Would this work fine on AC?

LarryFine said:
Probably because it's an automotive bulb. On AC, it'll either work or burn up.
Click to expand...

It's actually for under cabinet lighting. It has a symmetrical base with no means to provide uniform polarity. It probably has a full wave bridge rectifier on the input so it doesn't matter what the polarity is, and if that is the case, than it would not matter if it was fed AC.
 
It is an LED, so it is already a rectifier by nature. It should work on AC. As for flicker... may not be perceptible.
 
While Light Emitting Diodes _are_ diodes, they are very poor as rectifiers. Most have low or non-specified maximum reverse voltage. LEDs which may be subject to reverse voltage must be protected by proper rectifier diodes. Some LED 'filament' lamps are actually designed with rectification and resistance on the 'filament' so that they run directly on AC.

LEDs also have a quite non-linear voltage/current characteristic, and thus need some sort of current regulation. This can be as simple as a series resistor (and the assumption of a near constant supply voltage), or could be some sort of active current regulating component. In particularly horrible designs, the internal resistance of the battery supplying the LED is used as the current regulation (seen in some very cheap battery powered lights). If you supply AC to a rectified LED with poor current regulation, then you might see very high current peaks at the voltage peaks of the AC cycle.

The LEDs described in the original post probably have a built in rectifier, since they are not polarized and are designed for DC systems. But we don't know anything else regarding filtering or current limiting. I'd be very careful applying AC.
 
CoolWill said:
Sure it will. It just won't be as bright.
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Which means it won't work properly for it's intended use.
electrofelon said:
There are several possibilities. The simplest and crudest is just to have 1/2 the LEDs connected one way and the other half the other.

I agree AC may result in flicker.

Only way to know is try it.
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That would result in half the rating.
 
We have to infer a bunch of stuff. Since the unit is designed for DC but isn't polarized, then we have to infer that it can function when connected with either polarity. This strongly implies some sort of rectifier on the lamp, but doesn't guarantee a rectifier.

A full bridge rectifier creates a voltage drop, about 1.2V; this is pretty significant on a 12V system. So maybe the lamp uses some other approach to deal with non-polarized DC input. Maybe there are fuses that blow to set up the correct polarity or some such. (No, I've not figured out a simple circuit for this. I'm just suggesting an off the wall possibility...)

Bit if we assume the full bridge rectifier, the ability to function on an AC input can also be inferred.

-Jonathan
 
CoolWill said:
But it is non-polarized, which means it PROBABLY can be inserted either direction, which means it has an internal bridge rectifier, which means it will work on AC or DC.
Click to expand...
It's and LED which it is a light emitting diode
 
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