Lux III, K2, V... a distinction on lumens, current, etc.

[Eandori]

Erv's board putting out 1 amp of solid current is 100% exactly the same as a resistor putting out 1 amp for LED brightness.

Yeah this statement is correct actually. You started talking about PWM, but that's not what I described above. I said 1 amp of solid current Still, It's best to have people keeping me in line though, I would hate to be misleading people on this stuff when it's already complex enough.

Current is current, no matter where it's come from. That's the essence of what I was trying to explain. What differentiates one luxeon "driver" from another is the special effects it applies to that current. How slow/fast/deep/shallow does the current pulse? A sharp spike in current, or a slow rolling hill? Those are the features we pay the big bucks for with special LED driver boards.

A driver board from the LED's perspective is like a variable battery. It literally "drives" the LED. A resistor is not really the same, it sits in series with that LED and statically burns off voltage in the form of heat and limits current flow through the LED. Both methods control current flow, but they really are pretty different. Having said that, if both methods are delivering 1 amp of non-varying current, then from the LED's perspective it's effectively exactly the same and will result in the same LED brightness.

Thanks!

[Novastar]

The point of this thread is to help "dispel" erroneous thoughts about lumens, current, "3-watt" and all that, so I'm glad everyone is helping one another!

Eandori makes a REALLY good point as well that a resistor is essentially "killing" some power at one point by turning it into heat, while a driver (if made well) will do a lot less "burning" of power/current/batteries/whatever and manage that precious fuel to a much better degree.

Suffice it to say--a decent driver will almost ALWAYS yield longer run times vs. a resistor on an (otherwise) apples to apples comparison... aka same batts, same LED, same attempt to run at specific amperage, same heatsinking, same accessories run (motor, speaker, extra "little" LEDs), etc., blah blah blah.