Repurposing CPU coolers for indoor LED lighting.

[idleprocess]

Ya know, I hear all the time from the flashlight freaks that you can't use Bridgelux in portable lighting because they 'have no throw'.

Eh, what's that again

A badly overrated concept for most flashlight usage, where you're interested in making out detail within a few meters.

The increasing voltage requirements for the newer arrays is what's going to keep Bridgelux out of flashlights.

 

[Lon]

Id look into this array http://bridgelux.com/products/ledarray_es.html

Id use the 6th one down for color I think. And Im sure theres a puck or some driver, getting 120vac input drivers has many choices compared to DC to DC drivers for some reason I know not.
I have several sinks like the OP posted, seems some have much thicker copper slugs in the base some are only 1/8" and the ones in the pic are 1/2" thick with copper fins instead of Alum.
I would think the thicker the better. So Id check that.

 

[blasterman]

The increasing voltage requirements for the newer arrays is what's going to keep Bridgelux out of flashlights.

That's pretty much the case with the newer Bridgelux. Obivously they've commited fully to interiour lighting with their arrays increasingly wired for series / voltage optimization -vs- current / parallel. Obviously 12volt and lower environments are dominated by XP-G or XM-L configurations which are also more eficient.

The advantage with Bridgelux is (1) Utter simplicity - Only one array to solder and troubleshoot. (2) The medium and wide angle optic options, notably the Ledil Brooke series are about as smooth as it gets.

Obviously tyhe first thing that comes to mind with 12volt circuits and higher voltage lighting needs are inverters and such. However, Boost - Buck drivers are clearly within the realm of possibility here. I just don't work with them much even though I have a few LuxDrives hanging around. I'll have to test and see if my 350mA BoostBuck can drive a 20volt Bridgelux with a high current, 12volt Mean Well fixed supply.

 

[idleprocess]

That's pretty much the case with the newer Bridgelux. Obivously they've commited fully to interiour lighting with their arrays increasingly wired for series / voltage optimization -vs- current / parallel. Obviously 12volt and lower environments are dominated by XP-G or XM-L configurations which are also more eficient.

The advantage with Bridgelux is (1) Utter simplicity - Only one array to solder and troubleshoot. (2) The medium and wide angle optic options, notably the Ledil Brooke series are about as smooth as it gets.

Obviously tyhe first thing that comes to mind with 12volt circuits and higher voltage lighting needs are inverters and such. However, Boost - Buck drivers are clearly within the realm of possibility here. I just don't work with them much even though I have a few LuxDrives hanging around. I'll have to test and see if my 350mA BoostBuck can drive a 20volt Bridgelux with a high current, 12volt Mean Well fixed supply.

It took me a very long time to realize this, but once you look at sources other than the likes of LED Supply selling turnkey/packaged drivers targeted at hobbyists such as LuxDrive for happy happy money, there's quite the array of nearly-as-finished products from the likes of meanwell that are marginally more expensive than rolling your own with the benefits of superior engineering and likely better efficiency.

 

[blasterman]

LuxDrive, in my experience doesn't exactly build the best Buck drivers. Mean Well's LDD series have much better specs, efficiency levels, are PWM dimmable and have a better rep. For fixed DC/DC drivers I get the cheap ones from Satistronics for about $1.25, and they last forever. For boost though you are limited to DIY, flashlight drivers, or Boost Bucks.

 

[blasterman]

Just a follow-up, but I had no problems driving a 500mA / 20volt Bridgelux with a LuxDrive 4015 / 350mA Boost-Puck from a 12volt supply. This is good news for directly boosting a 12volt battery supply to Bridgelux levels without having to resort to inverters. Would it work with a 30volt (or higher) Bridgelux? Not sure. The 4015 is limited to 1.5amps input, and this might not be possible.

The bad news is this is a bit of a waste. The Bridgelux can certainly be driven harder than 350mA, and ideally you'd want to push them around 700mA as long as you had good heat sinking. I'm sure there are Boost-Bucks out there capable of doing this (and likely cheaper than LuxDrive), but I'm just not familiar with them.

What you would do then is power a CPU cooler with the 12volt supply used to power the Boost-Buck, and then run one of the bigger 20-30volt Bridgelux off the Boost. Small, absurdly simple package - HID light levels at 120 lumens per watt.

 

[cwloo]

Just a follow-up, but I had no problems driving a 500mA / 20volt Bridgelux with a LuxDrive 4015 / 350mA Boost-Puck from a 12volt supply. This is good news for directly boosting a 12volt battery supply to Bridgelux levels without having to resort to inverters. Would it work with a 30volt (or higher) Bridgelux? Not sure. The 4015 is limited to 1.5amps input, and this might not be possible.

The bad news is this is a bit of a waste. The Bridgelux can certainly be driven harder than 350mA, and ideally you'd want to push them around 700mA as long as you had good heat sinking. I'm sure there are Boost-Bucks out there capable of doing this (and likely cheaper than LuxDrive), but I'm just not familiar with them.

What you would do then is power a CPU cooler with the 12volt supply used to power the Boost-Buck, and then run one of the bigger 20-30volt Bridgelux off the Boost. Small, absurdly simple package - HID light levels at 120 lumens per watt.

The meanwell LPC-35-700 can feed from 110v, run up to 48v and supply constant current of 700mah. You can run two Bridgelux in series.

 

[blasterman]

How are you going to power the LPC from DC?