Flux? (Leds)

[Andy1845c]

What does "Flux" refer to in leds? As in "Piranha SuperFlux" or "High Flux".

I've been nosing around the net for over an hour looking for a good led to use for my home brew traffic advisor, but so far all I can say is there are way too many to choose from

 

[Hero999]

The light output?

It sounds like marketing hype to me.

 

[Sceadwian]

Flux is a buzz word, it means absolutly nothing. Just pick an LED with a high MCD rateing, contrary to previous statement's MCD's are generally representative of the brightness of an LED, although position and distance do matter in the MCD measurement which can vary from company to company. Considering the competion out there for LED's if you have a list of LED's from a single company the highest MCD rateing is going to be compareable to the true brightness of a top of the line brightness LED from another company. The brightness measurement standard within a company should be the same for it's entire product line as long as it's not disreputable.

 

[RODALCO]

The flux doesn't mean a thing, just marketting hype.

LED's light output is expressed in MCD or mili candela.
The higher the number the more light output.
Bear in mind that a very narrow beam may have relatively high light output within 6°to 15° of the centre, so check on the data sheet for the viewing angle details of the LED.

 

[Hero999]

You can have flux in solder or lines of magnetic flux, but light flux? I agree this certainly is marketing hype.

 

[Papabravo]

Flux is a buzzword? I don't think so. Check out the wikipedia article on the candela, the unit of luminous intensity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candela

Notice in the table the definition of a lumen, the unit of "luminous flux". I would also recommend the article on flux which is some quantity that flows through a unit area per unit time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flux

Just because a word is used in a product name does not make the word part of the hype. If you're going to answer questions here, those answers should have some basis in fact and avoid ignorant ramblings.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Does Wikipedia mention "flux capacitor"?

 

[Sceadwian]

PapaBravo, flux is just a buzzword in the usage of (SuperFlux) If you look the word up in the dictionary in the case of electronics or physics it would be a word used to describe power, which is why it's mentioned in the wikipedia entry. It's just a 'fancy' way of saying 'High Power' Superflux just sounds cooler, so it is 100% buzz.

 

[Hero999]

Does Wikipedia mention "flux capacitor"?

Funnily enough it does.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flux#See_also

 

[Papabravo]

Does Wikipedia mention "flux capacitor"?

It does and it tells the story of its occurrence in the series of Back to the Future movies. The article makes it pretty clear that is a fictional concept.

 

[Papabravo]

PapaBravo, flux is just a buzzword in the usage of (SuperFlux) If you look the word up in the dictionary in the case of electronics or physics it would be a word used to describe power, which is why it's mentioned in the wikipedia entry. It's just a 'fancy' way of saying 'High Power' Superflux just sounds cooler, so it is 100% buzz.

Hype or not I guess you're entitled to your opinion.

 

[fingaz]

It certainly seems like sales hype to me. . .

And isn't it annoying that different LED manufacturers use different methods to measure the luminous intensity of their LED's? We have a standard way of measuring voltage, capacitors, resisitors, transistor gain etc. etc. Can you imagine if we didn't? (well, it's 150k ohm if you solder it on a tuesday before 3pm, after that, it goes down to 120k) Well, maybe not THAT bad, but you get the idea. . .

Just think there should be a standard way of measuring. . .

Oh well, that's my moaning done for the day

 

[Sceadwian]

People in the RF community have been saying the same thing for years. It's not that simple. When you get into propagation effects, like RF radiation or light emiting, the entire nature of the beast changes. It's like going from 9 volts to 9kv's The same rules don't apply. Different materials act in differnet manners under different cirucmstances, and there is no way to properly predict a users circumstances under anything except the user putting the device to work and debugging it. Everyone wants their device to be the best, of course they're going to place their device in the best light it can be placed in.

 

[Hero999]

I think it's more to do with the manufacturers wanting to make their product look the best. They'll inven a new way of measuring intensity and a more complex way of explaining things to confuse people it's better.

 

[Sceadwian]

If you wish to measure something there is only one way of doing it. Power vs distance. To achieve a greater measure of power over a distance, you need to focus your output. LED's achieve this by their output methods.

 

[HarveyH42]

Reading about flux in the advertisement gives the impression of hype, but in other sources it seems to have some 'real' meaning.

https://www.electro-optical.com/whitepapers/candela.htm

What I'm thinking, is that it refers to something like density. Shining a bright 5mm LED at the wall, some areas of the circle are brighter than others. I have superflux pirahna LEDS, 70 degree angle, same as the 5mm, but the circle is more uniform. Guessing this is the difference. True, not very scientific, the LEDS are from different sources.

 

[fingaz]

People in the RF community have been saying the same thing for years. It's not that simple. When you get into propagation effects, like RF radiation or light emiting, the entire nature of the beast changes. It's like going from 9 volts to 9kv's The same rules don't apply. Different materials act in differnet manners under different cirucmstances, and there is no way to properly predict a users circumstances under anything except the user putting the device to work and debugging it. Everyone wants their device to be the best, of course they're going to place their device in the best light it can be placed in.

IT REALLY IS SIMPLE, If all manufacturers used the same protocol for measuring performance, then we would be better able to compare products because we would then know that the technical specs given were obtained under the same test conditions as other products (ie. luminous intensity for all LED's would be measured at a set distance, angle, etc. etc.)

That way, regardless of the use to which the component is put, we still know how it compares to other products (under the same test conditions.)

 

[Hero999]

As I say again. WHy should they care? They don't want you to choose the best componant, they want you to choose their's. If they can confuse you by blinding you with science into choosing their product then all the better.