I'm wanting to make a light box of sorts from LEDs and wanted to run it by you to confirm I have the right idea...
I have ordered 500 super bright LEDs off eBay and want to wire loads of them together. The forward voltage on the specs says 3V and my supply voltage is 12V (max 2A). I want to provide 20mA of current to the LEDs for a nice brightness.
I have calculated that if I wire 3 LEDs in series with a 150 Ohm resistor, I will get the desired 20mA of current. Is this correct?
Resistor = (12V - (3*3V)) = 3/0.02A = 150 Ohm
Now I have 3 LEDs using 20mA of current, can this be up-scaled to the full 2A power by simply duplicating the circuit as shown in the picture? So in theory I could run 300 LEDs from the power?
One last thing, If the LED's forward voltage is 3V, does that mean I can used 4 in series without a resistor with a 12V supply?
Thanks
IMAGE IS SUPPOSED TO SAY 12V NOT 5V - I've been working with Arduino for the last while