My head isnt working lately. 5mm Questions...

[yourgrandma]

Hi all. Im trying to find the appropriate LED for a project im worikin on for one of my motorcycles. While Im in the headlight doing a dual e55 projector retrofit, I want to through hole mount LEDs in the corners of the trim inside the headlight housing. Like this:

So What I need is a very bright, wide angle (60* or so) 5mm that can handle some heat. Either amber or white. I dont trust the numbers on ebay stuff, so can anyone give me some leads toward something thats been proven? Thanks for any help here.

 

[panicmechanic]

There are some tests for you to read in this very subforum, see this one or this. You'll find several more once you start browsing...

 

[carrot]

Nichia is one of the big manufacturers of 5mm LEDs and are known to have the best longevity...

 

[kuksul08]

I know the digikey has a variety of Cree 5mm LEDs with different viewing angles. I think they're pretty good, although I've only ever used their white ones.

As far as an LED dealing with heat, that's something none of them do well. I'm assuming the heat is going to be from the projectors? You might want to insulate them from the heat then, because 5mm LEDs don't create much heat by themselves when driven at <20mA.

 

[yourgrandma]

Well, the shroud Im going to use should keep the heat away from the LEDs pretty well. It will be fiberglass with a carbon fiber overlay. I'm looking at digikeys selection now. From what Johnr66 has posted, the crees ought to be a good place for me to start. It'd be nice if I could use a superflux, but the domes arent tall enough.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

Don't forget to bring a current or voltage regulator :twothumbs