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Luxeon Rebel LED Breakout - Cool White Triple Play

Replacement:BOB-10180. The new version is the same board with an even brighter LED! This page is for reference only.

This is a simple breakout board of three high-intensity Luxeon Rebel LEDs - all cool white in color.

This breakout board fits both our narrow and wide triple-LED lenses, the drill holes and LED placements fit those lenses perfectly.

These lights are extremely bright, with supply currents between 350mA and 700mA. The board can therefore dissipate close to 6.5W. A heatsink is recommended (Check back soon for one specifically for this board. We are trying to get them here as fast as possible.)

Watch out for a mating driver board coming soon!

Comments

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  • russpatterson / about 14 years ago / 2

    Awesome. This will definetely save some Yak shaving time. Looking forward to the two driver boards. Why don't some of you machinists make a waterproof case for this thing?

    • SomeGuy123 / about 13 years ago * / 1

      You can waterproof it with high temperature hot glue.

  • Quazar / about 14 years ago / 1

    I think I just blinded myself with science! At about 450mA, these seem (subjectively) as bright as a 40W floodlight. If you wire the three LEDs in series, a regulated 9V supply is just about right to deliver between 350mA and 500mA.
    A few suggestions for the next rev of the board:
    1) Add solder-bridgeable pads to make it easier to wire these in series
    2) Cover the front with solid white silk screen to make it more reflective

    • Steve123 / about 14 years ago / 1

      I agree with Quazar; jumpers to connect the LEDs in series would make this more convenient. I'm not sure why Sparkfun bothered to post a schematic and not board dimensions; the schematic is just (3) LEDs :-) But locations of the mounting holes would be very nice so I won't have to measure and assume I did a good enough job...

      • Pearce / about 14 years ago / 1

        We will definitely take these suggestions into consideration on the next rev.

  • smartroad / about 14 years ago / 1

    Cool, just to be an annoying person, any chance of some warm whites? Cool are great but I am thinking of use in the home as well :D

  • jrisom / about 14 years ago / 1

    How soon for other colors? And how is the lens supposed to be retained?

    • RobertC. / about 14 years ago / 2

      The lens is retained with massive amounts of ingenuity and creativity. (ie - it's up to you to decide how to attach the lens)

      • Pete-O / about 14 years ago / 1

        Well... not 'zactly. The lens has 3 posts that stick down into 3 corresponding holes in the PCB, with a bit sticking out the back side. The way I've been holding the lenses is to melt the back side of the posts with my iron.

  • EricWertz / about 14 years ago / 1

    So.. I'm confused (again, I know!)... is this board aluminum? Seems like it would/should be, but the texture of the board edges looks like it might be FR4. How would you heatsink (well) if it were?

    • Quazar / about 14 years ago / 1

      Look closely at the hole pattern around each LED. Those plated through-holes will conduct enough head to the back of the board that a heat sink can do its thing.

      • EricWertz / about 14 years ago / 1

        Yeah, I did see those, but I'm not sure I'd want to drive ~2.5W parts on 'em for the long haul. At 350mA they might be just fine though.
        thx

        • EricWertz / about 14 years ago / 1

          Huh -- datasheet says it's cool (for 700mA, I suppose). Maybe it's all because they're copper and not aluminum.
          Copper -- it's not just for breakfast anymore.

          • Quazar / about 14 years ago / 1

            If you compare the recommended PCB layout in the datasheet with the photos above, you'll see one big difference. The SFE board uses a thermal pad for the 3rd contact, but the recommended layout uses a solid-fill.
            This may have been necessary for the SMD soldering to work well, but it seems like it would significantly decrease the effectiveness of the copper planes serving as a heat sink.
            - Dean

      • Quazar / about 14 years ago / 1

        Grrr... "heat", not "head".
        (I wish we could edit or delete our comments)

  • esklar81 / about 14 years ago / 1

    So far, so good. How about an Red-Green-Blue (RGB) version, with one Luxeon Rebel of each (with a suitable choice if there's more than one flavor of a color), so we could make a spot or flood with software control of color?
    Failing that, how hard would it be to change the LEDs on one of these?
    For my present project, I'd be happy with individual colors if I could get a single-LED narrow reflector for them at a reasonable price. (I have found such things elsewhere, but they're much pricier than SparkFun's triple-LED units.
    TIA,
    Eric

    • Pete-O / about 14 years ago / 1

      Hi Eric,
      We'll have an RGB soon, just waiting for some stock. We'll also have both a simple driver board to drive all three LEDs in series, and a triple driver for the RGB board, both with PWM capability. We also have a heat sink on the way for these LED boards (you really want a heat sink with this thing) that should sandwich nicely between a driver board and an LED board.
      Could you swap out an LED? Yeah, if you're well versed with an iron and SMD components.
      Pete

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