![]() ![]() With the probes on opposite leads, the LED doesn't light up The longer lead on a LED is the anode. Below are some more pictures to help illustrate this tip. I wrote this short blog post because I didn’t see this useful tip with a quick google search of “how to determine if a RGB LED is common anode or common cathode” and thought maybe someone might find their way to this dark corner of the internet and this might help them. And as you can see, that lead is for blue ![]() With the black probe on the common and the red probe on another lead, the LED lights up. If you cant identify it through its legs, you. You can also test which lead is what color this way since the continuity test between common and one lead will light up one color. You can check for the longer leg that indicates positive or the anode pin and the shorter leg as the cathode pin. Illumination with red on common means common anode. If it doesn’t, try the red test probe on the common LED lead and the black probe on any of the other leads. If the LED lights up, you know that the common lead is the cathode. With the black probe on common, touch the red test probe to one of the other pins. The common should be the second lead from that side. If that doesn’t help you, there should be a flat side or notch on one side of the LED. If you don’t know which is the common, it should be the longest lead. Testing a RGB LED is very much the same, but you test continuity between the common lead and one of the 3 other leads. (Check out more pictures at the end of the post.) With the black probe on the short lead, the LED lights up If it doesn’t illuminate, turn the LED around and it should light up with the test leads on the other LED leads. If the LED dimly lights up, you know the lead being touched by the black test probe is the cathode. Put the black/common multimeter test probe on one lead of the LED and the red probe on the other. If you were unaware, to test the polarity of a regular LED, you can use the continuity test mode on your multimeter. LEDs are diodes and only allow current to flow in one direction (RGB LEDs are of course no different). Say you have a multi-color LED laying in your components bin and you don’t remember whether you bought a common cathode or common anode! How to you find out? It’s fast and simple with the continuity / diode test on your multimeter! Try different resistor values and notice the intensity of the LED.Is This RGB LED Common Anode Or Common Cathode? Replace the 150 Ω (brown-greem-brown) resistor with another color resistor. If your LED lights up, reverse the legs to see that it won't light up. ![]()
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