220V Line Powered LED Lamp

To connect a single LED lamp to the 220V AC line, the minimum need are a series a high voltage capacitor and a resistor. A diode also in parallel with the LED in reverse polarity connection.

The diode prevents reverse voltage breakdown of the LED. The resistor is needed to prevent in-rush (surge) current to the capacitor if from OFF (discharged). An additional resistor in parallel to the capacitor to bleed the charged voltage when the circuit is OFF to prevent electric shock.

Computing for values:

I(led) = 0.02

Xc = V/I(led) = (220-3)/.02 = 10850

Cmin = 1/(2*pi*Xc) = 1/(2 *pi * 60 * 10850) = 0.24uF = 0.22uF nearest value