Question about LED's reverse breakdown voltage?

[william]

Mostly what is a led's Reverse Breakdown Voltage?  What negative side effect can this have on pedals?  Or is it a desirable attribute?

Also, I assume the Forward Voltage Drope is how much voltage is lost to the LED?

Thank you.

William

[Peter Snowberg]

You are correct that forward voltage is the voltage dropped by the diode.

The reverse breakdown voltage will vary all over the place. It is different for most LED semiconductors (there are many of them) and it will probably vary from batch to batch. The only thing that will be consistent will be that the figure will be at least XX volts to satisfy a minimum. The same goes for all normal rectifiers. They are rated to have a reverse breakdown voltage of at least XX volts, but since they're not made with reverse operation in mind, a figure called peak inverse voltage is quoted as a safe value just short of the breakdown voltage.

If you want to test, hook up an LED in reverse with a 10K resistor and a 9 volt battery. The LED will of course not light, but if its reverse breakdown voltage is low enough, you will be able to read that as the voltage across the LED.

Take care,
-Peter

[smoguzbenjamin]

So what's the use of that for us pedal builders?