Dreamcast LED help...

Ok,I followed the guide for the Dreamcast LED mod from devcast...and It still isn't working.I put the longer leg in the left hole,towards the 1st and 2nd controller ports...and I soldered each leg in...attatched the controller board back to the main unit...and nothing.What I did notice a few times,was the led light up when I was soldering (I was using a battery powered soldering iron,so it probably got a charge from that) but nothing when I turned the power on.I can take a few pics,but cant upload them.Anyone might know what this might be? Any help is appreciated,thanks again Tim

Have you got the polarity right.

The longer leg is the anode (the flat also indicates the cathode)

The cathode should be to ground, the typical supply to the anode for a standard red LED is 2 volts (at around 20 mA)

I'm just guessing here, but it might be possible you overloaded the led... I've overloaded quite a few sad to say... before I noticed that there was a difference between a 1.2v led and a 12v led...

Standard LEDs have a voltage drop of typically 2-2.2 volts for normal illumination.

use a 220 ohm resistor in series with the 5 volts or 560 ohms with the 12 volt supplies.

equation is R= (E-Vf) x 1000/I

where R is the series resistance in ohms, E is the DC supply voltage, I is the LED current in mA (typically 20 mA) and Vf is the forward voltage drop of the Led, typ. 2 volts.

Electricity rocks!

neo1087 said:

Ok,I followed the guide for the Dreamcast LED mod from devcast...and It still isn't working.I put the longer leg in the left hole,towards the 1st and 2nd controller ports...and I soldered each leg in...attatched the controller board back to the main unit...and nothing.What I did notice a few times,was the led light up when I was soldering (I was using a battery powered soldering iron,so it probably got a charge from that) but nothing when I turned the power on. Tim

Click to expand...

Did you heat sink the LED when soldering it?

stuffmonger said:

I'm just guessing here, but it might be possible you overloaded the led

Click to expand...

Agreed, just swap it out for another one.