I decided today to write about this thing because it is over my head already.
My awesome and very trusty neon from my lamp, is burned.
(you can see the round neon on the table in the right corner)
(click on every image to enlarge)
Now, I want to build a Power LED ring, to replace the round Neon.
My tests so far:
I lit up 1 power LED from my PSU and I got it to Full intensity (or very near Full intensity) for 8V@160mA
I then, very quickly build a capacitive dropper circuit and powered my LED to it. But the problem with this circuit, it does not let more than 10mA through the led. I've also noticed the low light intensity of the P LED (Power LED).
Sorry for my low resolution images but is quite understandable as it is. I have a very bad camera but is all that I have.
The P LEDs, I cut them out from a standard Bulb LED light ALuminium disc.
I put the intact round AL disc in the picture to get the idea where I get them from.
The only problem I spent my time on, was the group of P LEDs in the right are Burned, but still working, and all the measurments I did to a point was on them. Then I realized they are just not good enough for the Illumination power that I wanted. So that was a very big downside in my experiment, very time consuming, a couple of days of testing and scratching my head, until I realized the real difference and also what I really want. Then, the group of the leds on the left (11 of them) are still taken from the burned AL discs, but they remained intact or very close to intact. They are VERY bright, especially compared with the burned ones. So that's what I want, I want very good illumination power !!!
Here is the data that I collected with my PSU for both categories: the more burned leds and the good leds:
- After gathering all the information, I used my little knowledge that I have on calculating electronic components in circuit. I am not completely sure if those results I got there are correct or not. But it is the best I could do. Please take a look over those calculations and confirm to me, by saying "No, thats bad" (why and where if possible). But really, not those calculations are my issue here, but the circuit to build to properly power these P LEDs. So keep that in mind and dont get into the woods too far with the calculations. I only want a simple confirmation and that's it. If possible of course.
- Then, I thought about using Power Transistors in parallel to reach that 38.4W limit for only 1 P LED.
But then I realized that the power transistors that I have, are limited on the Voltage side. This BD139 that I have is working up to 80V and not 240V that I need through the bridge rectifier. So the PT Power Transistors version failed very quickly after 2 days of thinking on the problem. It was a brilliant idea, but it failed. I also read that transistors in parallel like that need a less than 1ohm "balast resistors" on their Emitors to make a negative feedback and the transistor not to overheat and over conduct a surplus of current through it, and burn itself to death. At least I learned something interesting from all this experimentation of mine. Haha. I've also forget the filter capacitor after BR, now that I'm looking on it. Ive also thought on searching for real power transistors on ebay, like 300V@1A,50W, but I encounter another set of problems I will not mention at this point.
Possible circuits I am thinking to try in the future:
- I didn't try it yet, but I thought on using a SCR circuit:
This circuit I back engineered from a real SCR board from ebay some time ago. Not tested yet. !
- Another very interesting idea is to take a normal NEW bulb led, cut its Aluminium disc and take the P LEDs from it, and re-arrange the P LEDs in my circle shape that I need. So instead of being a small circle, I will transform it into a large circle. Pretty much what I did so far with the burned P LEDs. But this time, using of course the same power supply that is coming with. I think this is a brilliant idea and I might make it. But I face a single and most important problem: How to stick those fragments of ALuminium with the P LEDs on them to the new ring shape? If I resolve this single issue, then is a GO. That's why I didn't start it yet.
- But now, I am so tired of trying, with so many failings on my head, I thought to expose my little madness here and hopefully, someone will give me an interesting Practical idea or solution to my problem.
Thank you very much for reading and hope to see some interesting answers from you.
My awesome and very trusty neon from my lamp, is burned.
(you can see the round neon on the table in the right corner)
(click on every image to enlarge)
Now, I want to build a Power LED ring, to replace the round Neon.
My tests so far:
I lit up 1 power LED from my PSU and I got it to Full intensity (or very near Full intensity) for 8V@160mA
I then, very quickly build a capacitive dropper circuit and powered my LED to it. But the problem with this circuit, it does not let more than 10mA through the led. I've also noticed the low light intensity of the P LED (Power LED).
Sorry for my low resolution images but is quite understandable as it is. I have a very bad camera but is all that I have.
The P LEDs, I cut them out from a standard Bulb LED light ALuminium disc.
I put the intact round AL disc in the picture to get the idea where I get them from.
The only problem I spent my time on, was the group of P LEDs in the right are Burned, but still working, and all the measurments I did to a point was on them. Then I realized they are just not good enough for the Illumination power that I wanted. So that was a very big downside in my experiment, very time consuming, a couple of days of testing and scratching my head, until I realized the real difference and also what I really want. Then, the group of the leds on the left (11 of them) are still taken from the burned AL discs, but they remained intact or very close to intact. They are VERY bright, especially compared with the burned ones. So that's what I want, I want very good illumination power !!!
Here is the data that I collected with my PSU for both categories: the more burned leds and the good leds:
- After gathering all the information, I used my little knowledge that I have on calculating electronic components in circuit. I am not completely sure if those results I got there are correct or not. But it is the best I could do. Please take a look over those calculations and confirm to me, by saying "No, thats bad" (why and where if possible). But really, not those calculations are my issue here, but the circuit to build to properly power these P LEDs. So keep that in mind and dont get into the woods too far with the calculations. I only want a simple confirmation and that's it. If possible of course.
- Then, I thought about using Power Transistors in parallel to reach that 38.4W limit for only 1 P LED.
But then I realized that the power transistors that I have, are limited on the Voltage side. This BD139 that I have is working up to 80V and not 240V that I need through the bridge rectifier. So the PT Power Transistors version failed very quickly after 2 days of thinking on the problem. It was a brilliant idea, but it failed. I also read that transistors in parallel like that need a less than 1ohm "balast resistors" on their Emitors to make a negative feedback and the transistor not to overheat and over conduct a surplus of current through it, and burn itself to death. At least I learned something interesting from all this experimentation of mine. Haha. I've also forget the filter capacitor after BR, now that I'm looking on it. Ive also thought on searching for real power transistors on ebay, like 300V@1A,50W, but I encounter another set of problems I will not mention at this point.
Possible circuits I am thinking to try in the future:
- I didn't try it yet, but I thought on using a SCR circuit:
This circuit I back engineered from a real SCR board from ebay some time ago. Not tested yet. !
- Another very interesting idea is to take a normal NEW bulb led, cut its Aluminium disc and take the P LEDs from it, and re-arrange the P LEDs in my circle shape that I need. So instead of being a small circle, I will transform it into a large circle. Pretty much what I did so far with the burned P LEDs. But this time, using of course the same power supply that is coming with. I think this is a brilliant idea and I might make it. But I face a single and most important problem: How to stick those fragments of ALuminium with the P LEDs on them to the new ring shape? If I resolve this single issue, then is a GO. That's why I didn't start it yet.
- But now, I am so tired of trying, with so many failings on my head, I thought to expose my little madness here and hopefully, someone will give me an interesting Practical idea or solution to my problem.
Thank you very much for reading and hope to see some interesting answers from you.