LED resources for the DIYer ?

[GP73LPC]

Forgive me if this has been asked, I have searched without any luck.

Can you give me some names of LED suppliers you guys use?

I am specifically looking for some 660nm and 460nm, 2 or 3 watt, 5mm LED's for a little experiment.

I'm not even having much luck with google

 

[alkalien]

you won't be able to find those highpower LEDs in 5mm casings. Those can't cool the LEDs down, they'll burn in no time at all. That's why there aren't any.

All high power LEDs have SMD-casings for transporting the heat into the board. If you have to handsolder, don't buy LEDs with contacts on the downside, you can only reflow solder those! Try buying LEDs mounted on stars, those are the least complicated to work with!

 

[GP73LPC]

well they are out there some where as there are manufacturers that use the 2 and 3 watt 5mm LED's. i have two led arrays that have the 3 watters in them. been using them 16/8 for 7 months with no issues.

i know others who have used them longer with no burn out issues...

in fact with the little experiment i wanted to try the SMD style LED's will not work.

 

[alkalien]

I'd love to be prooven wrong

If you find any, let me know!

 

[GP73LPC]

I'd love to be prooven wrong

If you find any, let me know!

ha, ha....

somebody has to make em....

 

[bonsai]

Cutter.com.au
they may measure approx 5mm across, but they have to be able to transfer all that heat.~70% of that 3W is heat and has to go somewhere.
"Someone has to make them" is illogical.

p.s. waiting on updates to your greenhouse build thread

 

[GP73LPC]

greenhouse is coming some time soon...

thanks for the link

 

[zymos]

You might poke around Instructables.com- they have lots of LED projects, and maybe people can point you to some sources.

 

[GP73LPC]

thanks ^^^

 

[GP73LPC]

ok, i think i am wrong... imagine that...

here are the LED's in my array. can someone tell me what they are? I do know they are 3 watts.

i clearly should have looked closer at my diodes, sorry...

 

[GP73LPC]

all i can find is they are "High Powered Chinese LEDs"

 

[cannarelief]

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?91-LED

 

[GP73LPC]

thanks for that link, checking it over....

 

[geoponics13]

tag

 

[NiteTiger]

Cutter.com.au
they may measure approx 5mm across, but they have to be able to transfer all that heat.~70% of that 3W is heat and has to go somewhere.

You're thinking incandescent ligts. The whole reason LEDs are so sought after is that they are much, much more effecient, on the order of 90+% effecient.

If what you said was accurate, you'd never have seen them here, as it would be a completely pointless tech for our purposes. The reason you do see them here is specifically because they produce targeted light with less power and less heat.

We've already got massively wasteful lighting systems, why would we want another?

 

[rives]

You're thinking incandescent ligts. The whole reason LEDs are so sought after is that they are much, much more effecient, on the order of 90+% effecient.

If what you said was accurate, you'd never have seen them here, as it would be a completely pointless tech for our purposes. The reason you do see them here is specifically because they produce targeted light with less power and less heat.

We've already got massively wasteful lighting systems, why would we want another?

Not the case, NiteTiger. I am using Osram LH-W5AM leds in a hybrid fixture that I am building, and they run around 34% efficient on the average, and up to about 38% for the top-rated bins. They were touted by Osram as being about 15% more efficient than their closest existing competitors when they were released. And yes, they are far more efficient than incandescent, HID or fluorescent lamps. Amongst the most efficient of the fluorescents, PL-L's are about 26% luminous efficiency, and incandescents range from about 3-6%.

 

[NiteTiger]

WTF?! I gotta go dig deeper, haven't dug around in LEDs for a while. While I've never put a large LED on a board, the great thing about LEDs was they were super-effecient, just not very bright. I noticed the influx of cheap high-watt LEDs on the market a while back, but I just figured the tech got more affordable, not crappier

I've missed a memo somewhere, because my first reaction to an LED @ 30% would be to get rid of the burned LED

Great man, now I've got a damn research project on a subject I haven't actively studied in 10+ years, thanks a bunch

 

[rives]

The "super efficient" part is only in comparison to other light sources - our standards were (and are) incredibly low. That 5% efficient 100 watt incandescent light bulb was a pretty damn good heat source to throw under the hood of your car so it would start when it was -20. Commonly available HID's range from around 9-22%, while the best of them (low pressure sodium) is still under 30%.

 

[NiteTiger]

No, I meant super effecient, period At least for smaller ones, apparently different rules are in effect for larger wattages

If that's the case, I'm going to be even more disappointed in LED tech

I mean, on a certain level, it makes sense, higher wattage and all. But back when I was a solder head, the great thing about imagining LED lighting systems was the awesome effeciency of those little suckers. Practically, I get it - even a crap LED is still more effecient than any other source, and lasts longer. So, it's good to get it out on the market.

But as a guy who built a hugely impractical LED "bulb" back in the day, it feels a little bit like you just ruined the Tooth Fairy for me right now

Edit: if that wasn't bad enough, you just made me pull a "back in my day...", so now I feel old. Thanks again You're not on my Happy People list right now!

 

[rives]

I think that all led's have become much more efficient over time. It is just since they became powerful enough to compete with more traditional light sources that anyone thought to analyze the amount of light that they put out vs the current that they pulled. Indicator-level led's don't have to put out a lot of lumens, they just need to keep parasitic losses on the main circuitry down to a reasonable level.