Powering LED’s With Resistors

Efficient and reliable operation of LED lighting is dependent on the right choice of current-limiting resistor. in many situations the necessary ballast resistor is likely to dissipate several Watts of power. This not only dictates the need for a suitable high-power resistor type but may call for a design suitable to heat sink mounting. PWM dimming also demands a resistor with very low reactance. Our power film resistors in the PF and PFS series are rated to 50 Watts and come in TO-220 or TO-263 packages. Higher power options are also available.