how to tell luxeon

|This is probably a silly question for you experts but how do you tell when you are buying a luxeon led light. Will it say on the package?

Hmmm, Luxeon led light? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

If you look at the LED itself, It will have a tiny little yellow dot in the middle, thats the actual LED die.
And, yes, I would think it would say on the package also.

If you're talking about complete flashlights that you would buy in a store....the package would probably say something about 1W or 3W or 5W bulb or LED....otherwise they count LED's.

I'm new to this so bear with me. If a bulb is a 1w or 3w is it a Luxeon.

Yup /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Thanks Bart. Then roughly can you say that a certain amount of led's will equal 1w or 3w luxeon.

There is a cheap imitation - remember those UFO "stars". And some other competetors (Nichia?) are working on their versions that aren't out yet. Dorcy has some sort of 1w, who makes it?

Usually it will say one of the following: Luxeon, 1 watt, 3 watt, or 5 watt LED, high output or high flux LED, or as bright as [#] regular LEDs. It may also say LumiLEDs in the copyright of the packaging. To tell from the actual product, a Luxeon is going to be wider and shorter than a 5mm LED. It will have a yellow square in the center. They usually use a reflector (a side emitting Luxeon has an hourglass type lens on the LED) or they will use special optics to focus the light. Most 5mm LEDs do not use a reflector or optics.

As far as I can tell, a 3W only differs from the 1W in output. The 3W is just a tougher LED, so it can take more power. The 5W actually has 4 dies inside the LED, so you can tell the difference fairly easily.

Most 1 watt or more lights are luxeon if they are a single LED. Luxeon is gettign more and more competition every day, but they still have some tricks of themselves.

My rule of thumb is ten 5mm leds is about the same as a 1 watt led. But in a way it is apples to oranges. the 5mm leds are much more wide angle or flood then the luxeons are. So if you want flood, then ten leds might be great, or a luxeon could do it too in the right host. But if you want spot light, then you want luxeon.