IDFuel: "LED Me Not Into Temptation"

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.idfuel.com/index.php?p=178&more=1&c=1' target='_blank'>http://www.idfuel.com/index.php?p=178&more=1&c=1</a><br /><br /></div><i>" Having seen so many cool applications, and even more misapplications of LEDs and other solid state lights, we thought it might be useful to run through some of the benefits and tradeoffs of the technology, as well as some sources for buying them, and tutorials on their installation."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20040701-IDFuelLed.jpg" /><br /><br />If you've ever wondered how the LEDs (and, especially, <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3207">that incredibly bright Bluetooth LED</a>) in your Pocket PC works, look no further. This is a short but good read on LED technology as it currently stands.

[gorkon280]

Good post for those who don't know how cool LED's can be. I just wish that they could make a LED bigger then most. I guess they do, but I have not seen one yet. Some light bulbs in my house I would LOVE to replace with LED based ones because them damn things always pop.

[Falstaff]

Good post for those who don't know how cool LED's can be. I just wish that they could make a LED bigger then most. I guess they do, but I have not seen one yet. Some light bulbs in my house I would LOVE to replace with LED based ones because them damn things always pop.

Actually, instead of making larger LEDs, arrays are used for lighting. There was an apartment in London rigged with LED lighting, NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/08/technology/circuits/08lite.html?ex=1089000000&en=071c0fe1d94080c1&ei=5070) (free registration required) and Lumileds Info (http://www.lumileds.com/newsandevents/releases/10_21_03_VosPad_PR.pdf) (pdf). In addition to the long time LEDs last, they are EXTREMELY efficient and produce almost no heat (i.e. wasted energy) so they can save a lot of money if used in place of traditional incandescant lighting. I'm hoping that LEDs will become more commonplace and will be used in homes.

[Tiberian]

"For help finding the value of this resistor, refer to the LED's documentation, or sue a calculator."

This is from the second paragraph of the article. I knew we were a litigious society, but... :D

[corphack]

Hmmm.. Times Square NYC, New Year's Eve 2005 waiting for The Ball to drop at midnight. The Ball is built with thousands of LumiLEDs, all flashing at random, controlled by a T68i (we can tell its a T68i because of the blue LED flashing out of sequence amidst all those white LEDs) and powered by a single Duracell 9-volt transistor battery... think of the commercial possibilities! :lol:

[yslee]

Hmm.. no mention of Luxeon LEDs.. now up to 5 watts, and damn bright!

[Kowalski]

5 watts? crazy!
BTW blue LEDs are different from other colors in one way: cost.
a blue led costs 20 times other colors!

[rugerx]

I picked up a nifty array LED flashlight.

It has 8x8 rows of LED's in a square, with a enlarging lense.
Very very bright.

Rated to last 80 hrs on one set of strong D cell batteries.

Pretty nifty. Its really bright too!

[xoiph]

5 watts? crazy!
BTW blue LEDs are different from other colors in one way: cost.
a blue led costs 20 times other colors!

Blue and white LEDs cost much more because they are manufactured in a different way than your regular red/green/amber LED, and the diode is made of a completely different material, not to mention the coolness factor.

:robot: &lt;--red LED :D

[jeffmd]

anyone seen or find a place you can order actual lightbulb replacements based on led tech? (kind of like the "compact florescent lamp" designs)

[yslee]

Surefire has a few, but it's only for their torches. I think a few others also make them, but I never bothered to notice.

LED arrays are gradually being replaced by Luxeon LEDs. Seen one in action, pretty impressive, and that was just the 3 watt version!