How do I find capacitor values for a simple led circuit

[accesscontrolforum]

A few months ago I watched a video about using a capacitor to replace some resistors in a led circuit. It was said the because a capacitor resists a charge/discharge you could do this and lower current draw. I built this circuit and its drawing 70ma. Which is too much.

Do you know of an online calculator to help design an Capacitor Resistor LED circuit?

Do you know where this video is? (Long shot I know)

[IanB]

A few months ago I watched a video about using a capacitor to replace some resistors in a led circuit. It was said the because a capacitor resists a charge/discharge you could do this and lower current draw. I built this circuit and its drawing 70ma. Which is too much.

Do you know of an online calculator to help design an Capacitor Resistor LED circuit?

Do you know where this video is? (Long shot I know)

You can't use a capacitor to replace resistors in a DC circuit, only in an AC circuit.

If the circuit you have built is drawing too much current, increase the resistor values. For example, if you want 20 ma through each pair of LEDs on a 12 V supply, the series resistor should be approximately (12 - 6) / 0.020 = 300 ohms. You could try that, or maybe 330 ohms.

[Ziltoid]

I dont think they meant LEDs but normal Lamps. Ben did some videos explaining this some time ago.

[accesscontrolforum]

Ziltoid, Thanks, these are the videos I was talking about!

IanB, More resistance will effect the brightness correct?

[IanB]

IanB, More resistance will effect the brightness correct?

Of course, but maybe not as much as you imagine. The brightness of an LED varies with the current passing through it, and that current will go up and down as you adjust the series resistance. However, the perceived brightness will not vary much unless you make a big change in current.