Heat sink required for 8 mm LED

[g@z]

Hi,

New here. I've got some of these but I was wondering if they need a heatsink?

I was thinking of just soldering a tab of metal on the large area on the lead. Almost seems like it's made for it.

I am a little sus on the power (2.2v @300 mA is .66W not 1W) but ah well.

Any advise? Thanks.

Regads,
g@z.

 

[Gunner12]

I think they should have one considering the power and the small heat capacity of the legs, but I don't see how you will mount it on a heatsink without having a chance shorting it out.

:welcome:

 

[Christexan]

You are on the right track, the reason for the "thick" legs is to get heat out of the LED package and to a PCB that they are soldered onto. The copper PCB is then used to dissipate the heat, meaning there should be large "landing" pads on the top that are soldered to each leg, as well as any circuit connections underneath (double-sided PCB).

At that point, your PCB surface area and any additional components for heatsinking determines the heat-sinking ability of the whole shebang. I wouldn't pack these densely, and if in a sealed area, it's going to be a challenge, if in "open air" at room temps, a 1" diameter PCB pad around each LED might be sufficient (obviously divided between the legs though).

Realistically without a design datasheet, it's hard to be sure what you need to consider, you might try to find a similar product that has a design reference with it to get it "right", but hopefully the above is a start.

These are NOT designed to be used in "free-standing" configurations (at least not at rated max), there isn't enough heat dissipation in them to survive long. If you soldered some thin copper "flags" to the legs, that might do the trick, they need some kind of additional dissipation surface area though to get the heat away from the LED package.