Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Tri-color LED
Message-ID: <1991Feb20.172446.26974@zoo.toronto.edu>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <13140@hubcap.clemson.edu>
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 1991 17:24:46 GMT

In article <13140@hubcap.clemson.edu> tdaniel@hubcap.clemson.edu (tod daniels) writes:
>I would prefer one with three separate diode leads and a common 
>anode (or cathode) in a single package with a single lens.  
>The three colors should be red, blue, and green.

Nobody makes r/g/b LEDs yet that I know of.  Practical blue LEDs are
a very recent development.

>I know that two color LEDs are available, but they usually require that
>the voltage across the diode be reversed to get the other color.

"Usually" is a vast overstatement; circa half of the manufacturers supply
the three-lead version instead.  (In particular, almost all rectangular
bicolor LEDs are the three-lead version.)  These are sometimes advertised
as "three color" LEDs, but they mean red, green, and yellow.
-- 
"Read the OSI protocol specifications?  | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
I can't even *lift* them!"              |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
