LED Color Tester: Why is it important for Products with an LED indication?

Due to small size, low maintenance, and low energy consumption, LED lights are often used as status indicators on various electronic and electric devices and installations. Some widely used LED indication applications include traffic signals, exit signs, keyboards, power status on devices, indications in automobiles, etc.

When LEDs are used for indication purposes in a system, the correct use of color and positioning of LEDs are very important, especially when multiple LED bulbs of different colors are used on a single board. Hence, it becomes important for the manufacturers to use the LED color tester to check LEDs for operation, positioning, order, and color.

When should you use an LED color tester?

During the manufacturing of PCB boards, manufacturers need to ensure that all the LEDs placed in the circuit are working properly and the color of the LEDs is appropriate for indication purposes. To ensure this, manufacturers use an LED color tester to test the positioning, working, and order of LED bulbs on the PCB boards. The LED color tester can be used to evaluate the following in a circuit:

• Working of LEDs under various power options
• LEDs are placed in the right order
• The color of LED bulbs is correct according to the configuration

Testing the system for LEDs with an LED color tester will help manufacturers ensure the quality of the manufactured boards and eliminate any defects in the manufacturing process.

Figure 1: PCB board with 37 LED that used in these tests

How to know if the batch passed or failed?

Manufacturers evaluate boards for any defect in LED configuration using an LED color tester to make sure that the batch of PCB manufactured is up to the mark and all the LEDs are working as per the original configuration. While most LED color tester tools use fiber optics for LED testing on PCB boards, LED color tester from iZAK Scientific doesn’t require any optical fiber for testing LEDs. This revolutionary LED color recognition API is very simple and can test an entire batch of PCBs without connecting them to the optical fiber system. The tester includes easy to use functionalities as explained below:

• Open/Close Camera: This option allows you to open the camera and capture the image of the PCB circuit. Instead of capturing the live image, you can also upload an existing image.
• Learning circuit configuration:  Your PCB LEDs configuration is saved to a configuration file, so the tool can learn the configuration and understand the right positioning of LEDs in the system. Our  API is based on a machine learning algorithm.
• Testing: When the LED color tester learns the configuration, it is now ready to test the manufactured batch for any faults. After testing the PCB, the tool will provide the results in a *.csv file.

Testing the entire batch using an LED color tester will show if the batch was manufactured correctly or if there is an error in assembly of LEDs in the PCBs. The testing process is simple and provides highly accurate results, helping manufacturers eliminate any chances of error in LED positioning and order.