My first AC-driven Luxeon-based homemade light!

[hotfoot]

hiya guys,

whaddya think of this MR16-sized mod using 3 Luxeon stars and the 240VAC Xitanium driver(hidden inside the black box)? just finished it over the weekend...

The mr16 fitting was a regular 12V dichroic halogen light with the bulb crudely extracted and the silver housing came from Ikea. The LSs were trimmed down to fit the thing, but that meant sacrificing on the heatinking - so,yeah this light can only run for a minute before I'd wanna switch it off. It's a just "proof-of-concept" prototype, so the next one will be better sinked

 

[Tater Rocket]

Perhaps you could goop it full of thermal epoxy (IF you wanted to use it AS IS and not use hte LS's for anything else) and let the pins help wick away some of the heat? I bet that gets pretty hot as it is right now.

Spud

 

[hotfoot]

Yup, Tater Rocket - thermal epoxy was exactly what I had in mind too. Dunno how to work with the stuff well though - I'm using putty right now and its easy to position the emitters and collimators. But I'm thinking that getting a machine shop to turn and drill out a MR16-shaped+sized fitting may be the best solution. I've had LS potting projects that went wrong and I couldn't retrieve the LS after that

With metal fixture, it should be easier. And if I thread the outer diameter of the metal housing, I'd be able to fit the whole 3-LS assembly into a alum tube for a nice flashlight too

. Ahh - just some daydreams...

 

[McGizmo]

Nice Hotfoot! I'll e-mail you my 3 cents on heat sync ideas

New lights for new pad?

 

[hotfoot]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by McGizmo:
Nice Hotfoot! I'll e-mail you my 3 cents on heat sync ideas

New lights for new pad?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Heh heh - Thanks, Giz

Lights for the pad, well - eventually. Still need to fix the heat problem first - can't wait to hear your 3 cents (quite literally right? I saw your clever copper cents

)

 

[ElektroLumens]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by hotfoot:
Yup, Tater Rocket - thermal epoxy was exactly what I had in mind too. Dunno how to work with the stuff well though - I'm using putty right now and its easy to position the emitters and collimators. But I'm thinking that getting a machine shop to turn and drill out a MR16-shaped+sized fitting may be the best solution. I've had LS potting projects that went wrong and I couldn't retrieve the LS after that

With metal fixture, it should be easier. And if I thread the outer diameter of the metal housing, I'd be able to fit the whole 3-LS assembly into a alum tube for a nice flashlight too

. Ahh - just some daydreams...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Since you're running from AC and not from batteries, how about using a small CPU fan to cool it. Get a quiet one. This might save you the bucks in custom machine work?

Wayne www.elekrtolumens.com

 

[txwest]

I think most of the CPU fans are low voltage & may be DC. TX

 

[Graham]

Thats right - most PC fans are 12v. But since you already have a circuit to drop down the voltage for the LSs, it may not be much of a stretch to get something for the fan too..

Graham

 

[Saaby]

**EDIT** Completely forgot to say...real nice looking light, good job indeed!

As far as Fans Thermaltake makes one (Might be a bit big for this though) that is thermostatically controlled...there is a little temp probe on the fan and the fan runs at 2900 RPM at 25 degrees C and up to 5000 at 35 deg. C
Smart Fan

Nice fan because if your leds are running hot the fan speeds up, if thats a bit big though might want to try their chipset fans...much smaller

Chipset Fans

 

[Darell]

Beautiful! Can I start the line for the 120V version? This is just what I've been looking for (and yes, still have NOT bought).

Can you encase them in resin?