RGB led only works when the green light is on

Using Arduino LEDs and Multiplexing
1

I bought a RGB led and its specs are

30mA (green/blue), 50mA (red)
3.5V typical, 4.0V max (green/blue); 2.0V typical, 2.6V max (red)

I was just running some basic tests seeing if it worked the day before and it was working ,(forgot to use resistor, so the lights were getting about 5v from arduino uno)
I also tried to see if I could have multiple colors on at once and it worked ,
Then today when I tried to turn on each color seperatly they wouldnt turn on,
but when I tried turning on multiple colors only works when green and another color are turned on.
(this time I tested it with and without a resistor)

2

1.) You ALWAYS need resistors. No resistors = killing the LED and the arduino board
2.) You ALWAYS need 3 resistors for an RGB led, one for each color.

Using just a single 'shared' resistor doesn't work.

3

I was just wondering if its just a waste trying to make it work,
cause i can make the green work alone and blue and red work only if green is on

4

There are 3 possible reasons:

  1. you have it wired up wrong
  2. the device is broken
  3. all of the above
5

funny cause the board works fine and the led wont work properly even with a normal battery so I guess I prob just burnt it out :frowning:

6

The path to enlightenment is rough.

7

LOL a friend told me thanx for the advice thoe