ForHosting KIT · Developer Utilities

LED resistor calculator

An LED needs a series resistor whenever the supply voltage is higher than the diode forward voltage, otherwise current runs away and the LED fails.

● BetaFree · in your browser
Use it from WebAPIEmailTelegramApp soon

Runs in your browser. Free, unlimited — your data never leaves this page.

Ohm’s law applied to the leftover headroom gives the resistance: R equals supply voltage minus forward voltage, divided by the desired forward current, while the resistor itself dissipates power equal to that same voltage drop times the current. This capability computes both values deterministically from a JSON body, rejects cases where forward voltage exceeds or equals the supply, and recommends a commercial wattage with a standard two-times safety margin so hobbyists, firmware teams and classroom tools get a complete bill of materials number rather than a bare ohm figure. The browser widget runs free on your device; the prepaid API charges $0.002 per successful item when you need the same contract from servers and SDKs.

How to use it

Enter your values in the form above. The tool checks them before calculating and shows the result on the same page.

Check your inputs

Use the labels and units shown next to each field. If something is missing or outside the allowed range, the page points to the field to fix.

Use it again or automate it

Use the browser tool for individual checks and the API when you need the same capability in an automated workflow.

Get an answer now

Enter one set of values and see the result without building a spreadsheet or script.

Compare scenarios

Change one value at a time and rerun the calculation to understand what affects the result.

Automate repeated work

Use the API when the same calculation needs to run inside your product or workflow.

How do I use this capability?

Complete the fields above and run it on this page. The form highlights anything that needs attention.

Everything on this page is available programmatically. This section is for teams who want to wire it into their own systems; everyone else can just use the tool above.

POSThttps://api.kit.forhosting.com/elec/led-resistor

Prefer to automate it? One authenticated POST creates the task; the result comes back by webhook or a signed link. The same capability also runs here on the web, by email and from Telegram — and soon from our app too.

curl -X POST https://api.kit.forhosting.com/elec/led-resistor \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KIT_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"supply_voltage":5,"forward_voltage":2,"forward_current":0.02}'
{
  "supply_voltage": 5,
  "forward_voltage": 2,
  "forward_current": 0.02
}
{
  "task_id": "tsk_a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6",
  "type": "elec.led_resistor",
  "status": "queued",
  "_links": {
    "result": "/tasks/tsk_…/result"
  }
}

The API is asynchronous: the call returns a task_id immediately and the result arrives by webhook. Polling is capped at 1 req/s per task.

Per request$0.002

Published price — no tokens, no invented credits. A failed task is never charged.

HTTPCodeMeaning
401unauthorizedMissing or invalid API key.
402insufficient_balanceYour balance doesn't cover the task price.
404unknown_typeThat task type doesn't exist.
429rate_limitedToo many requests. Use the webhook instead of polling.

Read the full KIT documentation →