Last Updated on March 25, 2024
This 230 Volt AC Powered LED Circuit is simple to design and very useful one. We know that LED requires DC power supply with constant current to glow and maintain proper luminance, in some situations we don’t care about concealed flickers so we don’t need to spend much for LED drivers. Here is the simple AC Powered (120V to 230V) LED circuit. Six High bright Whit LEDs are connected to the AC power source through Zener diode Regulator and Bridge rectifier. This setup ensures all the LEDs receives Constant DC supply.
AC power supply amplitude is reduced by Resistors (R3, R2, R1) and polyester capacitor before reaching Bridge Rectifier. Here we are not using Stepdown Transformer to reduce circuit cost. This is a non-isolated circuit that is not shielded from the AC power source. Hence it is recommended to Electrical and Electronics Professionals only.
This circuit involves in operating High Voltage that can give lethal shock, Handle with Extreme caution.
Circuit Diagram
Components List
- Bridge Rectifier Module W10M or Four 1N4007 Diodes
- High Bright White LED – 6
- Zener diode 16V/1W
- Capacitor 47μF/25V
- Polyester Capacitor 0.47μF/400V
- Resistor 120Ω/1W – 2, 470KΩ/1W – 1
Construction & Working
Before getting into construction AC powered LED Circuit, Short notes on components used in this circuit.
Bridge Rectifier W10M or W04M
W10M is a single phase glass passivated silicon bridge rectifier module it can convert AC Electricity voltage range from 50 Volts to 500 Volts with 1.5 Amperes current flow. Due to its compact design, it can be mounted in any type of circuit boards and PCBs. Refer Datasheet for more details.
Polyester Capacitor
In this circuit A polyester capacitor also known as a Mylar capacitor (0.47μ/400V) used to reduce or drop the voltage level from AC power source. This capacitor belongs to the family of film capacitors, where a thin, flexible film of polyester serves as the dielectric material between the two conductive layers. Polyester capacitors are have excellent insulation properties, due to its low cost and compact size, they are commonly employed in audio and radio frequency applications and Voltage dropping applications. These capacitors offer good tolerance and exhibit low losses, making them suitable for various electronic devices. A voltage-dropping polyester capacitor with a capacitance of 0.47 microfarads (μF) is a specific type of capacitor designed to influence the voltage across a circuit. 0.47μF value represents the capacitance, indicating the capacitor’s ability to store and release electrical energy.
This circuit constructed to glow up some White LEDs without any step down transformer, the 120V AC or 230V AC Power supply is step down by using polyester capacitor (0.47µF / 400V), Resistor 470KΩ 1 Watt and converted to DC supply by Bridge rectifier component. Due to barrier produced by these components AC mains reduced to lower level and converted into DC supply.
47µF/25V electrolytic capacitor at the output of bridge rectifier filters the DC output and Zener diode 16V/1 watt regulates the DC output from rectifier. Six high bright white LEDs are connected in series and powered by the rectifier circuit. When power supply given to this circuit the resistor and polyester capacitor gives barrier to the ac mains and reduce into lower level the rectifier bridge converts this lower AC supply into DC and filter capacitor, Zener diode regulates the DC output finally the DC supply given to the LED array.
Further : Zener diode tutorial , Resistor Color Code