Are Ostar LED's obsolete?

Hello, and greetings a newbie. You guys have so much good information on here and I am hoping I can pick your brains. I have searched this site for several hours now and if the answer is here, I can't seem to find it. So, apologies if I missed it.

We are a manufacturing company that has been building a light using halogen bulbs for many years. http://safesys.com/BLDS-GALLERY/light-deadman.html We began researching LEDs a few years ago and about 1-1/2 years ago tested the Ostar LEUW E3B PZQZ 4C8F and were very pleased with it. We began prototyping and are now in production with our LED blastlight (which looks exactly like the old light but the casting has been modified for mounting the LED on the integral heatsink) which uses a Fraen reflector. Feedback from the users has been very positive but now we are puzzled.

Our supply of the LED's is diminishing and when we attempted to purchase more, we can't seem to find them. Anywhere. :huh2: And we don't know why. The Osram site says they are not accepting any more orders for them and the usual list of suppliers can't find them anywhere.

Does anyone know why Osram isn't accepting more orders? Are they coming out with a new, better LED? If so, will it have the same shape? We are holding off on machining the castings until we know that we can get more LED's that are suitable that will fit the machined part.

If anyone has information on the status of Ostar LEDs or can recommend another LED that would have similar output (color, lumens, etc.), I would really appreciate hearing about it.

I should probably clarify that I am not the engineer on the project, I am the lowly person put in charge of procuring what they have specified. :thanks:Thanks in advance for your help and patience.

Hmmmm... The 6-die Ostars don't really get the spotlight around here.

I can't help you find any other Osram LED's, but I can suggest looking into the Cree MC-E, The SSC P7, and the SST-90 as alternatives.

I thought the reason we don't see them is they were expensive and hard to source.
I think the 6-die is unique so you might need to rework batteries and drivers for any new LED you put in as its voltage requirements will be different.

ps, seems to be a lot of info on replacement/rebuilding/replacing these. Are they somewhat unreliable?

* too expensive
* NO WAY to get any choice of bin or tint
(and that is a joke for such expensive products)
* extreme heat producing
* high power need

- atm a quad die - like Seoul P7 or Cree MC-E - gives same (eventually more) light with just 0.5-2/3 of the power
- and produces less heat
- and are noticeably lower in price
- and can be purchased in the binning and tint you like
all those points simply can not be ignored


(PS, see it that way: the osram is/was priced like a Ferrari, but You could not choose engine power, or color of the car, or interior setup, or ...)

Are Ostar LED's obsolete?

Click to expand...

YES

Thanks for the help and advice. Sylvania has finally confirmed that they are in the final runs of these, just filling all the orders they had taken, but won't say why. Unfortunately for us, this means starting over with our research and probably redesign of our light body.

Bridgelux makes LED arrays.
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/268267

Seoul Semiconductor has the Arriche that works with 115VAC or 230VAC input. No power supply needed!
http://solidstatelighting.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/seoul-semiconductor-acriche-120v-ac-led/

Luminus makes PhlatLight LED arrays.
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/268065

The Cree MC-E has 4 dies individually addressable so can be wired in series for higher voltage input.

These arrays might be more suited to your way of doing things than single chip LEDs such as the Cree XR & XP series and Luxeon Rebels. With the single chip LEDs you will need to run multiple LEDs and optics.

-

The Ostar uses older LED technology similar to the LuxI and LuxIII. Osram came up with newer LEDs like the Golden Dragon. They may be working on a Ostar replacement using the newer LEDs. Or not.
(The sales department will always deny something new is coming along until they got rid of the older out of date stock at full price. Apple computer is a master at this - they never have a clearance sale.)