Newbie requires help with driver

[TXHawgHunter]

Hello everyone!
Great site Ya'll got here. Tons of info.

I have been trying to find a 1400mA driver for running 3 Luxeon III stars (red) in series off a 12V lead acid battery for a night hog hunting light. I am sure that someone makes one, but I can't find it.
My questions are:
Can I use 2 700mA Buck Pucks in parallel to accomplish this?

and

Using Luxeon 5 degree spot lenses, any idea what kind of throw distance this would produce?

Thanks,
TXHawgHunter

 

[kuksul08]

Hello everyone!
Great site Ya'll got here. Tons of info.

I have been trying to find a 1400mA driver for running 3 Luxeon III stars (red) in series off a 12V lead acid battery for a night hog hunting light. I am sure that someone makes one, but I can't find it.
My questions are:
Can I use 2 700mA Buck Pucks in parallel to accomplish this?

and

Using Luxeon 5 degree spot lenses, any idea what kind of throw distance this would produce?

Thanks,
TXHawgHunter

I will try to help, but know that I am just a beginner when it comes to this stuff.

You could use two 700mA buckpucks in parallel fine. Be aware that running those luxeon III's at 1400mA is going to make them very hot. I experimented with one (it was a white one) and at 1400mA it was too hot after mere seconds (on a star board).

Another option if you don't feel like spending $30+, is either building a linear regulator http://www.instructables.com/id/Power-LED_s---simplest-light-with-constant-current/ that will accept 2-18V input, you can set the current using a resistor. Then you could wire the led's in series. The forward voltage of those is min: 2.31V typ: 2.95V and max: 3.51V, so a 12V input would probably be close enough to still be kind of efficient (about 75%+, more so as the battery drains). This isn't as efficient as the buckpucks (I'm not totally sure how those work), because any extra voltage is just dissipated.

There are probably many other ways but this is all I can think of.

 

[mpf]

Another option if you don't feel like spending $30+, is either building a linear regulator http://www.instructables.com/id/Power-LED_s---simplest-light-with-constant-current/.

See http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=219424 for a better linear regulator with less voltage drop (i.e. less losses => less heat in the regulator)

matthew

 

[yellow]

buckpuck is a current fixed regulator, so - as long as input voltage is high enough - will try to keep the current as planned, no matter how much led in series are connected.

Answer: yes, it will work
each of the Pucks gives his 700 mA to the three-in-a-line led string, adding to 1400 mA