I blew up an LED, is my Arduino Elegoo UNO R3 fine?

[randomarduino13122]

NOTE - So im a bit worried as I just recently got the Elegoo UNO R3 Super Starter Kit and I've been having fun using it. If I already messed it up then getting a replacement won't be the easiest for me, so don't be surprised by the panic.

See the circuit I made below:

For the yellow LED at the top – I connected an LED to the 5v pin but i forgot the resistor

It wasn't yellow originally, I switched between LEDs so I had a green led there at one point, a blue one, but when I put the yellow one, after a little while it exploded (tiny explosion and the yellow LED smells weird now)

The white LED at the bottom represents an RGB LED – and yes, all 3 RGB had their own dedicated resistor.

Here are my concerns

the yellow LED is fried and smells like it's burning, so I'm not gonna be using that, but im worried about:

1a. The breadboard pins that were used for the yellow LED circuit – are they fine? The breadboard doesn't smell like the yellow LED and I can't really smell anything

1b. Are the wires used for the yellow LED circuit fine?

2. The Arduino itself, especially its GND and 5V pins. I hope it's not deteriorated/will deteriorate over time now

3. The other LEDs that I put in place of the yellow LED before although they didn't blow up. They didn't blow up but even if I use a resistor with them in the future – might they blow up? They are mixed with the other LEDs so I can't tell which was used and they smell fine

4. The circuit for the RGB LED, I connected it back to the 5V after I initially disconnected the power due to the explosion, and the LED turned on

In my circuit knowledge, 5V to GND is what the arduino felt in a quick amount of time which is the same as connecting 5V --> breadboard --> GND which doesn't seem abnormal

, so only the yellow LED should be spoilt

and the arduino pins, breadboard pins, circuit for the yellow LED and the RGB LED circuit should be fine?

idk about the other LEDs used before the yellow LED though.

[van_der_decken]

You would have stressed something in the power chain to have passed enough current to blow up an LED. Murphy being Murphy, that/those stressed component(s) will undoubtedly cause you either subtle or blatant grief sometime in the future. That's just the way of things.

Oh, and that smell of burned LED will stay with you for decades.

[DVDdoug]

I wouldn't worry about it.

...Perhaps if you were building something that's going into space or something that your life depends on, you shouldn't use it.

This kind of thing happens to everybody, although explosions are rare. Sometimes you wire-up something wrong, apply excess voltage, or reversed voltage and the thing just dies, or sometimes it smokes. With experience you'll learn to be more careful but mistakes happen...

Polarized capacitors can also explode if reversed or over-voltaged. (Not all capacitors are polarized but electrolytics and tantalums are, and that's usually anything over 1uF.)

Oh... a long time ago I installed an op-amp backwards on a breadboard and the + & - power was reversed. Flames came out of it like when you strike a match! That was impressive and I kind-of stared at it with my eyes open wide! I might still have that breadboard with the black melted spot.. It wasn't destroyed, although of course the chip was dead.

[randomarduino13122]

i shouldnt be concerned even about the LEDs that somehow didn't blow up in place of the yellow one before (idk how they survived)?

[randomarduino13122]

"Oh, and that smell of burned LED will stay with you for decades."

but i dont wanna blow up any more LEDs....

[van_der_decken]

Once is more than enough. They can really stink!

[PerryBebbington]

@randomarduino13122 ,

Lesson learnt, don't worry about it. Test your remaining LEDs, if they light then they are OK. Don't forget the resistors! LEDs are cheap, buy some more.

Occasionally someone posts in the forum insisting resistors are not needed for LEDs, if you see such a post you are now fully qualified to tell the poster why they are wrong.

Here's one of my mistakes:

Breadboard current limit

Often we tell newbies not to power motors and other high current devices through breadboard because it cannot carry the necessary current. The damage in the photo wasn't caused by a motor, it was caused by an accidental short I didn't notice until I smelled burning, but I think it illustrates the point. [PXL_20241222_085937499] Oh! Why Bar Sport? So you can all have a laugh at my expense! Comments welcome

[Grumpy_Mike]

@van_der_decken

Once is more than enough. They can really stink

As can the smell of burning selenium rectifiers.

Selenium rectifier

I first smelt that at the age of 17 and never, fortunately, again, but now at 73 I can still remember that smell.

[LarryD]

• Make a commitment to yourself.
  - Before wiring and turning on the power to a circuit, I will always draw a schematic showing how I will connect the components in my project; this schematic is exactly how I will wire things.
  - I will double check that power connections are correct.
  - I will always use a series resistor of 220Ω on both Inputs and Outputs to protect my controller’s GPIO pins from my blunders.
  - I will never re-wire a circuit when power is applied.

• Experience is directly proportional to equipment ruined .

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[ledsyn]

A Zener laid itself to rest in the comfy soft plastic of a breadboard

Why solder other legs to it? The legs of those Zeners don't wanna be inserted easily in a breadboard.

[ledsyn]

@DVDdoug

Polarized capacitors

Those can really explode and loud. A friend replaced a group of caps, and one of them backwards.