SSC P7's mounting help needed

I am starting a project and would like to mount 4 SSC P7 led's (maybe even 5) onto a aluminum plate. Glued with artic alumna. Would I need a heat sink off the back of the plate?

I don't know which driver to get for it. Would this driver work?
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?p=2919842

how many lumens would you estimate for this?
any other suggestions or help would be great.

:welcome:
Hi.
I would really really like to see you down shift for a bit and try out something more succinct first. Have you done other sorts of custom builds?

More heatsinking is just a guess with-out any usage / condition information. However 4 P7's can put out a lot of heat, and if you put them on a piece of aluminium flat-stock, you still need a way to clear the heat from the heatsink itself.
No-one can estimate lumens with-out more information, configuration and power pack etc.
How do you feel about spending a few weeks reading through some builds? I totally support doing it yourself as a great way to deepen your understanding, but with-out a mentor / supervisor, you've got to understand well beyond the stages your working at.

Best,

I suspect you don't realize the huge heat issue with these LEDs.
The drive you linked to won't work. It is designed for 1 to 3 LEDs in series maximum , not 4 or 5.

edit :from Der Wichtel "So the new driver can run 1 to 3 P7 in series. 4 should be possible as well but I couldn't test it"

Also , you can't just glue the P7s with AA. Well , you can , but you have not indicated in your post that you are aware of the issues and how you are going to avoid shorting.

Here is an example of a Quad P7 design.
Notice the huge heatsink , custom machined to be a very tight fit in the large 3 inch head for maximum heat "management"

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/205508

Here is a quote from the designer,builder:
"I hope there isn't anyone out there who doesn't realize that these are show lights, not very practical at all. The riduculous heat they generate that cannot be dissipated naturally..."

Look at the head on this monster click and it's only running 3 MCEs, this should give you some idea of the heat that needs to be dissipated.
Norm

RacerLex said:

I am starting a project and would like to mount 4 SSC P7 led's (maybe even 5) onto a aluminum plate. Glued with artic alumna. Would I need a heat sink off the back of the plate?

I don't know which driver to get for it. Would this driver work?
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?p=2919842

how many lumens would you estimate for this?
any other suggestions or help would be great.

Click to expand...

:welcome:

As Chodes already indicated, you have a potential shorting problem by gluing the LED's onto bare aluminum. The LED's heat sink is common with the positive or anode terminal. Most lights use anodized aluminum to prevent shorting. You'd have to figure a way to put something very thin in between the LED and the heatsink for electrical insulation. Of course whatever you use will effect the thermal transfer abilities of the Arctic Alumina to varying degrees. The easiest I've seen is to put a very thin layer of AA on the back of the LED and wait for that to harden before gluing onto the heatsink. Another possibility is Cree's MC-E has similar output and an electrically neutral thermal slug.

One solution to the enormous heat build up is just not to use it all the time at full power. Der Wichtel just finished changing over to a buck driver design. He indicated he is working on a new version of his driver with an integrated dimmer. TaskLED's hipFlex has this feature already. It also has a temperature sensor that automatically turns down the power when a programmable thermal limit is reached. Mounting the regulator directly on the back of the LED heat sink would help it monitor when the LED's are in trouble.

The D binned P7s put out 800-900 lumens at 2.8 amps. The M binned MC-E puts out between 750-850 lumens at 700 ma per die. That would give an indication of how bright it would be. The P7 data sheet doesn't really say but that 800-900 lumens is only for the first few milliseconds it's powered on. As the junction temp of the LED rises, the output drops. That's true of all LED's.

thanks so much for the information and links!
I'm looking through some builds and gathering information. I appreciate the jump start and advice