Get these amazing 5mm diffused tri-color LEDs! Inside, there are separate red, green, and blue LED chips. They're ultra-bright, perfect as indicators or illuminators, and it's really fun to create color swirls with them. With a 90-degree viewing angle, you can even plug them diagonally into a breadboard. These are Common-Anode type. Just connect one pin to about 5V and then connect the other three legs to the ground through a resistor. We use CA more often because many multi-LED driver chips like the TLC5940/TLC5941 are designed for CA and don't work with Common-Cathode. Each order comes with 10 LEDs. They're square, about 0.3'/7.6mm on each side, sometimes called 'Super flux' or 'Piranha'. The diffused lens gives a 90-degree viewing angle. The red has a 620 nm wavelength, green is 517 nm, and blue is 460 nm. At 20mA current, the red has a forward voltage of 1.8 - 2.2V, green is 3.0 - 3.3V, and blue is 3.0 - 3.3V. The typical brightness is 800 mcd for red, 1500 mcd for green, and 700 mcd for blue (3000 mcd total). Check out the FD-115TRGB-A2 Datasheet. If you need help using LEDs, read our 'Introduction to using LEDs' tutorial for your electronics project.
Using these LEDs is easy. First, identify the Common-Anode type. Connect one pin to around 5V power. Then, connect the other three legs to the ground through a resistor. You can plug them diagonally into a breadboard for your projects. When handling, be careful not to bend the pins too much. As for maintenance, keep them in a dry and cool place. If you want to change colors, adjust the current through each of the red, green, and blue chips. And if you run into any problems, refer to the 'Introduction to using LEDs' tutorial we mentioned.
