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edit approved Feb 10, 2013 at 7:02
Chetan Bhargava
edit approved Feb 10, 2013 at 7:02
Chetan Bhargava
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I was instructed to set up a resistor on the negative side of the LED and pulling it to ground. I'm confused why we are implementing a resistor on the backside (negative end) of the LED. I always thought we put resistors before our load (LED) to limit/control current flow. Therefore, I'm confused why we are putting the resistor between the cathode (negative end of LED) and ground. To me it seems like this resistor isn't doing anything.

I don't know if it helps but on my board the positive side of the LED is connected to PIN 13 and the negative (cathode) end is going to the resistor then to the ground on the breadboard then to the ground pin on the Arduino board.

I apologize for the picture as it's the best I can get it at the moment with what I have available to me. Thanks in advance for any clarification anyone might have.

enter image description here

I was instructed to set up a resistor on the negative side of the LED and pulling it to ground. I'm confused why we are implementing a resistor on the backside (negative end) of the LED. I always thought we put resistors before our load (LED) to limit/control current flow. Therefore, I'm confused why we are putting the resistor between the cathode (negative end of LED) and ground. To me it seems like this resistor isn't doing anything.

I don't know if it helps but on my board the positive side of the LED is connected to PIN 13 and the negative (cathode) end is going to the resistor then to the ground on the breadboard then to the ground pin on the Arduino board.

I apologize for the picture as it's the best I can get it at the moment with what I have available to me. Thanks in advance for any clarification anyone might have.

enter image description here

I was instructed to set up a resistor on the negative side of the LED and pulling it to ground. I'm confused why we are implementing a resistor on the backside (negative end) of the LED. I always thought we put resistors before our load (LED) to limit/control current flow. Therefore, I'm confused why we are putting the resistor between the cathode (negative end of LED) and ground. To me it seems like this resistor isn't doing anything.

I don't know if it helps but on my board the positive side of the LED is connected to PIN 13 and the negative (cathode) end is going to the resistor then to the ground on the breadboard then to the ground pin on the Arduino board.

I apologize for the picture as it's the best I can get it at the moment with what I have available to me.

enter image description here

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Shane Yost
Shane Yost
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Arduino Question regarding the resistor

I was instructed to set up a resistor on the negative side of the LED and pulling it to ground. I'm confused why we are implementing a resistor on the backside (negative end) of the LED. I always thought we put resistors before our load (LED) to limit/control current flow. Therefore, I'm confused why we are putting the resistor between the cathode (negative end of LED) and ground. To me it seems like this resistor isn't doing anything.

I don't know if it helps but on my board the positive side of the LED is connected to PIN 13 and the negative (cathode) end is going to the resistor then to the ground on the breadboard then to the ground pin on the Arduino board.

I apologize for the picture as it's the best I can get it at the moment with what I have available to me. Thanks in advance for any clarification anyone might have.

enter image description here