I take back the nice things I've said about LedEngin

[purduephotog]

That about sums it up for me today.

A few days ago a Seoul blue LED died- unfortunately it took down the entire string, which dumped 2x the current through the other string. Fortunately one of the LEDs caved early and stopped the rest from going. Remove, resolder, reattach- and good to go... until...

the 3rd LedEngin 660nm Deep Red LED (32$ a piece) died. No warning. I tested it up and it wouldn't light- but the 2nd string would. Hooked it up to a 700ma 9W tester (can just make the voltage) and nogo light. So I remove it (I do so love their thermal management- I can't solder it it's so effective at wicking away heat).

I figure I'll reduce the current on the 2nd string to 1A (I fortunately have an Xitanium 1A driver I hadn't decided to use yet, grumble) and run the remaining singleton at reduced current on a 700ma driver... until
the stupid RESIST separates from the MCPCB!

That's the 2nd time I've had issues with that damn resist coming off or shorting out to the MCPCB.

Of course you can't BUY replacement MCPCBs, and while they did offer to send me some if I could send them a fedex mailer (20$ for some boards) I never got around to it as it was simply cheaper to buy a new LED and know it would work, rather than waste the cash trying figure out if it would work.

ARGG!

I'm sticking to CREEs from now on. At least they're cheap enough that if one blows I'm not going to get so pissed about it.

 

[blasterman]

Sorry about the loss ($$$)

It's one thing when you kill emitters because you are experimenting - done that a lot. It's entirely another when you have things set up correctly and this stuff happens.

I'd steer you towards Bridgelux because they've certainly proved their durability in my set-ups, but can't find them in red or blue.

 

[purduephotog]

Sorry about the loss ($$$)

It's one thing when you kill emitters because you are experimenting - done that a lot. It's entirely another when you have things set up correctly and this stuff happens.

I'd steer you towards Bridgelux because they've certainly proved their durability in my set-ups, but can't find them in red or blue.

Yeah- I just saw the green one.

I ordered 10 inrush thermisters.

 

[photonwave]

Man, I hate it when good setups fail. I've had it happen too many times to count. Stupid air bubbles in the thermal adhesive exploding, etc.

I'm fighting with my horticultural tube manufacturer to move over to SMDs instead of tail-thru. Apparently it's hard to find 420nm SMDs at a high power range (1W+)

 

[Dr. Mario]

And, of course, don't forget our good ol' friend, static electricity too.

I have blown a zener diode on an expensive LED ($116) LEDEngin 365nm 10W LED, however, I was so lucky to get away with it STILL alive, my fault for not reading the datasheet that I should be feeding it around 20 Volts DC, not 3.6 Volts from a Lithium-Ion battery (a CGR18650 I gutted out from dead Sony Handycam pack), blew the diode, and I actually freaked out, and rushed to "Emergency Room" and tested all individual LED dices, luckily all still worked fine, so I decided to pull out Energizer Instant 15-Min Ni-MH battery charger adapter and rammed 16 Volts, and it worked. (BTW, the hunting cap that was given to me glowed so freaking BRIGHT!)

Oh yeah, it also reminded me of my childhood which I used to pop handful of LEDs with 12 Volts DC battery pack, now I know better. -___-