Building a 1 watt LED light

AC Infinity
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Do the screws have nylon washers.
Can you measure the voltage drop on each string at a given current.
 
screwdriver said:
Do the screws have nylon washers.
Can you measure the voltage drop on each string at a given current.
Click to expand...

You might be better off telling me what setting to put the meter on and where you want the probes at lol.
 
Voltage, dc, auto range? Maybe if there is a range selection? Red, anode. Black to cathode. Doesnt matter if the reading is neg if its a digital.

Current, insert into circuit in series. Can look at driver for that if a constant current driver.
 
Oh yeah, for current the meter leads need to be in the correct spot in meter and the selector on amps.
 
Dude! I should've told you...I don't know anything about electricity. Can you show me on your light with the meter exactly what you want me to do?
 
Oh I gotcha! I'm much more visual. You just want to see what it's rated vs what it's actually putting out. Gimme a sec as it's already in my tent. I'll have to take it apart a lil.
 
Sorry but my meter is out of batteries but I took a bunch of pics to show you what I did and all of the drivers. I'll run out and get another meter when I'm off Sunday and take some readings for you.

Pic 1) the driver running the fan
Pic 2) the driver running 11 of my chips
Pic 3) the driver running the remaining 17 chips
Pic 4) used wago connectors to hook up the drivers to my power cord

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Looks good. I assume it was easy?
What are the temps on the hot side? Did you add an extra fan?
The black box, any vent holes for heat? Where did you place that box?
 
I have some extra 1 watt LEDs left over so started looking around and found enough parts for a start. I took apart a broken PA system and removed the heatsink off the amplifier and cut in half. Thats the black part in the center. The two end pieces are my scrap test piece from our new waterjet. I had to learn how to use it so why not cut something useful. Tied it all together with a couple of 1/8 inch steel rods about 8 inch long that I found on the floor. Cut some threads on the ends for nuts and tighten down.

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Here are the extra LEDs. I left out the blue one just to keep the light balanced. I will have more 5 watt LEDs to put on this but this is the start. 8 reds and 2 full spectrum, currently. For this light I'm just going to glue the LEDs with thick CA. I have used super glue in similar ways but maybe not this much heat but I read it on the internet that it would work. Must be true.

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This is the power pack that was salvaged from the bottom of a trash can. Notice the output voltage, 12vdc. This is a poorly regulated power pack but I'll make due. Now, notice the voltmeter on the left, 15.90v. Thats the unloaded output. Once there is a load, the voltage drops. This is one reason its difficult to design this style of circuitry. How far will it drop? So in this type, it can be done but I didn't use Ohm's Law. I just made some guesses and looked at the meters. Here's another reason, since the current isn't controlled the heat causes it to rise. So I want the initial current draw to be a little lower. In this case, there is plenty of cooling by the heatsink and the current didn't raise very much.

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This the latest. Added an extra resistor in parallel. The 10 ohm resistor resulted in about 250mA of current through each string. The meter is placed in the circuit reading the over all current of both strings but each string was tested the same. The resistor placed in parallel is a 15 ohm(oops, looks like an 18 ohm). Somebody can figure out the new resistance but the result was each side is drawing about 315mA. I'll leave it there for now.

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