LED Beginner Project: Part 2

Step 2 Why parallel is awesome.

Wiring LEDs in parallel opens up new ways of using them. In my last instructable, we saw that LEDs wired in series have their voltage requirement add up. This is acceptable if we are using a small amount of LEDs, becuase it ensures that each LED is at its maximum brightness, but as we start adding more lights on, we find a need for higher and higher voltages...imagine if you wanted to run twenty 3V LEDs in series...you would need to have 40 AA batteries to power it!! Wiring in parallel means that the voltages do not add up...the same voltage goes to all the LEDs. This means that we could run those same twenty 3V LEDs off of two AA batteries instead of 40. The trade off is that those two batteries will be drained much faster, and the LEDs will not be at their maximum brightness. But, for all practical reasons, if you want to have a portable multi-LED light, you're going to have to wire them in parallel.