luxeon 1 Heatsinking?

Does anyone know at what value of current input to a lux 1 would I not have to worry about heatsinking? I am going to underdrive a lux 1. So, for instance if I am driving at 150 mA do I need to worry about heatsinking. I guess I am asking at what point that I go above do I need to heatsink the lux 1. Thanks for reading. Any info is much appreciated.

Calvin said:

Does anyone know at what value of current input to a lux 1 would I not have to worry about heatsinking? I am going to underdrive a lux 1. So, for instance if I am driving at 150 mA do I need to worry about heatsinking. I guess I am asking at what point that I go above do I need to heatsink the lux 1. Thanks for reading. Any info is much appreciated.

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A Luxeon star is "safe" to run without a heatsink up to 350mA.

A bare luxeon emitter is "safe" to run without heatsinking up to 100mA.

Note that this assumes the star or emitter has free air to flow over it. If you are going to thermally insulate them, I'd reduce it even lower than that, since in that scenario, they cannot effectively dissipate heat into the air.

evan9162 said:

Note that this assumes the star or emitter has free air to flow over it. If you are going to thermally insulate them, I'd reduce it even lower than that, since in that scenario, they cannot effectively dissipate heat into the air.

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In other words, for most flashlight applications a heatsink is recommended.

greenLED said:

In other words, for most flashlight applications a heatsink is recommended.

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Absolutely. Heat sink as much as you possibly can given the form factor you're working in.