My Phone Call to Lumileds Tech Support (5 watt stars)

WayneM

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Just got off the phone with Lumileds technical support, and the rep I spoke with said that the 5 watt technical problems HAVE BEEN RESOLVED, and they will be released starting in late October. She assured me that this is a firm date.

I told her that I had lately heard that they would not be available until December, or possibly early 2003, and she assured me that this was not the case.

She mentioned Future, and said that any new orders with Future may not be filled until early next year, but that orders would be filled in the order in which they were received. Therefore longtime existing orders should be filled fairly soon. New orders may take a while longer.

I inquired about the technical reasons for the delay, and she would not give me specifics, other than saying they did not meet specifications. When I asked about the emitters "popping", she said she was not aware of this - only that they did not meet specs.

Don't know if this will persuade people NOT to back out of their CPF group buy, but this is something to consider.

I like having my money in hand, but I'd also rather have my Stars in November as opposed to waiting till March.
 

ElektroLumens

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Originally posted by WayneM:
Just got off the phone with Lumileds technical support, and the rep I spoke with said that the 5 watt technical problems HAVE BEEN RESOLVED, and they will be released starting in late October. She assured me that this is a firm date.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">So those who decided to wait it out may have their cake sooner?

Boy, I can hardly wait to get my hands on those 5 watt white Luxeon Stars !!
grin.gif


Wayne J.
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ElektroLumens

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Originally posted by Daniel Ramsey:
There MUST be a way to bypass Future-Active.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I ordered 50 of these for myself, of which I can sell off some to CPF members, who didn't get in on the group buy (or who opted out).
grin.gif


Wayne J.
 

Orion

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If I don't get one from an opt outer, then I'll get one from you, Wayne, as well as an optic for it, if you have them. How much will I need to give you, once these come in?

Thanks!
 

MR Bulk

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There MUST be a way to bypass Future-Active.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">We'd probably need to buy 5-figure volumes. At least that was the figure the person I spoke to at Lumileds alluded to.
 

Lux Luthor

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Originally posted by MR Bulk:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">
There MUST be a way to bypass Future-Active.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">We'd probably need to buy 5-figure volumes. At least that was the figure the person I spoke to at Lumileds alluded to.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Instead of a 5 figure volume, what about a 5 finger discount? Any of you guys live near San Jose?
 

hotfoot

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Can you say, \"Durian\"?
I'm still wondering if the tech problem is really well and truly resolved. If its simply a glitch on the production line, I'm OK with it. But if its a fundamental flaw (like the phosphor not being able to deal with heat for more than 500 hours...etc), its not something that a quick fix is likely to lick.
 

Orion

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I sent you an email. Thanks!

About the colored emitters. Do you think that a 3v 200 mA power supply would work with a cyan colored 5W?
 

ElektroLumens

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Originally posted by Orion:
I sent you an email. Thanks!

About the colored emitters. Do you think that a 3v 200 mA power supply would work with a cyan colored 5W?
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">A 3v 200mA power supply would barely work with a 1 watt. But anyway, it might make it glow? Anyway, seems like I read somewhere, that it will start glimmering around 4 volts, at 20mA. I don't have one (yet), but I will shortly, and then I can tell you.

Wayne J.
www.elektrolumens.com
 

McGizmo

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A Cyan I have on the bench right now draws 10 mA at 4.5 volts. Regardless of the variation in Vf, 3 volts will get you nothing. At 5 volts, this one only draws 40 mA.

- Don
 

ElektroLumens

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Originally posted by McGizmo:
A Cyan I have on the bench right now draws 10 mA at 4.5 volts. Regardless of the variation in Vf, 3 volts will get you nothing. At 5 volts, this one only draws 40 mA.

- Don
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">It does make a lot of sense to use current regulation, seeing as how these are so sensitive to slight differences in current. It doesn't seem we can overdrive these like the 1 watt. I will be looking into a buck (step-down) regulator. I plan to use 12 volts (8 AA's), and drop it down. This is a very efficient regulator. I had made a few of them. I suppose I'll have to start looking into them again. Now a step-down current regulator would be the ticket, if such a thing exists. Step down is more efficient than step up regulation, as I've read and been told.

As usual, if everyone else go right, I go left.
grin.gif


Wayne J.
 

Jonathan

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Originally posted by ElektroLumens:

I will be looking into a buck (step-down) regulator. I plan to use 12 volts (8 AA's), and drop it down. This is a very efficient regulator. I had made a few of them. I suppose I'll have to start looking into them again. Now a step-down current regulator would be the ticket, if such a thing exists. Step down is more efficient than step up regulation, as I've read and been told.

Wayne J.[/QB]
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">That was exactly my plan. 8AA cells in a double length 2 by 2 holder, which would work with NiMH (9.6V) or alkaine, or Lithium AAs. A current regulating buck converter, and the LS mounted on a heat sink that separated the head from the body.

As far as current regulating buck converters are concerned, IMHO the way to do it is with a Zetex current sense amplifier chip (eg the ZXCT1010) and one of the many available buck converter chips. These circuits have been discussed on CPF in the past. A very nice thing about the ZXCT chips is that you could put a pot on the output of the amplifier chip, and get an easy way to adjust output current. One could even put a PTC resistor in the output adjust leg in order to limit heat sink temperature....

-Jon
 

ElektroLumens

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Originally posted by Jonathan:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by ElektroLumens:

I will be looking into a buck (step-down) regulator. I plan to use 12 volts (8 AA's), and drop it down. This is a very efficient regulator. I had made a few of them. I suppose I'll have to start looking into them again. Now a step-down current regulator would be the ticket, if such a thing exists. Step down is more efficient than step up regulation, as I've read and been told.

Wayne J.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">That was exactly my plan. 8AA cells in a double length 2 by 2 holder, which would work with NiMH (9.6V) or alkaine, or Lithium AAs. A current regulating buck converter, and the LS mounted on a heat sink that separated the head from the body.

As far as current regulating buck converters are concerned, IMHO the way to do it is with a Zetex current sense amplifier chip (eg the ZXCT1010) and one of the many available buck converter chips. These circuits have been discussed on CPF in the past. A very nice thing about the ZXCT chips is that you could put a pot on the output of the amplifier chip, and get an easy way to adjust output current. One could even put a PTC resistor in the output adjust leg in order to limit heat sink temperature....

-Jon[/QB]</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">There are several very good, very simple, switching buck regulators. I did a lot of research on this a while back. I have all the info stored (hopefully). A buck regulator seems to be a much simpler design than a step up, and basically a more efficient way to regulate voltage. Efficiency can be 95% or so. Also, the light stays consistently bright, until the voltage comes to around 1 volt over the set output voltage. So if we have 12 volts in, and 6.8 volts out, the output will be consitent, until the input voltage (under load), is aroun 7.8 volts, that's .975 volts per battery. Not good for rechargables, but great for alkalines. A higher drop out would be needed for rechargables, like around 8 volts.

Wayne J.
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ElektroLumens

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Originally posted by Orion:
If I don't get one from an opt outer, then I'll get one from you, Wayne, as well as an optic for it, if you have them. How much will I need to give you, once these come in?

Thanks!
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">There will be nearly 70 of the order I placed, which will be available!
grin.gif
Still available at the orginal price of $22 (The color 5 watt bare emitters are currently being sold by Future Electronics, for $23.10). The optics are $3.50, and there are about 60 available. USPS charges have gone up, but to keep things simple, $3.95 for shipping. At this point I might open it up for others to put their order in. Email me if you want in. I suggest very small order, like one or two, so a large amount of your money doesn't get tied up.

If we get them in October, than the purpose of this group buy was a success, because otherwise, we would be waiting until next year, and probably paying a higher price.
shocked.gif


My email is: [email protected]

Wayne J.
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lambda

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Originally posted by ElektroLumens:
[QB Also, the light stays consistently bright, until the voltage comes to around 1 volt over the set output voltage. So if we have 12 volts in, and 6.8 volts out, the output will be consitent, until the input voltage (under load), is aroun 7.8 volts, that's .975 volts per battery. Not good for rechargables, but great for alkalines. A higher drop out would be needed for rechargables, like around 8 volts.

Wayne J.
www.elektrolumens.com[/QB]
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Hi Wayne,

Everything I've read about NiMh says 0.8V is fine for discharge. I've been running mine in the test Illuminator 0.7 - 0.8V / cell shutdown, and have had absolutely no problems. So .975 volts should work just fine.
 

Frank Schwab

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Actually, the problem with NiMH is not the voltage you discharge them to - with a single cell, you can discharge all the way to 0v and not cause damage.

The problem is that with more than one cell, you can't tell when one of the batteries has discharged to 0v. If you continue to pull current after one cell has dropped to 0v, you are essentially trying to charge that cell with a reverse polarity, and bad chemical reactions occur inside which cause permanent damage to the battery, which mostly manifests as reduced capacity on that cell.

The 1.0V / cell limit is a practical way to attempt to prevent this overdischarge. Once NiMH or NiCd cells start dropping below 1.2V / cell on discharge, they will be dead extremely quickly (they are over 90% discharged at this stage). Killing your device at 1.0V / cell is simply a reasonable way to prevent damage to the cells. Extending your device to 0.975V/cell, in a practical sense, makes no difference.

/frank
 
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