-=> Roy J. Tellason said to Mike Ross
 -=> about "VEHICLE LED'S" on 09-08-03  20:01.....

 RJT> But using them in place of rectifiers?  Normally the collector of a
 RJT> transistor would be reverse-biased.  Then you switch polarities and
 RJT> it's forward-biased?  I don't see how that's going to work real well.

You have to drive the bases of the transistors in phase with the
AC. This takes a small amount of current, but usually less than
1/10 of the collector current, even for low gain transistors.

And the effect is that the forward drop through the rectifier is
down to the saturation voltage of the transistor, about 0.1v or
so, instead of about 0.6 to 1.0v for a conventional diode, or
about half this for a Schottky diode.

It works VERY well, and even better with FETs.

From Greg Mayman, in beautiful Adelaide, South Australia
   "Queen City of The South"    34:55 S  138:36 E

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