Led Bulbs In Series?

[johnk]

Can I wire 2 LED bulbs in series?

[bhg481]

It depends on the particular bulbs. Why do you want to do it?

[gingejbee]

Told off by an electrician friend for calling them "bulbs" - they're "lamps" apparently.

[douglas9401]

Bet that was a lightlamp moment.

[johnk]

I want to replace a very expensive sidelight on a motorbike, the Lamps themselves are not for sale just the full headlight unit costing about £200. There are 2 LEDs on each side. Only one doesn't work so I wanted to solder 2 LEDs together and wire them into the light circuit, I could put them in parralel but that's more soldering.

[bhg481]

I'm struggling to understand what you are trying to do. If you wire the two bulbs in series you will halve the voltage across each one, so they might not work. If you are rying to replace the single bulb which doesn't work you will need to replace it with a bulb of the correct voltage. Wiring bulbs in parallel retains full voltage across both bulbs.

[johnk]

There are 2 leds in the sidelight that isn't working so I want to wire 2 x 6V bulbs together in series to replace the two that aren't working. I could wire then in paralel but this means more soldering and I am trying to minimise the work.

[bhg481]

What voltage is your motorbike? It's 40 years since I had one and it was 6V. If yours is 12V then wiring 2 x 6V bulbs in series should work.

[johnk]

It's 2 years old and 12V, I'll buy 2 bulbs and try it.

[ZebuSanctuary]

//Told off by an electrician friend for calling them "bulbs" - they're "lamps" apparently//

More correctly they're Light Emitting Diodes. Unlike a bulb they will only pass current in one direction. Thus one has to be careful when soldering them into an electrical circuit, they are connected the right way around.

[bhg481]

Please let us know how you get on and take heed of Zebu's warning. I changed some of my car bulbs to LED some while ago; some of the comments about the bulbs I bought said they didn't work and I thought at the time that uninformed people had put them in the wrong way round - perfectly possible with car bulbs.

[gingejbee]

Zebu...my comment relates to many years ago, before LED lighting became ubiqitous. Bulbs are for the garden, lamps are for lighting.
I do know what an LED is/does and that they are neither bulbs nor lamps!

[bhg481]

ginge - I wonder if your pedantic electrician differentiates between bulbs, corms, tubers and rhizomes when planting his garden.
For the benefit of other pedants, female electricians also exist.