3watt Luxeon poorly built.

Well i have been lurking here for over a year now. i finally got my self a 3 watt led (the 5 watts are like 35$!!!!!!!!!!) for around 7$. And a real nice lens (4$)

This thing is crazy bright. but i got the 25 deg lens so it has little "throw" (i think thats what its called, right?)

The set yup is 3 1.2 cells in series so thats 3.6v out (a little more right out from the charger). And direct drive to a luxeon emitter (not a star).

how do you just run your muli led lights cool? With this setup it gets warm after 5-10min.

usually high performance lights utilizing a 3 watt or above gets warm in less than 10 minutes....if its a luxeon V its very warm in less than 5

Can't say anything about Seoul's and CREEs

your luxIII probably isn't very happy being overdriven the minute its turned on [assuming your using your NIMHs hot off the charger] and literally starving to death towards the end of the runtime. I'd add a current dropping resistor in there for good measure

its a pretty good homemade light though, simple in concept.
I think your better off with a luxeon I, but thats just me

did you mount your LED using thermal epoxy? hot glue tends to conserve heat better than it can transfer and if theres no solid transfer path from the heatsink to the LED you would risk burning the luxIII out prematurely

I used arctic silver on the led to make contact with the heat sink.

Why would a luxeon 1 (1watt right?) be better? This 3watt is barley enough.

well a luxeon III is essentially a 1 watt led designed to be driven at higher currents...I was just suggesting instead of under driving an LED you could do away with a lux I and cheaper or you can find a way to allows the luxIII access to more current...say adding another bank of 3AAs in parallel or use 2AAs and use a micropuck

I've dealt with this sort of project before....just not a self sustained power source [I'm a really n00bish modder]
I build heat sinked LED lights that run off of USB for fun...my most recent is a two luxeon I optic-less area light that runs off a single cr123A with a booster circuit

...or you can find a way to allows the luxIII access to more current...


I am pretty sure that my AA cells can supply the amp or so of current.

your the modder, if you think it fits, hey