30 LED array single resistor?

[Effie Gubitosi]

Hi guys, I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to electronics sorry,

Iv'e just spent the last few days building a very simple 12volt parallel array using 3mm 16k white LED's which i assumed were 3.2volt 20ma LED's.

I found an online resistor calc that showed if i wanted to run 30 of the above i would need to run 1 x single 15ohm 8.8 watt Resistor. (10watt) being the closest.

This indeed did cut the voltage to 3.1-3.2 volts!

I have set the array up but have found the Resistor runs pretty hot, not that that is my major concern. From what i now read here and elsewhere it becomes apparent that

i should have run these in smaller bunches of maybe 5 or less? with a smaller resistor for each cluster. To pull the array out no would be a massive headache as its already installed in a headlight. The resistor runs externally.

Is there any safe guard i could add in now to help? ie adding another resistor? lower the voltage again maybe to a safer limit 2.9 volt?

Any advice is very much appreciated.









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