Driver for 3 watt luxeon

sisto

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Nov 25, 2008
Messages
7
Location
Montevideo, Uruguay
I'm planning on buying a dozen 3 watt luxeon leds and found a seller which also offered me a led driver.
I asked him for a spec sheet but all he could give me was this information:
Voltage: 12v
Current: 330mA - 700mA.
It can work with 1x 3w leds or 3 x 1w leds.
The leds can be connected in parallel.
He also sent me a picture: [1] Do you think I should buy it or should I only buy the leds?

I was also looking for a driver which allows me to connect many leds (more than 3 or 5). Which would you suggest?
Thanks for reading and replying!!

[1] http://img224.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3wleddriverfor12vpic1tt2.jpg
 

yellow

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 31, 2002
Messages
4,629
Location
Baden.at
1st of all: dont BUY Luxeons NOW! At the same power, they give only HALF the output of current led
(instead they produce heat).
Get Cree XR-E or Seoul P4 instead.

2nd: from what battery are You driving those led?
because that is the BASE from what all You calculaion has to start from.


when using the "standard" pack, a 14.4 V Li-Ion battery, there is the following option:
a step-up driver for 6 led which are wired in series. 2 times for Your dozen of led.
Possible drivers were Sandwich Shoppe's SHARK or Taskled's maxFlex.
Both should be able to drive up to 6 led in series.

Your problem (apart from brutal heat coming from the led) is:
* size (a dozen led with their focusing devices),
* cost (the led, the focusing devices)
* space (12 led + devices)
* weight (heatsinking)


You could do easier when using else three of the Cree MC-E (wired same as the dozen of led --> 6 in series each, and using the two step-up drivers. Con: difficult wiring),
or three the Seoul P7 (no driver recommendation, no recommendation of this led from me)
Both are basically a "larger" led that houses four individual led in one package.
So You only have to place three led and use just three focusing devices on them --> less space

... a nice project, what are You planning?
 
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sisto

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Nov 25, 2008
Messages
7
Location
Montevideo, Uruguay
Thank you for replying! I have two projects going on.

I want to use some leds for home lighting.
I have a 220v to 12V DC transformer and would like to connect some leds to it.
I was thinking of using a lm317 regulator to lower the voltage to 3.7 volts, and then connnect the leds in parallel.

The problem is I can only connect up to two leds because lm317 can only handle up to 1.5 amps.
I think I could use a LM338 or a LM350 instead to connect more leds. Any ideas?

I'll start another thread for my other project so this thread stays clean.

Here's a diagram of the idea I have:
http://img253.imageshack.us/my.php?image=path4778ps8.png
Thanks for reading.
 
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