Need advice in LED and Driver

[artax]

Hi everybody, I'm new to LED's and new to CPF

I'm working on a project where I will have to power two 1-watt LED's around 350mAh each. I'm using 8, 3.7v 18650 batteries in parallel.

My question what LED would you suggest with what LED driver? Also would I need 2 drivers? one for each LED.

ps. The batteries are needed to power other LED's and Motor's, so I need them in parallel and can't convert them to series.

Many thanx!
Artax

 

[Gunner12]

What are you lighting up? What price range? One watt to the LED right (High power LEDs can be driven well from 20ma to 1 amp and above for some)?

I'd suggest 2 Cree XR-E or XP-E Q5 bins with a resistor each could work for simplicity. From what I've seen, most drivers in that voltage are 700 ma or above. Others might suggest boosting the voltage and driving the LEDs in series.

If you want a more focused beam then pure flood, then you'll also need optics, lenses, or reflectors.

:welcome:

 

[artax]

Thank you for your suggestion about the LED's.

Price range? I'm on a reasonably tight budget, I would be happy if I could buy the LED's with drivers around $25.

Aren't there any drivers around the 350mAh range with 3.7v?

 

[Gunner12]

There probably are, but I can remember any off the top of my head (in the price range).

If you don't ming slow shipping, you can get parts from Dealextreme. Here's an XP-E Q5 star, XR-E Q5 star, and an XP-E Q5 on a small 12.8mm round base. Those stars aren't enough for heatsinking, so you'll need to make sure there is enough. Two of those LEDs at 350ma will give you over 200 lumen at the LED.

I'm not sure what your project is, but there are premade drop-in modules (at higher drive current then you need), such as these ones, that might work.

Someone could probably chime in about the 350ma driver.

 

[Lighthouse one]

KD and DX sell a 350ma driver that works great:
http://kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=9607

You have to know how to wire them up.

They both sell led's too.

Don't forget...you need to heatsink the led...even at a low 350 ma it will need a heatsink.

 

[artax]

Thanx Lighthouse one and Gunner12 for the info

I'm looking at the driver from KD, it isn't as straightforward as soldering a few points I'm gonna look for some more info on the driver. Thanx!

 

[Gunner12]

I saw those drivers on DX, but they were in a 20 pack, much more then necessary. The KD one could work with 5 drivers, but KD does seem to have more problems customer service and shipping wise then DX.

 

[artax]

Just order a set at KD. Lets see when and how they arrive