More Griping About Missing Standards LED lamps and lumens

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I sure hope this does not place a burr under anyone's saddle, but get ready because I am going to lapse into (lecture?) mode...

• I purchase LED chipset plate lamps
• Various wattages 2, 3, 5, 10, 20
• I connect them to a precision power supply 12.00 volts
• With a 5-1/2 digit bench DMM
• I read I amperage draw
• I multiply volts times amps
• Anywhere from one-fifth to one-fourth of the advertised wattage
• There is no mention anywhere EVER of a caveat of "equivalent to" which would be stupid because flourescent, incandescent, or halogen?

So I take the advice of Mr Wizard. I purchase 12 volt 10 watt LED chips. They need heatsinks. I connect the power supply and the light flashes as bright as 60 amperes of arc-welder light only pure white. I have the chip solidly heat-sinked to a plate of aluminum with zinc oxide compound. The light eqvt. equals around SIX 30 watt 12 volt fluorescent fixtures.

I am going to couple the 10 watt chips to an LED dimmer, a PWM control with a knob. At full potential a chip demands a lot of heat sink, possibly with a 12 volt micro muffin fan.

How bright is bright? Even with my poor eyesight, I feel one single chip will light a 12' X 12' room as well as a single 100 watt incandescent lamp - with a higher number Kelvin emission it is hard to compare. The beam spread is incredible - around 140 degrees.

I will use the $2.95 Chinese specials, rated at 10 watts. Mounted to a flat fixture. I figure SIX of them will give me about 50% of the illumination of a single $4.95 10 watt AUTHENTIC LED chip.

So thank you Mr. Wizard!

I will work out the heat sink and PWM controls to suit my application.
And gag whenever I see a wattage reading for a multi-LED plate.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

As they say down here "Mexican Listo!". Found a cover for a Coleman roof air laying by the side of the road. Going to make a great hood. Silicone grease across the chips and connections. The fan is going to have to fare for itself.

Going to have to take a full case of Pacifico to encourage the guys with the CFE bucket truck to mount it. A total of four stainless steel band clamps for big rigs is going to clamp the light pedestal to the pole. Vertical gray electrical tubing to pass the wires and 14" cable ties (black) to clamp the pipe to the pole. Then boondockers can have light when necessary.

[NinerBikes]

What do you plan to use as a lense over the LEDs, to protect them?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

As near as I can tell 12-1/2 meters off the ground.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

The Occasional Power Supply and portable battery charger

[GordonThree]

That's going to be an impressive flood light, hopefully with a "bulb" that won't need replacing for the next ten years.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

This is going to be free-air mounted with a 12-watt 80 CFM ball bearing fan mounted against the side of the heat sink. Silver Oxide heat sink compound. Mechanically attached chips. Twelve of them. 120 watts of these chips put a 150 watt Metal Halide (Hubbell) lamp to shame. But that's not the idea. The idea is this is for 12 volt operation, without inverter. Theft resistant. Our little uñados will spent a whole night digging out an inverter. The battery box is steel welded to a 4" diameter steel post (lamp) sunk deep in the ground. No room in the box for an inverter. Designed to light up a beach at night (where RV'ers Park).

[NinerBikes]

Redsky wrote:
Wattage is irrelevant to the amount of light output from LED's and even for the old tungsten lamps. An inefficient driver is going to take more current and produce less light. A higher Wattage tungsten lamp is going to be more efficient so a single 150 Watt lamp provides considerably more light than two 75 Watt lamps.

Electronic devices do not do well with heat and heat sinks are only a partial solution if the fixture itself does not provide for air flow around it. It is why CFL bulbs when used with the driver on the top (as with a recessed can fixture) will fail much more quickly.

I focus more on the color temp which varies widely with the different LED's being manufactured. The higher the Kelvin rating the closer it is to approximating sunlight.

Up to 5000K, then it goes blue, violet, and UV.

[Redsky]

Wattage is irrelevant to the amount of light output from LED's and even for the old tungsten lamps. An inefficient driver is going to take more current and produce less light. A higher Wattage tungsten lamp is going to be more efficient so a single 150 Watt lamp provides considerably more light than two 75 Watt lamps.

Electronic devices do not do well with heat and heat sinks are only a partial solution if the fixture itself does not provide for air flow around it. It is why CFL bulbs when used with the driver on the top (as with a recessed can fixture) will fail much more quickly.

I focus more on the color temp which varies widely with the different LED's being manufactured. The higher the Kelvin rating the closer it is to approximating sunlight.

[GordonThree]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Here is a link to the monster that I am going to build. Found the chip hardware mounting in a Jameco catalog.

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/HS-176/17.25-ALUMINUM-HEATSINK/1.html

That's a serious looking heat sink! Those fins appear close together in the picture, definitely a setup for forced-air cooling from one or more fans.

[GordonThree]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
How is the RFI factor. I'm sure you addressed it but my eyes are too weak to discern the parts numbers 🙂

I tested with a weather radio and an FM radio, there was no discernible difference in reception of stations on either radio with the LEDs on or off. I've never received any tv channels over the antenna while the coach is parked at my home, so I could not test that reception.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Here is a link to the monster that I am going to build. Found the chip hardware mounting in a Jameco catalog.

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/HS-176/17.25-ALUMINUM-HEATSINK/1.html

[MEXICOWANDERER]

GordonThree wrote:
Westend,

I've been experimenting with building my own, the latest generation is shown running the LED a few posts back. The board is of my own design, and I have them fabricated by an outfit called OSH Park and then I hand assemble on my work bench.

Here's four of them assembled but not cut apart yet:


This latest generation I'm pretty happy with... the cost in parts is about $10, not including time.

If I need something off the shelf, I like drivers from LED Dynamics; namely the Buckpuck driver. They are available from most electronics supply houses, as well as LED shops.

How is the RFI factor. I'm sure you addressed it but my eyes are too weak to discern the parts numbers 🙂

[westend]

GordonThree wrote:
Westend,

I've been experimenting with building my own, the latest generation is shown running the LED a few posts back. The board is of my own design, and I have them fabricated by an outfit called OSH Park and then I hand assemble on my work bench.

Here's four of them assembled but not cut apart yet:


This latest generation I'm pretty happy with... the cost in parts is about $10, not including time.

If I need something off the shelf, I like drivers from LED Dynamics; namely the Buckpuck driver. They are available from most electronics supply houses, as well as LED shops.

Thanks Gordon. Those last ones look like a fairly good board.

[wa8yxm]

And in addition.. What I wanted to say before the above:

If you know how to read the specifications there is a lot of info, Some manufactures are good enough to give you full specifications including

Number of Lumens, Color Temperature and voltage/current requirements.

Some are made in china and nobody has translated.

Recommendation: IF you can try before you buy (I carry a 12 volt battery on occasion)

OR, if buying remotely (WWW-something) order one, then more if they are good. I did not do that and got a bunch of junk my first order.. I learned.

ECO-LED, about 18-20 bucks a pop at your local RV dealer.. Good performer, their 1141 replacement is.. if anything, a bit brighter and whiter than a genuine 1141 Not sure how it stands up to a 1156 but this I know for a fact.. LOTS LESS HEAT.