I constructed a Luxeon Star 'pill' for my direct drive 3AA light. I cut down the LS star assembly, mounted it onto a copper washer, and place 3 ten-ohm resistors in parallel beneath that. I then mounted another tiny copper washer on the very bottom and soldered it to the resistors.
Supposedly the resistor cluster should give me 3.3 ohms.
The 3AA give 4.5 volts. The LS has max voltage drop of 3.42 volts. The delta voltage is 1.1 volts. A foreward current of 350 mA should then be produced if a resistance of roughly 3.3 ohms is place in the circuit. Right?
Well no dice. I hooked everything up and my multi-meter gives me a current reading of only about 110 mA !! WTF? Also, the LS is not all that bright, and the light produced is very wide, and lacks the intensity of my Opalec. I must be doing something wrong.
I tried running the LS without the resistors and it produced a brighter light, but the current was still under 300 mA!! Whats the deal, does the LS have a high internal resistance that no one mentioned in the spec sheet? This is getting frustrating.
Thanks for any help.
Supposedly the resistor cluster should give me 3.3 ohms.
The 3AA give 4.5 volts. The LS has max voltage drop of 3.42 volts. The delta voltage is 1.1 volts. A foreward current of 350 mA should then be produced if a resistance of roughly 3.3 ohms is place in the circuit. Right?
Well no dice. I hooked everything up and my multi-meter gives me a current reading of only about 110 mA !! WTF? Also, the LS is not all that bright, and the light produced is very wide, and lacks the intensity of my Opalec. I must be doing something wrong.
I tried running the LS without the resistors and it produced a brighter light, but the current was still under 300 mA!! Whats the deal, does the LS have a high internal resistance that no one mentioned in the spec sheet? This is getting frustrating.
Thanks for any help.