Luxeon Star vs. Emitter

What are the advantages and disadvantages of a Luxeon Star vs. an emitter?

In what situations would you choose one over the other?

I'm about to build my first light. What should I put in a 2X123 BE2 body with a McLux PR Head?

I'm new but I'm hooked.

I started out with a Star, but I chose a mod host with considerably more room to maneuver, in fact it was at least 1 square inch of space. Stars are easier to solder than the tiny little contacts of the emitter if you are not confident of your soldering skills (I messed up quite a few times), and they have a second set of pads so even if all goes wrong with the first set of pads, you have another chance rather than writing off an expensive Luxeon emitter.

However, stars are considerably bigger than emitters and may not fit unless your application has enough space to accomodate them. For a VERY rough sizing guide, turn a bottle cap upside down. The Luxeon Star fits nicely inside the cap.

You'll see people buying stars in group buys and the like because they print the bin code on each star PCB. Bin codes are not printed on emitters, so unless you buy an entire reel or are confident that your source is selling you correctly-binned parts, you'll never really be sure what bin an emitter is.

Does that mean that for the most part I will always want to buy the emitters? I realize always is a long time.

Also, are there reliable places to buy emitters in addition to the Sandwich Shoppe?

You might want to keep to stars - unless you're comfortable with your soldering skills and accustomed to working with pseudo-SMD devices... and you'll always know the bin of a star (even if after the purchase).

Hi BigGuy,
If you are building a McLux PR head, you will need an emitter. You can just buy the emitter or buy the star and remove the emitter, which I would not recomend.
I have ruined a couple of emitters while trying to remove from the star.
Here's a photo of the emitter on the PR head (sorry, i dont have a good digicam).


oeo2oo is now selling nice bin Lux III (TXOK) emitters.
This is the thread.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB8&Number=635890&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

good luck /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif