Seoul P4 and 1000mA buckpuck

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Raises Hand.

I'm one of those two people. I'm not using a copper heatsink, I'm using an aluminum one.

I'm using a standard 1000ma buckpuck, 4xAA rechargable batteries (duracell 2650ma @ 1.2v each)

aluminum 1" diameter little more than 1/4" long heatsink (provided by ultrasabers)

Its gotten so hot that the soldier pads on the LED literally just melted and the LED module fell off. A friend of mine re-soldier it back on with some super high heat soldier, but we are still trying to find out why its soooo hot. I have four blistered fingers because of the heat on the aluminum heatsink. The LED was only on for about 30 seconds when I burnt my fingers. I have re-tried this with the new soldier. It doesn't melt the pvc, it only liquifies the super glue (gurelia (sp?) glue) that I used to hold everything together.

I'll post pictures when I get home of the new set up, that is still hot enough to fry an egg on the heat sink.

Not blaming anyone, just trying to figure out best course of action.

Do you have an led besides the p4 to try on your set-up like a Luxeon III perhaps? If that doesn't get overly hot, then I'd say there's something wrong with that P4.

[Strydur]

Copper transfers the heat way better than aluminum so in 30 seconds the copper heat sink should actually be hotter or the same temp as a aluminum one so that shouldn't be the issue.

[Hasid Lafre]

I think something is wrong with the pucks,, I just dont see how an led could get super hot without poofing.

[Novastar]

Copper transfers the heat way better than aluminum so in 30 seconds the copper heat sink should actually be hotter or the same temp as a aluminum one so that shouldn't be the issue.

To echo this so people don't miss it... Tim is exactly right.

If a heatsink *IS* actually doing its job... umm... it should get hot. Sure, not inordinately so, but... heat is heat is heat is heat. The amount of heat generated from your battery + LED setup does not change when you're using a heatsink made of aluminum or copper... nor wood or leather!!! Granted, wood and leather would... uh... not do so well in helping to keep the heat under control.

That all being said... Hmmmmmmm... you know... there *IS* a sort of "too much is too much" point regarding all this. In other words... if the heat produced somehow is JUST too much for the heatsink (and other metal parts like the hilt)... it becomes sort of a cascading effect. Sort of like if an LED is allowed to "suck in" too much current... you get this sort of geometric-like cascade of death, lol.

But still... I don't know why a P4 @ 1A would do such a thing. I mean... I *THINK* that's supposed to be spec????

Hmm... well... I will say this:

* Running a P4 GREEN
* @ 1200mA
* Using CF
* Using Tim's "smaller" aluminum heatsink, the one from the 1.25" blade holder thingy
* No heat issues that I'm aware of...

So... the Puck DOES seem pretty suspect. Maybe I should try a direct drive P4 white setup and run the bloody 'ell out of it and see if I can make some fireballs, heheheh

[Kal El Rah]

Hi Guys,

I may not be right about this but it sounds to me like maybe there is some kind of contact with the LED wire up and the heatsink causing some type of short but still being able to light up the LED. DC voltage has a tendency to heat up metal quickly when shorted out. I could be wrong but it might be possible.

[Jedi-Diah]

But 3 pucks in a row? It just not very likely. Plus, I think he measured one and it puts out 1000mA.

I wonder does the LED look as bright as it should be? The short idea sounds like it might have some merit. He did say the emitter melted itself right out of it's solder. That's pretty amazingly hot.

I think something is wrong with the pucks,, I just dont see how an led could get super hot without poofing.

[Hasid Lafre]

Ok but look how many pucks there are in the world. I have no shadow of a doute that there are more pucks out there that are bad.

It could be that a handfull could be bad or it could be millions that are bad.

[LeMoel]

well whatever the answer is i thiunk iam just going to try the copper heatsink, then this shouldnt be a problem

[swear000]

I think it will still be a problem. The copper heat sink may dissipate heat better but the LED overheating is still bad. It will, at the very least, shorten the lifespan of the LED. It would be odd if the LED itself was the reason for the overheating but since the buck puck delivers a continuous current, it is really hard to say that the buck puck is at fault.

[JediKnightBJ]

Do you have an led besides the p4 to try on your set-up like a Luxeon III perhaps? If that doesn't get overly hot, then I'd say there's something wrong with that P4.

I do. I have a lux 3 green and a lux 3 red. Both are using copper heatsinks. No trouble whatsoever.

I did however try this for the first time. I put the P4 on the copper heatsink, then put it inside my MHS saber hilt. Took a longer amount of time, but the hilt got so hot that I was not able to touch the handle it was so hot after about 90 seconds. When I took the Hilt back apart, the little legs that hold the lense holder on the LED star, melted off. It took me 30 minutes just to clean all the melted plastic and super glue off the LED and heatsink. At this point, I'm really beginning to think, the $8 LED is not worth the trouble of burning my fingers and ruining parts to try to get it to work.