What's wrong with two of these, and where did I get them?

[mikeh]

I thought that they don't draw any current if it is reversed. They only get damaged if a high enough voltage is applied in reverse if I am correct?

No problems with direct-drive, but a regulator will try to increase the voltage until the desired amount of current flows. Then you have an SED, followed by a DED, or friode. It depends on your regulator though.

 

[chris_m]

So they look just like a factory star now (unlike the earlier ones), but quite plainly aren't. The star bases do at least look genuine, so I guess there is some hope of a decent thermal solution, if not necessarily as good as a proper factory installed one!

 

[EngrPaul]

The DX stars have no printing on the back of the stars. I believe factory stars do. The ones from Photon Fanatic do.

 

[ROK]

Few weeks ago, I asked DX & KAI about exact bin of their P4. They didn't know the exact bin. And the star was not factory made.

 

[selfbuilt]

DX and Kai advertise the stars as being U-bin output with SWO tint-bin. From what I've used so far, that seems to be fairly accurate. But they don't make any claims for Vf-bin, leading to the suggestion they are probably a mix with a number of rather poor bins. This is in contrast to the better H and I Vf-bins commonly sold around here.

These after-market stars are also known to have a lot of thermal contact problems (due to poor placement of the emitters), as I believe Chimo first reported. Personally, I only use the ones from DX/Kai with the best looking contacts - the rest I bought to extract the emitters anyway (i.e. I bought 'em before the bare emitters were available cheaply).

I save my PhotonFanatic USWOH/USVOH emitters and factory-installed stars for my good lights, and use the DX/Kai ones to upgrade lights I bought there.

Thanks again EngrPaul for bringing this out to the community! :goodjob:

 

[tkflash1]

Thanks for the warning. The 5 i just got from DX had correct polarity but they all had floating emitters. (no thermal contact) Luckily these problems are easy to fix if you catch them in time.

 

[eebowler]

EngrPaul, I can't see the pics, care to email them to me? I'll send you my email. Thanks.

EDIT: Thank you EngPaul :thumbsup: This thread makes sense now.

 

[HarveyRich]

The 5 i just got from DX had correct polarity but they all had floating emitters. (no thermal contact) Luckily these problems are easy to fix if you catch them in time.

So, what does one do, if you find the emitters separating from the stars? I assume some sort of thermal glue?

 

[FlashKat]

I just received a new SSC P-4 U bin star that will NOT light up at all. At least they got the polarity correct. It probably got damaged during shipping since it was in flatten bubble wrap and a shipping envelope. I guess I am going to spend a little extra and buy the real thing. Kyle's customer service is slowly going down the drain.

 

[Nitroz]

I just received a new SSC P-4 U bin star that will NOT light up at all. At least they got the polarity correct. It probably got damaged during shipping since it was in flatten bubble wrap and a shipping envelope. I guess I am going to spend a little extra and buy the real thing. Kyle's customer service is slowly going down the drain.

Bummer! Sometimes it does pay to buy them from someone that is trusted and has some history. I am still waiting on some nice Q2 XR-Es, if they ever get here.

 

[FlashKat]

Yeah...Dealextreme use to be really good with their CS, but lately they seem too busy to look out for quality and accomodating the customer. That is what happens when you grow faster than you can handle, or they need to hire better people.
Does anybody know how Kaidomain customer service has been? I am thinking of dealing with them in the future.

Bummer! Sometimes it does pay to buy them from someone that is trusted and has some history. I am still waiting on some nice Q2 XR-Es, if they ever get here.

 

[tkflash1]

For floating emitters, i desoldered one side and gently bent the leads up a little then pressed down on led body while soldering the lead back to the star. You have to make sure it stays centered but it fixes the problem. The leads are easy to bend once one side is desoldered. After soldering back on the emitter no longer moved when touching it. There was thermal paste under the emitter.

 

[r0b0r]

The emitter in my MTE Zpower (I assume used one of these stars) had very poor thermal path.

Emitter got desoldered and place in a better home, the cute little LR12 CR2. Still going strong.