Does anyone know of a good place to purchase high power leds (>300mA) for a decent price? Specifically I'm looking for rgb's, but some places want more than $10 for just 1 led. That sounds a little outrageous, and I thought I'd see if you all knew of any cheaper alternatives.

 

1 watt rgb leds:
RGB-1WS for 7.95 at http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=/leds.htm

Are you SURE you want to go with 1w? Thats AWFUL BLINDING bright.

You can use some $1 super bright 5mm LEDs and get a still close to blinding bright.

You should buy 1- 1w led and a handful of 5 or 10mm rgb LEDs to see what you really need.

with the 1w, you NEED heat sinking and/or a fan to cool the heatsink if you use all 3 leds (R G and B).

An RGB led is actually 3 leds in 1. so They get VERY hot. If you dont cool it, and run it for more than a few seconds straight, you will have an expensive mistake.

 

1 watt rgb leds:
RGB-1WS for 7.95 at http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=/leds.htm

Are you SURE you want to go with 1w? Thats AWFUL BLINDING bright.

You can use some $1 super bright 5mm LEDs and get a still close to blinding bright.

You should buy 1- 1w led and a handful of 5 or 10mm rgb LEDs to see what you really need.

with the 1w, you NEED heat sinking and/or a fan to cool the heatsink if you use all 3 leds (R G and B).

An RGB led is actually 3 leds in 1. so They get VERY hot. If you dont cool it, and run it for more than a few seconds straight, you will have an expensive mistake.

Yeah I need the most powerful leds I can get my hands on (at a cheap price ). I'm building a fully customizeable lamp, so I will need to be bright to be a neat little night stand light that I can use to read at night if I want to.

 

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=/leds.htm

Hey retched..
do these guys have every type of LED out there...
How do you compare them to those Chinese led's on ebay.
How is the overall price ratings?

 

Yeah I need the most powerful leds I can get my hands on (at a cheap price ). I'm building a fully customizeable lamp, so I will need to be bright to be a neat little night stand light that I can use to read at night if I want to.

The superbright white and blue LEDs carry a warning that you can damage your eyesight if you are not careful.

hgmjr

 

Hey retched..
do these guys have every type of LED out there...
How do you compare them to those Chinese led's on ebay.
How is the overall price ratings?

Well, everything I have gotten from them has been golden.

I have only had 1 problem with them ever. I ordered 20 white leds clear.
19 were fine, but 1 was red. Other than that, I am completely satisfied with them. The suppliers are reputable and good. Much better than the counterfeits and ...you know...

I have seen ebay discount leds arrive broken, and some with bubbles in the lenses.

 

The superbright white and blue LEDs carry a warning that you can damage your eyesight if you are not careful.

hgmjr

Don't worry, I'm a practicing electrical engineer

What would be even better is if I could get some free samples!

 

Don't worry, I'm a practicing electrical engineer

Just remember that if you use these LEDs around kids, they will not necessarily understand the danger that these bright LEDs can pose to their eyesight.

What would be even better is if I could get some free samples!

Take a look at the LEDs made by CREE INC.

hgmjr

 

Just remember that if you use these LEDs around kids, they will not necessarily understand the danger that these bright LEDs can pose to their eyesight.

That is a good point hgmjr.

LMNOP, hopefully you are going to reflect or diffuse the light to the area to be illuminated. If not, you get really ugly sharp shadows..harsh.. you will see. A look at the pages, you will see lenses and diffusers that snap on to the cree LEDs as well as other good LED manufactures. If you have to, make your own. Even some hairspray on a piece of plastic makes a good diffuser. You can keep adding coates of hairspray to increase diffusion.

 

That is a good point hgmjr.

LMNOP, hopefully you are going to reflect or diffuse the light to the area to be illuminated. If not, you get really ugly sharp shadows..harsh.. you will see. A look at the pages, you will see lenses and diffusers that snap on to the cree LEDs as well as other good LED manufactures. If you have to, make your own. Even some hairspray on a piece of plastic makes a good diffuser. You can keep adding coates of hairspray to increase diffusion.

Thats a clever idea, I was going to assess the sharpness of the light after everything was installed. I'm pretty sure I'll have to come up with something to diffuse the light, but thanks for all the tips!!

 

no problem. The hairspray works good. Just remember to put the hairsprayed side in so you dont wipe it off when cleaning/dusting.

 

Well, everything I have gotten from them has been golden.

I have only had 1 problem with them ever. I ordered 20 white leds clear.
19 were fine, but 1 was red. Other than that, I am completely satisfied with them. The suppliers are reputable and good. Much better than the counterfeits and ...you know...

I have seen ebay discount leds arrive broken, and some with bubbles in the lenses.

Is it possible for me to buy from them?

 

Sure rifaa, they will ship to you. This is from their shipping page:

SHIPPING OUT OF THE UNITED STATES

We have a US$25.00 minimum (merchandise, not including shipping charges) for orders shipping out of the United States.
Please use our order form "comments" box to clarify your address if necessary

We will ship by USPS to almost anywhere in the world. Overseas customers please select the Letter Post or Global EMS option. Additional shipping charges may apply. Letter Post shipping may take 5~10 days to arrive and cannot be tracked. Global EMS delivery time is 3~4 days and can be tracked. We highly recommend Global EMS for order shipped out of the States. We are not responsible for lost orders if you select the Letter Post shipping option. THE TWO-DAY OPTION IS FOR USA ONLY. If you prefer DHL or FedEx, indicate this in the "comments" box on the order form and we will confirm the price by email. There is also a Freight Collect options on our order form to ship on your courier account.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-...ion=DispPage&Page2Disp=/contact.htm#shipoutus

 

Nice.....
Thanks buddy

 

You know me rifaa, im here to help...and get it.

 

By the way. They do not have paypal....how come.
or did I missed it.

 

They do. Further down on the policies/shipping page:

OTHER FORMS OF PAYMENT

PAYPAL

Fill out our online order form, use all 0's for the credit card information and a future expiration date so the order will go through. Make a comment inside the comments box requesting to pay with PayPal. We will then email you a payment request along with any neccessary changes to shipping charges.


PAYMENT BY ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER

There is $100 merchandise minimum for T/T payment. Fill out our online order form, use all 0's for the credit card number so the order will go through. Our online shopping cart will generate a Proforma Invoice (P/I) that we will then email to you along with the shipping charges and our bank information.

 

OK ..I give up....I am going to sleep.

 

Might be worth combining a white LED with the RGB LED. Although a RGB LED looks white when powered up right, it is just 3 very narrow frequency bands which is not ideal for illumination. Some things will look very strange when illuminated by it. The white ones have a wider spectrum and will make things look more natural.