EE folks, help me out!

[MtnRacer]

I want to re-purpose an LED on a PCB for my project while preserving it's original function at the same time. Can I remove the two pin LED and replace it with a 3 pin bicolor LED? The the signal source for the second function comes from a completely separate board, but both boards are grounded to the same battery source.

The idea is that one of the LED anodes and the cathode will be in the original two holes on the PCB, and I'll wire leads from the other PCB to the other LED anode and the same cathode. It seems like to me this should work since both boards have the same ground (eventually), but I didn't design the circuits and only sort of know what I am doing. :toothless

Thanks!
Steve

 

[JackTheTripper]

I'm not an EE, just a hobbyist with only a few years experience but it sounds like it would work to me. Of course make sure the "new" input has the right voltage to not burn out the LED.

 

[MtnRacer]

Actually that's a good point, since I'm swapping out the LED it may require a higher resistance. I also need to check where the resistor is in each line, I could end up with a doubled up resistance on one, which wouldn't a deal breaker I guess, but it could end up pretty dim. Thanks, hadn't thought of that.

Steve

 

[greener]

Having dabbled with such devices, your idea will pretty much work no problem. LED are usually running on 3-12v circuits, so pretty flexible there, and the resistance is a non-issue.
Cool idea, to turn one led into two :thumbup