We are all still following this even though were not responding. Keep it up.
Darn, I thought I was yammering to myself and those pesky voices in my head…
Yes we are following, it's just not many understand all this stuff so well I guess. But this is interesting and there is always something new to learn, so I'm
+1 with MRsDNF, keep it up! 
Wondering would you mind sharing a link to that C9000 Bridgelux array?
Digikey and Newark sell them. They are now less than $60.
I am also follewing your project. Keep it up. Especially interested in to PMW the LED with an Attiny AVR.
I use this board for a lot of things. I’ve modified the firmware for many times. Also modified it to handle MUCH larger loads and voltages.
Posting the link to NewarK:
Dig-Key even cheaper:
http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?x=20&y=13&lang=en&site=us&KeyWords=Bridgelux+C9000
Thanks for the link. I will build one for testing.
Wow, that’s awesome. How many 18650’s to power it, seven? 
With 12V in it draws around 15 amps. Power can be provided by a 4S - 8S LiPo pack or a 4S A123 20 Ah LiFePO4 pack or a lead acid battery. An pack made of IMR cells or a power tool pack would also work fine. The input voltage needs to be less than around 30V to work with the DC-DC converters that I have been playing with. My 180,000 and 540,000 lumen arrays used a custom buck converter that was driven from dual-redundant 16S A123 packs when in battery backup mode.
I was going to use the A123 cells, but those may not be readily available in the near future.
That’s Awesome, both as a stationary light or a cordless searchlight
[quote=texaspyro My 180,000 and 540,000 lumen arrays [/quote]
WHAT!? 
Have you showcased these here? Links pics? wow!
I’m running a 30E4000 array (‘E’ for 80cri) in a retrofitted floor lamp. Bridgelux claims 4725lm at 2.1A; I’m driving at 2.5A so the Flux-Current chart on the datasheet suggests it’s running around 5600lm. Mounted to a salvaged CPU heatsink and cooled by a small, undervolted fan. A custom pyramid base was constructed to house the power supply and provide stability.
Overall it works pretty well. Light quality is better than the CFLs it replaced; it’s comparable to halogen but it has an slight pink tinge if you do an A-B comparison. I’m curious to know what the 90cri array output looks like.
Kudos to texaspyro for turning me onto Bridgelux arrays last year.
Next project will be an outdoor floodlights based on a couple C9000 arrays.
Bridgelux has a new Decora line… with CRI’s up to 98! Not sure where to get them though.
I looked at the Decora datasheet when I was trying to decide which Bridgelux array to use and it’s an impressive product line (and likewise, I couldn’t find them for sale anywhere). Unfortunately, 98 CRI comes at a price…they’re pretty inefficient relative to their 90 CRI arrays. Around 50 lm/W, IIRC, versus 90-100 lm/W.
Once they’re available I’ll consider trying a few in the kitchen or master bath.
Hey guys. new to the forum - actually I signed up thanks to this awesome thread which is totally in sync with my ideas on building a kickass HCRI array led 
For the Decor line I got some feedback from distributors in Europe : Items are orderable, but leadtime is 8weeks so guessing these are coming fresh off the bake plates. Unfortunately MOQ = 40pcs… Maybe if they get stocked MPQ will be much less.
What I have been looking at are these:
BXRAW-3500-00Q0H
BXRA-W1800-00X2H
As far as I can see none of the big distribution (Farnell, digikey, newark) have registered these models.
peace K
hey texas thanks for your posts. I get it you ditched PWM running with DC/DC. Im curious to find out exactly which mods you did to the Dalewheat PWM. Still you would recommend this on battery-only application?
I’m still playing with using PWM, but it does not look like those DC-DC converters are well suited to it. Their transient response to current pulses is not good enough to work well with PWM.
For the DALEWHEAT dimmer, I replaced the voltage regulator with an LM2936 that has a VERY low standby current. I also did not install the status LEDs on the board. I also rewrote the firmware to improve the low standby current, added support for a cooling fan, added a temperature sensor, and a battery voltage monitor.
Got it. Except for driving the LED a bit more efficiently, is there really any other benefit using PWM - apart from batt. usage ? The Bridgelux as you said, seem to handle (current induced) colour shift pretty well.