I could really use some help...

[FreedomFighter]

To make a long story short, I'm a retired military guy who has wanted to learn electronics his whole life and never had the time, but recently I've decided it's time to learn. I've been online for hours upon hours, days upon days searching and learning and have a little project going I need some help with.

I recently purchased a new snow plow for my truck and primarily as a learning experience I've decided to build my own amber LED mini-lightbar. I've been posting my progress on another website and videos on Youtube (Baystater116) and this is what I have done so far:

Using 5mm 14,000 mcd LED's I built a 40-LED array and tested it wired up to a Sho-Me 27 pattern flasher and it worked pretty good. Wanting to go brighter, I just made another LED array this time using 30-140,000 10mm LED's and just had both arrays wired up and running with the flasher. Interestingly it appears that the 40 LED 5mm array seems brighter and more effective at distance than the 30 LED 10mm array. Either one still does not seem bright enough for what I want, especially in daylight.

So I've now decided to go with what I'm hoping are more like what the name-brand companies are using and what they refer to as "Generation 3" LED's, primarily per a suggestion that someone made (I think he is a current member here). I'm trying to keep a couple of things in mind, first I'm trying to keep it simple. Second, is that the Sho-Me flasher is a two-channel unit that is rated at 3 amps per channel. I'm looking at purchasing the following items and want to know if they will work together well and if I am on the right track here:

1. I want to purchase 30 of these: LED's
2. Also, a total of 30 of these (10 per pack): Optics

Are these two items a good starting point or would anyone recommend something else? I will ask other questions/need help later, but for now I want to get started on this new project.

I've learned a LOT on this website already! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

 

[shortstack]

according to the reviews of the optics says it wont work with the cree's, i think you will need a driver for the led stars.

 

[LEDobsession]

:welcome:

Looks like it'll be a fun learning experience. It should be a fairly bright light around ~3000~ lumens. These are white emitters so Im assuming you're using some sort of amber lens cover, correct?

according to the reviews of the optics says it wont work with the cree's, i think you will need a driver for the led stars.

Wont work with the cree emitters. You will be needing some drivers for them as well.

What are you using for a housing? You'll need some sort of heatsink for all these LEDs.

 

[FreedomFighter]

Thanks very much for the replies.

I looked again and realized that the optics will not work with the Cree's I want to get, I missed that one. I'm currently in contact with someone who is selling one-piece amber mini-lightbar domes (brand name) that I am thinking of using for the housing. The rest will be made of aluminum parts.

I am planning to paste the LED's on the inside of an aluminum channel for additional heatsink/mounting. But the part I understand least is the driver I may need to power all of these. I'm planning on using 30 of these Cree LED's.

If you could school me with any information at all about the driver(s) I may need and more than anything, I would love to build it/them myself! If you could help me out there it would be GREATLY appreciated.

Steve

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

weird things happen to light through filters. You know what color an LED flashlight shining through an amber pill bottle makes? greenish-yellow. Try one out before buying a bunch =)

If clear housing is possible, there are amber Crees, both in xr-c and xp-e packages.

You said the sho-me driver powers up to 2A current. Do you know what the output voltage is? if it outputs 12v 2A, that would be enough power for about 28 LEDs at 350mA, but also a calculated 985lm minimum of amber light if you get the worst bins and 1450lm maximum if you got the best of the best bin. But that's if it outputs 2A at 12V.

 

[FreedomFighter]

You said the sho-me driver powers up to 2A current. Do you know what the output voltage is? if it outputs 12v 2A, that would be enough power for about 28 LEDs at 350mA, but also a calculated 985lm minimum of amber light if you get the worst bins and 1450lm maximum if you got the best of the best bin. But that's if it outputs 2A at 12V.

The sho-me flasher has 2 channels @ 3 amps per channel with a 12v output, model no. 11.1005SF-27.

My next question would be is if I still need an LED driver in addition to this flasher unit? Also, where would be the best place for me to order a couple of sample Cree's to try?

Thanks: Steve

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

I am not very familiar with sho-me flashers, but it looks like it is listed as an LED flasher. Don't know if that means it has a constant current output or if it is voltage regulated though. Perhaps someone else can chime in. found a PDF, wasn't very helpful... http://www.able2products.com/pdfs/11_1005_1005sf_instructions.pdf

 

[FireFighter]

Have you tried 5mm 5chip LED's. It exactly like the standard 5mm's but thats where the similarity ends.
Here are some specs:
Power Dissipation - 400mW !!!!!!
Peak Forward Current - 500mA (a normal 5mm led 100mA)
Continuous Forward Current - 100mA (a normal 5mm led 20mA)
12 - 16 Lumensng angle.
My local supplier claims the 1 x 5chip LED (white) is equal to 10 x 23400mcd 5mm LED's

 

[yellow]

how did You decide on the 30 pc. of the Cree XR-E?
One of them alone will make more light than both of Your previous setups!!

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

as for sample crees, well, I'd just get some cheap P4s or something off of dealextreme, but that's if you can put up with 2 weeks shipping *minimum*

I am using those 5mm 5-chips in my domelight, but I'm running them at 100mA which is too much for the lack of heatsinking. They're starting to change colors. I got a 50-count bag and sorted them until I had 18 of the same color, more or less. Now I have an array with some white, some weird :scowl: color and some :p color from the heat, I guess. They are quite bright, though. Thinking of redoing with some crees.

 

[hank]

Who makes/sells the amber 5mm 5chip LED's? Any pointers to working with them?
Drivers/pills made with them?