See Below:
--- John Allain <allain_at_panix.com> wrote:
> It's a week after the solstice. It's dark. Light
> candles.
>
> Pack-Rat tip:
> I got some of those Christmas exterior 'rope
> lights'. They have
> 360 small bulbs in a 30' armored plastic tube.
> Seems a cheap
> alternative for lighting your storage space.
>
> Question...:
> I recently bought 2 each of all the white LED's that
> Jameco
> sells. While *white*s are OT, they are nonetheless
> impressive.
> The light density, efficiency, color, and longevity
> they have is
> pretty amazing, to me anyway. Jameco rated them at
> 4 foot
> candles at 20ma, which seemed a little 'opto'mistic.
> I tried them out, and they reach near peak light at
> more like
> 180ma, getting just noticeaby warm. At 250ma they
> are
> 'uncomfortably' warm, hence question:
> Did they really mean 20ma? at that proportion
> they're
> putting out <10% peak, but 180ma is WAY above
> spec,
> Jameco's spec anyway. So I guess Jameco's wrong?
> Could I be loosing lifespan at this current?
> Maybe the
> not-too-warm test is good enough?
>
> John A.
> remember, I'm a software guy.
>
I think the way these are made, they are blue LED's
with a phosphor coating (on the die). I got one jacked
up to the point where it got _very_ warm and started
to turn blue. After cooling, it seemed to work
normally, and I don't want to do any extensive
experimentation at $3 a pop. I have read that these
don't have the life expectancy of a "pure" LED because
the phosphor will wear out (?)
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Received on Wed Dec 26 2001 - 23:51:39 GMT