What are some legit websites to order led chips on star boards? Light mall has xhp50 LEDs already mounted on boards for like 9 bucks and amazon sellers are listing at around $12. I know fleabay and amazon are full of fake Chinese knockoff merchandise. Can anyone recommend sellers or websites to order 6v xhp50 s already mounted on a board? I know the big suppliers like mouser have a huge inventory of chips but everything I’ve seen are separate components and I have no experience soldering smd chips.
Welcome to the forum!
+1 MTN Electronics is the way to go!
Mountain Electronics will never let you down. Clear descriptions, and if it says in stock, it really is. Absolutely the best customer service of any store you can buy parts from.
thank you, I was overwhelmed with all the options from google search and wasn’t sure which company I could trust for quality parts. It would be a real drag for me to get screwed over on my first project. I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a real cree chip and a knockoff since i’m a total newb to this stuff.
edit: I like this forum WAAAYY better than candlepower. A couple guys on there were total jerkoffz
LedDna has XHP 50’s in J2 3D which is otherwise hard to find but definitely legit.
Fasttech has list XHP50 J4 now. https://www.fasttech.com/products/1609/10017519/3604600
Mountain electronics is my favorite. If they are out I also go to International outdoors.
While a lot of people hear secretly (and some not so secretly) feel the same way about CPF, the general feeling is that it should be low key. There are differences between the sites in terms of how they are moderated (which seems to be the biggest complaint) and attitudes around testing and its validity if done outside of a high tech laboratory that ruffles feathers.
I find that I too prefer to be a member here, and silent digester of data there. In reality having both sites is probably a blessing. It allows us to self-sort ourselves by personality types. I’m glad both exist.
Welcome to BLF, I hope you enjoy the community here.
Another question, what is the difference between letter designations on the product codes? I see that cree lists 1-7 for led color, 1 being the coolest and 7 being the warmest? What would the difference be on the letter designation, such as a product code J2 1B vs J2 1D?
Should be tint. Numbers are left to right color shift. Letters are up and down. I was taught to stay a or d or it starts getting green. But some people like 3c……. I like my 3d blf a6 tube light I also have a 5a and like it too! I’ll probably never go toward the blue tints (1a) anymore! There’s a lot to learn and everyone has their preferences. If you look at the top you’ll see the Kelvin rating. 5000k is generally pretty acceptable (sunlight) but colors show up better as you go lower.
I’m no expert and much research is needed to learn about tints!
The first pair is the lumen output bin ascending first alphabetically and then numerically. J4 being a higher output than J2, S1 higher than R5. Also note the BBL line. It stands for black body locus and all you really need to know about it is the closer you are to it the better. Above the line tints tend toward green and below tend toward red. For cooler tints(higher K values), A and D tints are nearer the BBL and warmer tints(lower K values) B and C tints are nearer the BBL. For whatever physiological reasons each of us has our own preferences on tint but in general cooler tints will give sharper contrasts but seem harsher while warmer tints are easier on the eyes. If you’re looking for a lost small item go cool, walking the dog go neutral/warm. I also tend to the cooler end for bike lights 1D being my personal favorite for that. CRI is the color rendering index and refers to the breadth of the spectrum emitted and therefore the accuracy relative to full spectrum lighting such as daylight. LEDs start out blue and are overlaid with phosphors that absorb and reemit the light across a wider spectrum. Cooler tints use less phosphor and have higher lumen output but tend to have a lower CRI. Warmer tints can have a better CRI but have lower lumen output from the additional phosphors added to achieve this.
Quiz next week.
very informative, thank you! I think I accidently ordered a cooler tint from mnt electronics, but it should hopefully turn out ok. This will be a prototype light after all. It was an XHP50 j2 2b. I also placed an order from LED Supply for the optics, it seems like I’ll be stuck ordering from multiple vendors per project with this stuff.
mtn is one of the best. Period.
I’m gonna pm rufusbduck next time I order somethin’ Nice explanation!
Thanks, Rufusbduck!