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BlinkM RGB Blaster
**Replacement: **KIT-10111. This is not a direct replacement for this product, but it and the Luxeon RGB Triple Play board should work as well. This page is for reference only.
This is the daughter board for the MaxM, comprising of three ultrabright LEDs and current limiting resistors. Three large 10mm LEDs combine the forces of 15 individual LED cores to create a flood of RGB light. Can be used as a replacement daughter board for the MaxM or alone for ridiculous mcd power.
The Blaster's trio of LEDs are 50 times as bright as a standard BlinkM and more than 1000 times as bright as a standard LED. They're so amazingly bright they kind of freak us out (and should absolutely not be looked at directly, under any circumstances!).
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The product is over 9000.
Entropy512, the three LEDs we're using here each have 5 embedded superbright LED dies and a relatively narrow beam angle. They are rated at a total of 445000 millicandela (mcd) if you take all three at maximum brightness. A standard indicator LED is about 50 mcd because of its wide beam angle and low flux. Thus, the Blaster is about 1000 times as bright, perceptually, as a standard indicator LED when looked at directly, which I would not advise.
Please see this excellent article on LED brightness for more info: http://www.gizmology.net/LEDs.htm
Whoops, I didn't finish that note. 50mcd is typical (if somewhat dim) for LEDs in dot matrix displays. Most standalone SMD LEDs fall between 200mcd and 2000mcd, at which point the designation of superbright and ultrabright LEDs starts. When we said "standard LED" we looked around at what a "typical" SMD LED would put out, called it 500mcd and divided. In the end brightness is a very relative term, but we wanted to communicate the feeling of what it would be to look at one of these versus looking at a familiar, everyday LED.
1000 times as bright as a standard LED?
I'd be curious wheere those LEDs were sourced. The highest power LEDs I have ever seen in the "classic" form factor are 0.5 watt 5-chip LEDs rated at 100 mA forward current, and have the chips in a parallel configuration (i.e. 5 times the maximum forward current, but the same Vf).
Standard LEDs are typically rated at 20 mA forward current.
So even if the LEDs used here were 5-10 times more efficient than a standard LED (highly unlikely), they would at best have 25-50 times the luminosity of a standard LED of the same color. Given that their efficiency is probably similar to standard LEDs, they are likely only 5 times as bright.
Picks or it didn't happen.
Hmm, "rediculouis"? Is that some kind of hip slang I've yet to learn?
Wayne-
Get with the times. (kidding!) Thanks for the catch.