This claims to output up to 1000mA at any voltage between 2-52v DC. I don’t know anything about it, but they have a spec sheet available in pdf form to download at the link above.
I want to know if anyone here has any knowledge about this product and can give me a clue about it. Is it high quality? What else would be needed with it to make it work? Can I output to more LED’s and let them be underpowered or will it try to power them to max, thereby causing problems? I just bought some LED’s and I’m looking for something to run 24 of them at a rate of about 300-350mA each. I’m thinking I could use this to power them in a 8S X 3P array.
I’m a total newbie, and I’m looking for all the advice I can get, so even if you have no idea about the product mentioned here, but you know of a good way to achieve what I’m looking for, let me know, please! Actually, a complete driver board would be better for me, as I have no experience making pcb’s and I’m also terrible at soldering.
I don’t have a lot of experience with Meanwell products, but they are a good name in my book. Here is the datasheet.
What kind of LEDs are you talking about? EG which model, be specific if possible.
So far your plan sounds fairly solid to me.
If you want a driver board you may want to mention what your intention is for this project. Flashlight / portable floodlight? Aquarium lighting? Indoor lighting? RC model use? Do you need dimming / modes? etc.
The LED’s I’ve got are some Cree XP-E2 I picked up from eBay recently. I described them in a previous thread. They are 3W LED’s, and I know it’s a waste, but I’m hoping to get by with less heat-sinking by under-powering them at a total of about 1W each. This would be a portable light, probably running off of two or four 18650’s. Once I really nail down the driver, I’ll know more about the battery configuration. I guess I’m looking for some advice, too, about whether a 1000mA LED running at 333mA would run significantly cooler than a 350mA LED, because that’s what I’m hoping will happen.
I do need modes, at least hi/low, but hi/med/lo with secret strobe would be better.
It’s a flashlight, roughly. So, what are the WAY BETTER driver options you speak of? I have been trying to figure this out for a long time, yet I feel like I’ve only begun to understand any of it at all since I joined BLF.
When I said “be specific” about the model I should have also said it about the rest of my post. You say “portable light.” That’s very open ended. You mean a floodlight / work light, right?
You are thinking too hard about wattage / cooling. Regardless of where you land in the efficiency range you’re still going to get plenty of heat from a ~24W drive. If you want to run it like that for extended periods you’ll need a decent sized host / enclosure. No plastic project boxes with LED stars bolted to the side.
The link in your OP is to a buck controller. This type of controller requires a higher input voltage then output voltage. Your 4x 18650s will not produce enough voltage. I’d look at using 8 batteries in a 8s1p configuration.
24W will drain the 4 batteries in <2hr, is this acceptable? (not that you can do 4s1p with the 8s3p config you mentioned - so maybe like 3.5-4hr on 8s1p batteries)
The driver you linked to does not have modes. This makersdriver from the same folks seems like an OK choice for a work light, other than the price. I have no experience with it but it already uses your chosen buck driver.
Note that Cree does have an tool to help you if you want to get into the nitty gritty of heat losses, lumen efficiency, etc. I think the tool you want is the Cree Product Characterization Tool (PCT).
The type of light (flashlight, worklight) has an impact on what kind of interface you might want the light to have. A single clicky switch is common on flashlights but not normal on a work light.