AW: 12V LED Blinker
Hi,
that's exactly what I was looking for - thanks.
Hansi
You have to keep in mind that the Luxeons can't use 12V directly!!!
I see I didn't describe the electronics which I usesd between the 12V and the Luxeons.
In the nose of my Versatile I put 2 white 3W Luxeons. Those white Luxeons originally had electronics on them which turns 12V into a voltage the Luxeon can use. I gave the white luxeons another piece (very simple) elektronics to make them shine at full power or at lower powers (less light for lower powerconsumption and also not to blind other people).
The project of the headlights is here:
http://www.ligfiets.net/zelfbouwer/project.php?project_nr=316
The elektronics I gave to the headlights is this:
http://www.ligfiets.net/zelfbouwer/images/4CtfE2Qu.jpg
Something simular is used for the direction-lights in the nose of my Versatile. When I signal left or right, 3 Luxeons will light, one in the tail and 2 in the nose. The ones in de tail have the original electronics which I stripped of the white Luxeons. The Luxeons in the nose have almost the same elektronics as in the image I just posted in the URL. There are a few diffrerences:
1) I left out the red part with the signalling Luxeons
2) In the left part of the schematics, you see 2 times the same thing above oneanother. With the signalling luxeons I just used one of the two (per direction)
3) The resistance is somewhat lower than the 2 resistors in the drawing. For the signalling LEDs I used an 1,8 Ohm ressitor (so it will send 700 mA to the Luxeons)
4) Because you use only one LM317 and one resistor, you can take out the diode.
In other words:
The elektronics for the signalling Luxeons is one LM317, one resistor of 1,8 Ohm. That's it!
If you plan to use 2 Luxeons per signallingdirection, you might want to put the front and the rear luxeon for 'left' in series (as in the picture). This results in 8,4 W powerconsuption for both luxeons. For 'right' you should build the same.
I'd advise you to use 2 Luxeons in series. The reason is simple:
If you use one LM317 and one resistor (1,8 ohm) per Luxeon, each combination of this will take 8,4W. So signalling left should take 16,8 W of power!
If you put the front and rear Luxeon in series, the powerusage is 8,4 W.
If you use amber luxeons, there is a possibility you might even use 3 luxeons in series (so 1 LM317, 1 resistor of 1,8 ohm and 3 luxeons but absolutely DONT use a diode in that case; then the voltage will be to low for the luxeons to work properly) and have te light of 3x10W halogen at the power of less than 1 10W halogen. You then stil have a power consumption of 8,4W. But I don't know at what voltage (below 12V) the Luxeons don't light up anymore.