riley78 said:
I dont realy need a potometer for brightness contol I just need the LED to come on, would your diagram still work without the pot.
You would either leave pin three (the green wire) unconnected, or short it to -Vin for full brightness. I don't know which. Most likely leave it unconnected.
riley78 said:
will my LED only draw voltage it needs[?]
(Edit: ronsimpson beat me to it.)
You could say that. The driver should only provide a max of 1 Amp current to the LED at full brightness. It's the driver that decides this though, not the LED.
The best way to play safe would be to use some other load (such as a 12V light bulb or physically large resistor) and an Amp meter on the LED side and use a pot. Then you will know exactly how it will behave without risking your really expensive LED.
riley78 said:
My LED came in post today, im a bit upset as its not solded to the PCB
Surface mount soldering is not all that difficult if you know what to do. And a little bit of practice goes a long way. One thing to worry about with surface mount LEDs though is that it can be easy to over heat them by heating the part for too long. Power LEDs being really big makes this less of a danger. Heat sinking and temperature controlled irons make this an after thought altogether.
The main things for soldering in general are...
(1) The solder points need to be clean, most important is cleaning off corrosion/oxidation.
(2) The heat needs to be just right. Cold joints and over heating are big problems.
(3) Use a good clean iron, with the right Wattage for the job. (25-45 Watts probably)
(4) Use the right solder. Rosin core solder only. *NOT* metal/acid core/jewelry solder.
(5) Try to use flux paste whenever you can. Makes point (1) less important.
And the steps I use for surface mount soldering are roughly...
(1) Lightly clean all solder points. Fine emery boards work well for this. Wash with alcohol and Q-tips.
(2) Apply a light coating of flux to the boards solder location (known as a "pad").
(3) With a clean and well tinned iron, heat the pad until the flux begins to boil.
(4) Apply the solder to the pad lightly where the iron touches the metal of the pad, until the pad is well tinned.
(5) Remove the solder, then remove the iron. Let the solder cool without disturbing it. Don't blow on it to cool it faster.
(6) Do steps (1) through (5) for all solder joints, until all parts and the board are tinned cleanly.
(7) With all the pads/parts tinned. Clean again, this time with just alcohol and Q-tips. And apply fresh flux paste.
(8) Carefully align the part over the pads, it should slightly stick to where you put it because of the flux.
(9) With a tooth pick in your left hand, and the iron in your right, reheat all the solder joints.
(10) Keep doing (9) for all the pads while carefully nudging the part into proper alignment with your left.
If all goes well, you should have a surface mount part cleanly soldered to your board.