw:
**broken link removed**
(Circuit and screenshot attached below)
Since I don't own an oscilloscope, I have to rely on a simulator here, so I'm ASS-U-Ming that it shows what happens in real life, more or less.
Notice that the LED is being allowed to take in 60 mA (2nd tick from the bottom of the waveform) for ~500nS. The absolute peaks of the wave go up as high as 350-400 mA! Of course, we'd never want to drive a LED this hard continuously, and since the drive is pulsed, presumably the device can take it.
But for how long? Are we damaging these diodes, eroding their little junctions little by little by feeding them such high pulsed currents? or are they rugged enough to take the punishment?
If anyone knows of any literature out there that addresses this, I'm interested.
I ask because when I looked at the current waveform for the LED in my current JT circuit, this is what I saw:
**broken link removed**
(Circuit and screenshot attached below)
Since I don't own an oscilloscope, I have to rely on a simulator here, so I'm ASS-U-Ming that it shows what happens in real life, more or less.
Notice that the LED is being allowed to take in 60 mA (2nd tick from the bottom of the waveform) for ~500nS. The absolute peaks of the wave go up as high as 350-400 mA! Of course, we'd never want to drive a LED this hard continuously, and since the drive is pulsed, presumably the device can take it.
But for how long? Are we damaging these diodes, eroding their little junctions little by little by feeding them such high pulsed currents? or are they rugged enough to take the punishment?
If anyone knows of any literature out there that addresses this, I'm interested.