LIGHT EMITTING DIODE (LED) 6.

Base- connects the LED lamp to the lamp or bulb

holder, this also connects the LED lamp to the house
- a semiconductor device that emits light when wiring circuit so electricity can flow into the LED lamp
electricity flows in it. unit.
History of LED

1. Henry Joseph Round- observed

"Electroluminescence" in Silicon Carbide.
2. Bernhard Gudden & Robert Wichard Pohl- used
Zinc Sulphide with Copper to replicate the
phenomenon observed by H.J. Round.
3. James Robert Biard & Garry Pittman- accidentally
invented an infrared LED while working to make a
laser diode.
4. Nick Holonyack- invented the first red LED that can Types of LED Lighting Devices
produce visible light. He is called as the "Father of
L.E.D". 1. LED Bulb – these are commonly used for lighting
5. Green LED- In 1970's, scientist developed LED that houses and offices, and is designed to replace
incandescent bulbs.
produces green light using Gallium Phosphide.
2. LED lamps or tubes - Also used for house and office
6. George M. Crawford- invented the Yellow LED by
using two Gallium Phosphide chips (Red and Green) in lighting and is designed to replace fluorescent lamps.
1972. 3. High-Powered LED- produces high or intense
7. Herbert Maruska & Jacques Pankove- develop the amount of light, they are commonly used for car
violet LED using Mg-doped GaN films. The violet LED is headlights, spot light and flood lights.
the foundation for the true blue LED developed later 3. RGB LEDs- this type if LED lighting device can
in 1972. produce mostly all kinds of color.
8. Thomas P. Pearsall- develops special high 4. Dimmer LED- same as a LED lamp or bulb but
brightness LEDs for fiber optic use. This improves comes with a dimmer control, this type of LED lighting
communications technology worldwide. device
9. Shuji Nakamura- Shuji Nakamura and his team can control the amount of light it produces.
invented the Ultra Bright Blue LED using Gallium 5. SMD LED- stands for Surface Mounted Device LED
lighting, it contains SMD chips that adds extra
Nitride (GaN) in 1994.
Parts of a LED Lamp brightness and can sometimes have a color changing
feature.
1. Lens/Optics- this is the glass bulb or lamp that is 6. COB LED- COD or Chip on Board LED, COB are single
used to evenly distribute the light produce by the light LED chips that contains 9 or more LED inside. It can
emitting diodes (LEDs). Common LED lenses or optics provide a stronger and denser amount of light than
are coated with phosphorus to be able to produce a SMD LEDs but has no color changing features.
visible white light. 7. Graphene LED- considered as the most recent
2. LED chips- these are the electronic components development in LED lighting technology, this is an LED
that creates or produces the light. lamp coated with a substance called “Graphene’ and
A. Chip-on-Board (COB) - a single LED chip is attached is said to be the cheapest LED lighting device and is
in a PCB 10% more efficient than other LED lighting devices.
B. Discrete (SMB) – multiple LED chips is attached on Troubleshooting LED lights and devices.
the PCB.
3. Heat sink- this is a piece of metal made of A. Troubleshooting the LED chips
aluminium that absorbs and dissipates the heat 1. Set your multimeter to diode test mode ( )), if the
produce by the LED chips to protect it from multimeter has no diode test mode, you can set it in
overheating. the omhmmeter range of x1 or x10.
2. Connect the test probe of the multitester to the
4. Circuit board/Driver- the circuit board controls the
voltage and current that is distributed to the LED lead of the LED chip, Red test probe to the positive or
chips, it also controls the functioning of the LED chips anode and Black probe to the negative or cathode.
such as if it needs to turn “ON’ or “OFF”, change color 3. If the LED chip lights up it means that it is good and
or dims. It also protects the LED chips from voltage working, if not it means it is bad or broken.
and current fluctuation (sudden change) that can
damage the LED chips.
5. Housing- holds the other parts of the LED lamp
securely to make a single working unit.
B. Troubleshooting the Circuit Board/ Driver or
Power Supply
a. Checking for voltage input (AC voltage)
1. Set the multitester to the AC voltage usually
colored red. Remember to set the AC voltage range
higher that the voltage to be measured, if you are
measuring 220 AC voltage, set the multitester to 250
AC volts or higher.
2. Connect the test probe to the neutral side and the
load side, polarity is no observe since AC voltage has
no definite polarity.
3. Check the voltage reading, since most of the LED
light drivers has an input voltage of 100-120 AC
voltage or 200- 240 volts, try to compare the reading.
If the AC voltage reading of the multitester is close to
the indicated AC voltage Input supply to the driver, it
means that the drivers input supply is good, if the
reading is too low or too high it means there in a
problem in the electrical circuit.
b. Checking the voltage output (DC voltage)
1. Set the multitester to the DC voltage range higher
than the voltage to be meaure, for example if you will
test a DC voltage output of 24 volts, set your
multitester to 50 vots DC.
2. Connect the test probe to the output side of the
LED driver, the red probe to positive terminal and the
black probe to negative terminal.
3. Read and compare the measured value in the
multitester to the indicated DC output voltage of the
LED driver. If the reading is close to the indicated
output value it means that the LED driver is GOOD and
working, if the measured value is very much higher or
lower than the indicated DC voltage output it means
that the LED driver is bad or faulty, if there is no
voltage reading it means that the LED driver is dead or
broken.