(01-28-2010, 06:06 AM)erospawn Wrote: Its Anode and Cathode.. The resistor should be on the Anode.. But, the other thing is a Diode, a one way gate... so what they've done here is made it so you can't hurt it if you connect it backwards. The diode acts as a one way gate, so if you hook the led up backwards, the current won't flow and you won't fry the led.
I don't know why they bothered?
An LED is a diode (Light Emmitting Diode) in and of itself and usually (I've never heard of it) will not fry if hooked up backwards. It's only too much current that will fry one.
For future reference Phil: That flat edge side is the negative.
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