10 watt RGB... (BUSTED!!!)

[Dregan]

So, (and understand, I'm gauging interest here) how interested would someone who like a challenge be in a 3.3watt (per color) RGB that totals ~10 watts inder full power?

I still need to research optics and whatnot, but I think I've found something here...

[Jay-gon Jinn]

I'd say you're a bit late, it's already being done:
http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/fo...ghlight=trilux

[Dregan]

I'm not talking about a Tri-Lux, I'm referring to a single emitter, 10 Watt RGB I found today.

[acerocket]

I'd be interested. Naturally I am biased towards the Tri-Lux, but I don't want to stop anybody from doing there own research. The problem with most single unit RGB LEDs is that, unless they drive each die seperately, you will max out performance on one of the colors but limit the other two. There is one RGB LED I know of where the three die are driven seperately (the LED has 6 seperate solder pads) but it is only a 3 x 1 watt unit. The nice thing about the tri-lux is that you can individually drive each LED. I myself would love to see some specs on these. I know there are 10 and 20 watt single color LEDs out there but they are quite the power hogs. If you would care to share the specs, but want to keep it private, you could PM me. I only ask out of curiosity and would not pass on the info.

[Dregan]

I had hoped you would see this, Ace. There's a distinct lack of optics for this - think you might be able to machine something to hold some on? Maybe even put these in your Tri-Lux... That's be sweet!

By slightly changing the angle of your optics in the Tri-Lux, you could do a polymorphic multi-chromatic blade - like a lava lamp in your blade! Need a controller chip, though... hmmm....

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Ahh, my mistake!

[acerocket]

That's one very interesting LED there.

A few things I noticed after viewing the PDF. Nine seperate die in three groups of three with a seperate positive terminal for each series of three die with a common negative terminal for all nine die arranged in a single interconnected matrix. It looks like you have the option of running a single color as either 3, 6, or 9 die at a time since they are all connected. My guess is that the RGB will be three seperate sets of three die not connected so they can be individually driven. Taking a single green color LED for example, the forward voltage is 11V and the forward voltage would be 1.05A. Assume you hook to the 9 die terminal, that means you are going to be giving each led series 3.67V at 1.05A and each individual die will be getting 3.67V at 350mA. 3.67X.35= 1.29 and 1.29X9=11.61 watts total. That is how they get the 10 watt LED. So you basically have 9 seperate 1 watt LEDs in that array. The advertised luminous flux for the green is only 330 lumens so by extension, each die is putting out 55 lumens. The standard Luxeon 1 LED puts out about 53 lumens at similar power requirements. The nice thing about this LED is that you have the equivalant of nine Luxeon I LEDs on a single base. But there comes another problem. that LED is BIG - almost 1.5" x 1.75" and optics are going to big also. The website says optics are available so you want to give them a call. I doubt very seriously it would ever work in a Tri-Lux setup because of the size, but it may have some very interesting uses none the less. You say they are about 70 bucks. That's a steep price considering you can get nine Lux I for 30 bucks total. But the single unit packaging is very attractive. For a saber I don't see much use unless you really want to go for it, but I can see some other possibilities where having these could be interesting.

[Novastar]

DANG I love reading Ace's posts.

I don't always UNDERSTAND everything... but it sure helps me learn a bit more everyday regarding voltage, resistance, current and their relations...

Still looking forward (voltage?) to the new Tri-Lux and other possibilities!!!

[elrond.406]

DANG I love reading Ace's posts.

I don't always UNDERSTAND everything... but it sure helps me learn a bit more everyday regarding voltage, resistance, current and their relations...

Too long and complicated... :P

[Novastar]

Nope... information was just right for me!

Basic math isn't all that complex... it's the relation between the numbers that gets me sometimes.

For a long while, I wondered WHY Lumileds didn't have a "5-watt" set for the "dark side" colors (red, red-o, amber, etc.)... well, that is because the Lux IIIs... often referred to as "3-watters" are just that... well, in red, red-o...

It comes down to number crunching sometimes.

I also learned from Ace that LEDs don't really need any more than their forward voltage to be effective. That is to say, giving an LED 6 volts when it only REQUIRES 2.95... is wasteful. This is especially important when running "direct drive" (a.k.a. resistor only). LEDs are all about CURRENT... which is relational to voltage though!!!

However--if you can make usage of the excess voltage via some driver board (a.k.a. Corbin's, Erv's)... that voltage can be utilized via pulse width modulation (not to mention some capacitors), extra voltage *MAY* not be so wasteful. Within reason.

Anyhow. Thanks Ace!

P.S. Elrond, bummer to hear you weren't able to get involved in BOP II. It's ok, I have an old cast member to play the role.