LEDs: Number of Chips?

Thread Starter

brightnight1

Joined Jan 13, 2018
91
I've been looking for some high power IR LEDS and seen that some suppliers offer the same LED but with various number of "chips" in the LED. I'm confused what exactly "chips" mean. If you look under "Model Number" on this page you will see the different chip options:

https://www.alibaba.com/product-det...spm=a2700.galleryofferlist.0.0.47b97ccdJzE8NI


It seems like in general the more chips you have the higher power, but there is a 1W single chip IR lED option as well as a 3W single IR LED option. I also don't know what would be the pro/cons of lighting with difference power LED's to get the same output. For example, if I need 6W of LED lighting I could use one 6W LED, six 1W LEDs, or three 3W LEDs. To make the best lighting choice for number of LEDs to get to my required output, guessing I should look at cost differences for using differnt chips, temp differences when running one chip at high current vs many at a lower current, and making sure that if one LED breaks the other will continue to work instead of them all going out. What other considerations should I have?
 

SamR

Joined Mar 19, 2019
5,031
You have to learn Chinglish. They come in different wavelengths. And the number of LEDs in the component (chips). They will probably also ask you for the "color" instead of wavelength. Notice in the Ad that as the "chip" count increases so does the Watts used for the multiple "chips" aka LEDs.
 

ericgibbs

Joined Jan 29, 2010
18,766
hi,
Looking at the 'ali' link page it shows a power LED module with two LED's [ the square pieces] in the module ie: two 'chips'.

You may find the the number of LED's on a module, means the module may require different working voltages, as the LED's are in series.

E
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,173
The number of "chips" may be of some value in your search, but much more important are wavelength and beam width, followed by input voltage and current. Size matters quite a bit because you will need to couple any "high power" device to an adequate heat sink.
Beam width and luminous intensity are the first concern after wavelength, and those parameters depend on the particular application, which has not been mentioned.
So the choice is a bit like selecting a shoe size: You need to find one that fits.
 

ElectricSpidey

Joined Dec 2, 2017
2,758
I have some 20 watt white COBs that have 10 chips in series and 2 sets of those in parallel, they work on about 32 volts or so.

One consideration when deciding to split your LEDs into smaller units is thermal maintenance, that is to say you may not be able to dissipate all of the heat with one heatsink, so dividing the load may help.

Even though a sink may be able to handle the load, the LED may not.

EDIT: Changed 10 sets to 2 sets.
 
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MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,173
I am guessing that there are two quite different meanings of "chips" being used here. One definition being individual LED elements inside a single package with a single encapsulation, the other being individual SMT packages with one LED each, mounted on a PCB.
 
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