Luexon Star help

[spatel1790]

I want to illuminate two luxeon stars from the one plug, i wanted to know how it could be done and if theres anything i need to know .Ive attached an image of the luxeon star wiring. Is it as simple as breaking the wiring and attaching the other luxeon wires to it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Sceadwian]

Depends on if the current regulation is on that little PCB or in the module itself, I'm gonna guess it's in the module which means if you put them in parallel you're going to get two half bright LED's, and it probably doesn't have enough voltage to run two in series, but you can try. Mind you your might hurt the power supply if it's not rated for the added power.

 

[spatel1790]

thanks for that help will have a go!

 

[Sceadwian]

Try parallel first, just keep in mind the brightness will drop (but not 50% because light output vs current on an LED isn't linear) ideally it would be best if they were in series, but if the power module can't provide the voltage neither of them will light at all.

 

[spatel1790]

erm ok, the luxeon stars im using are 3watt, the fuse in the plug is 13amps, im a little confused as to how i would connect it in series, any help? thanks

 

[Sceadwian]

Wait what? 13 amps for a 3watt LED? That can't be right. Given a loaded diode forward voltage of 4 volts you'll get 3 watts of power at less than an amp of current. Where are you getting 13 amp fuse rating from? To wire them in series you would connect the red wire of one module to the power supply + lead, the black wire on that module would be connected to the red wire on the second module, and that modules black wire would go to the - lead on the power supply.
Again that probably won't work. Run them in parllel (both red and black wires going to the same point on the power supply) and you'll likley get dimmer LED's. I want to know what's limiting the current to your modules though.

 

[spatel1790]

oh ok, ive decided to allow trying to connect them in series. So if if connecting them in paralel is that simply just cutting the wire and and soldering it to the leads going to the main power source, sorry im a serious amatuer. Lastly with the led being a 3watt what watt output would i expect if there were two in parallel?
thanks

 

[Ubergeek63]

Try parallel first, just keep in mind the brightness will drop (but not 50% because light output vs current on an LED isn't linear) ideally it would be best if they were in series, but if the power module can't provide the voltage neither of them will light at all.

no, no, no!

being diodes they do not share current well causing one of them to hog the current and heat up more causing it to hog more current.

power leds in parallel REQUIRE current sharing part that usually end up being complicated to keep the dissipation levels down at the amps of drive current.

Dan

 

[Sceadwian]

ubergeek, these are not LED's these are LED modules, either the power supply itself is already current limited (likeley) or there is a resistor on the LED unit itself (I say less likely because of the high power dissipation required. EITHER way no harm can come to the LEDs though it may overstress the power supply itself because some form of current limiting has to already be in place.

If the original poster is thinking they can just hook up an LED module like that to a power supply and expect it to work then there might be a problem. I was assuming that the power supply being used was specifically designed to operate the LED module in question. Hopefully the original poster knows that they can't hook up a voltage supply to an LED and expect it to work right.

 

[Sceadwian]

Since I was asuming, what is the power supply you're actually using Spatel?

 

[spatel1790]

oh sorry my bad, the plug is fitted with a 3Amp fuse, does this make connecting the light in parallel/series any more easier? also iv done a bit of reading and read that resistors need to be connected if more than one LED are being connected to 1 power supply

 

[spatel1790]

Ive attached the image of the transformer inside the choc box, does this make connecting the LED in parralel any easier?

 

[Sceadwian]

You didn't answer the question Spatel, what are you using as a power supply?

LED's are nothing more than diodes that emit light, as soon as their forward voltage is reached they go from conducting no current to a LOT of current very very fast like within a few tenths of a volt, something has to limit that current, or the diode will self destruct. How are you accomplishing this?

 

[spatel1790]

isnt the plug the power supply? and isnt that black box the thing preventing it from running too much current? im not tottaly sure

 

[Sceadwian]

Ahh, pictures speak volumes =) Problem is that LED driver is a little black box, can't figure anything out if you don't have the data sheet for it. Connecting them in parallel with that box would not work, even with ballast resistors you'd end up with two half bright LED's. You could try them in series but that supply isn't rated for it, no telling what would happen. Where did you buy the LED regulator from? Can you open the black box?

 

[spatel1790]

it was bought from university, no data sheets provided, the black box cant be opened unless its broken apart.
Ive found a data sheet online dont know how much help it is:
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2009/11/MicroPuck-Applications.pdf

 

[Sceadwian]

That datasheet can't be for the module you've shown, the input on the module in your photo has a wide range AC input which means it's a universal switch mode supply of some kind, the module in the PDF you supplied is for a buck/boost DC-DC converter.

You could simply try putting them in series and see what happens but it may damage the driver module, or simply not work, or it could work fine. Watch out for melting plastic though... and catastrophic failure of the current limiter would kill both LED's.

 

[mneary]

I don't see your power supply listed on the data sheet.

 

[audioguru]

Your datasheet is for a different LED driver that operates from a battery, not from 230VAC.

Yours is designed to light a single 3W LED. If you connect two LEDs in parallel then the LED driver might smoke and burn. It probably will not light two LEDs in series and its internal circuit might burn out.

Your LED needs to have a pretty big heatsink to prevent it from melting.

 

[Raul]

Leuxon sells rather inexpensive power supplies for their Stars and even tells you how many the PS units will drive Some will drive 12 Stars.

If that little white unit you have came from Luxeon log on to their web site for specs.