Side emitting LEDs

[zachtheterrible]

Anybody know where to get side emitting LEDs for cheap? I cannot find anywhere! Everywhere I look at is either rediculously exppensive or is out of them :x

I want to try them out with my 1W LED maglite.

 

[williB]

Why side emitting?

 

[zachtheterrible]

Take a look at this picture of the datasheet. On the top is lambertian. Bottom side emitting. Side emitting puts most of it's light to the sides, or in my case, into the reflector of my maglite. Lambertian puts some of it's light into the reflector, but most of it just shoots straight out of the maglite. I want a SPOTLIGHT :lol:

 

[audioguru]

Won't it be a nightmare to adjust the position of a side-emitting LED to be in the focal point of the reflector? Does the reflector move back and forth in a Maglite when you turn its end? Then it will be fine.
I think a focussed LED is better (without needing a reflector), but its extra length probably won't fit into a flashlight.

 

[mstechca]

Anybody know where to get side emitting LEDs for cheap? I cannot find anywhere! Everywhere I look at is either rediculously exppensive or is out of them :x

I want to try them out with my 1W LED maglite.

side emitting?
I never heard of it before.

Why not just get a normal LED and turn it on it's side? :wink:

 

[williB]

cool so the light pops out the side of the LED , sort of like an incandescent bulb, and gets reflected off the reflecter..

 

[audioguru]

Hey Zach,
Look what the Brits can buy! It's a wide-angle 1W LED mounted on a TO-220 package for easy heatsinking.
It even has a built-in reverse-connected rectifier to operate it from AC.
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2005/10/Module2047399.pdf

 

[Someone Electro]

WOW thats just so cool.

 

[williB]

Take a look at this picture of the datasheet. On the top is lambertian. Bottom side emitting. Side emitting puts most of it's light to the sides, or in my case, into the reflector of my maglite. Lambertian puts some of it's light into the reflector, but most of it just shoots straight out of the maglite. I want a SPOTLIGHT :lol:

i wonder how they do that ,acording to the graph there is nothing ,well not much , coming out the front of the LED. ?
I wonder if they embed a little reflector in the plastic ..

 

[audioguru]

'ow do day do dat? Maybe they are expensive because they use a diamond as a reflector.
My ordinary LEDs have some light coming out their rear. Their designers haven't thought about putting a reflector behind the chip. Ordinary tin-foil will work.

 

[williB]

'ow do day do dat? Maybe they are expensive because they use a diamond as a reflector.
My ordinary LEDs have some light coming out their rear. Their designers haven't thought about putting a reflector behind the chip. Ordinary tin-foil will work.

i've noticed that , and it allways bugged me that all those photons , going out the back , are wasted.. :lol:

 

[audioguru]

i've noticed that , and it allways bugged me that all those photons , going out the back , are wasted.. :lol:

If a rear reflector had exactly the correct spacing to keep the photons' frequency in phase, it would be a laser, wouldn't it?

 

[zachtheterrible]

Well, it's actually pretty easy to adjust to the right focal point audio. It's impossible to adjust the focal point on the maglite with an LED, so I just grind down the back of the maglite reflector until it is at the right focal point with my LED :lol: . Then I just take some steel wire and tighten the LED to the reflector. Tried hot glue without thinking teh first time, only to have it melt :shock:

Hmmmm, optics, I'm going to look into some optics. By removing the reflector (since I won't need it anymore) I would imagine it would give me loads of room for optics. i'll get back to you guys on that. BTW, I found a really cheap place to buy 1W LEDs:
**broken link removed**

BTW, can I in the USA order from maplin without emptying my savings account?

 

[Oznog]

You didn't forget about Lumileds, did you?

Side emitting 1W whites, $5.95, 3W $8.50:
**broken link removed**

 

[zachtheterrible]

Hey Oznog, funny, I decided to check them right before coming to this forum. I thought that they would be expensive, but it turns out they're the cheapest I can find, with the best selection :lol: . I looked at them one time before and the LEDs were much more expensive, but I guess that was because they were JUST emerging. I just wish that they had optics :cry:

 

[Oznog]

I believe we talked about this before. Lumileds handles orders through Future Electronics. Future Electronics carries ALL the Lamina optics and you can add them to the same order.

I don't believe the side emitters use Lamina optics, but they do work well with parabolic reflectors you will already find in a flashlight.

The optics exist for batwing and lambertian. Batwing focuses better than lamb. As far as I can tell that's the reason that distribution was designed. It's not a very useful distribution by itself without optics.

 

[zachtheterrible]

I don't think that we talked about this before?

Anyway, I'll have to look harder because I couldn't find any optics on future electronics. I think I'll be ordering a batwing instead of lambertian than to go w/ the optics. Maybe even order a 3W :twisted:

 

[Oznog]

1. Go to http://www.lumleds.com
Select any Luxeon LED and add it to your shopping cart, which takes you to the FutureElectronics e-store.

2. Go to http://www.luxeonstar.com and look through the Fraen lenses/collimator for what you want.

3. Go back to FutureElectronics e-store. In the top left is a search window. Either try the part number OR change the search to "Keyword". You must do this every search, it never remembers this selection and always tries to go back to "Part". Search for keyword "lens" or "collimator". The descriptions are poor so try to match it with a product listed on LuxeonStar.com where there are proper descriptions.

Note that some of the FutureElec products have minimum quantities, often huge, but most stuff can still be ordered single.

 

[zachtheterrible]

Oznog, the part numbers wouldn't turn up any results, nor would a search for "lens". I don't think that they carry them.

I'm going to call them tomorrow and ask.

 

[Oznog]

Oznog, the part numbers wouldn't turn up any results, nor would a search for "lens". I don't think that they carry them.

I'm going to call them tomorrow and ask.

Dude I just did exactly as I described above and there's at least a dozen of the lenses right there on FutureElec search. Try again. Like I said be really sure you change "Part#" to "keyword" before you try "lens" or "collimator".

Wait- you have a point, I tried the exact same search and the search engine is not finding anything. Their site is broken apparently.

OK here you go:
**broken link removed**
Batwing narrow beams that FE carries are LXHL-NX05, FHS-HNB1-LB01-0, and FHS-HNB1-LB01-H.

FutureElec has the WORST e-commerce site I've ever seen. I gotta say- rappy search engine, no categories, no product description, no product datasheet links. Basically if you don't get referred to that site for a particular part the site's not going to help you.