The absolute maximum reverse voltage of most LED's range from 5 to 7 volts. I suggest that not using DC on them will most certainly shorten their life, sometimes to minutes or hours! I had some failing regularly in one locomotive until I realized that I had the proper resistor, but no diode!
Don't run LED's on AC, a major factor in choosing LED's is you should never have to replace them. That's not true on AC.
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