Build A

Fading LED

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The Circuit Diagram
Description:
Without the capacitor, this circuit would be a simple light-switch circuit that turned
the LED on and off with the pushbutton.

But since we have a capacitor in parallel with the resistor and LED, the LED will
keep lighting for a little bit of time after the button disconnects it from the battery.
Then it fades out as the capacitor discharges.

Component List
9V Battery
9V Battery Clip
Breadboard
Red LED
330 Resistor
1000 F Capacitor (Polarized)
Pushbutton

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Step 1 Connect the Pushbutton
Instructions:
Connect the pushbutton over the
notch at the top of the breadboard,
as shown in the figure below.

Step 2 Connect the Resistor

Instructions:

Connect the resistor from the top row 3

on column H down to row 9 on the
same column, as shown below.

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Step 3 Connect the LED
Instructions:

Next connect your LED. Find which pin is the plus side and which is the minus side.
Look closely at your LED. Does it have one leg that is longer than the other? If yes,
then thats the plus side.

If no, look more closely at the round edge at the bottom of the plastic housing. On
one side it is flat. It can be hard to see, but if you lay it down on a flat surface and
roll it, you will find the flat side. The flat side is the minus side.

Connect the leg on the positive side of your LED to column F on row 9, same as
the resistor. Connect the other leg, the negative side, to column F on row 12. Check
your connection against the figure below.

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Step 4 Connect the Capacitor
Instructions:
Next you are going to connect the capacitor.

The capacitor for this project is polarized, which means it has a positive and
negative side, just like the LED. First identify the negative leg.

The negative leg is easy to find, because

the body of the capacitor will have a line
with zeros or arrows pointing towards
the leg on the negative side.

Connect the leg on the negative side to

row 12 on column I and connect the
other leg at row 3 on column I, as shown
below.

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Step 5 Connect the Battery and Test
Instructions:
You have your components in place. All
that is left is to connect the battery. First
connect the red wire from your battery
clip into the top row on column J.

Then connect the black wire from your

battery clip to row 12 on column J.

Before connecting the battery to the clip, check your connections up against the
figure. Then connect your battery.

When connecting the battery, nothing will happen. This is because the + from the
battery is connected through the pushbutton. Push the button and the LED will
light up. Then release the button and watch as the LED fades out with the energy
stored in the capacitor.

I also recommend trying it without the capacitor, just to see the effect that the
capacitor has on the circuit.

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What If Its Not Working?
If your LED is not lighting up when you push the button, the first thing to check is
your connections. Did you connect it exactly as described in the steps above? If its
connected correctly but still not working, you might have connected the LED the
wrong way. Flip it around and try again.

Also, check the resistance value of your resistor. It should be 330 . But anywhere
in the range from 100 to 500 should work fine though. But if its a lot less or a
lot more, replace it with the correct value.

If the LED is lighting up when you push the button, but it is not fading out when
releasing the button, then something is wrong with the capacitor or the way youve
connected it.

Make sure you connected the capacitor

with the negative side on row 12 and
the positive side on row 3. Then check
its capacitance value. This should be
written on the body of the capacitor
and be 1000 F.

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