Introducing the MSH 300 Lumen DIY 12VDC LED Light Bar
This is our newest addition to our product line, we are now branching into Do It Yourself (DIY) LED lighting. The circuit on this board is based off of our earlier blog Simple LED Constant Current Circuit Uses Four Discrete Components
Some of the applications that this can used in are:
Renewable energy systems that run at 12 VDC
RV lighting
Indoor grow lights
The board features:
Recommended operating voltage range from 10.5V to 15V DC
The individual LEDs are CREE XLAMP XR 7090 binned at 51.7 to 56.8 Lumens at test current of 350mA. Color temperature approximate 5800K
Light bar puts out an estimated 160 Lumens at 350mA, and about 300 Lumens at absolute maximum current of 700mA
Current limiting, with current reduction if the board heats up.
Two mounting holes for 6/32 screws, so that the board can be mounted to a heatsink.
User control of current limit, by selecting the proper current sense resistors.
The boards are designed to be paralleled.
There is an optional input for PWM dim control.
There is an optional input for remote light sense, that will turn the light off if there is another source of light.
The board is designed to be used with 2 inch wide aluminum heat sinking, but for low current situations the board does not need to be heat sinked.
The board comes assembled with the current limit set at 250mA, if the board is used with out heat sinking it will automatically current limit to about 200mA in free air. Included with the board is an additional current sense resistor that can be used to set the current to about 500mA (700mA is the absolute maximum current for this board). This board does require proper heat sinking to run at higher currents. Warning these are CLASS 2 LEDs per IEC 60825-1, Do not stare into LED they can damage your eyes.
Note that there is heat sink that is used with the three boards. This board and heat sink combo runs at a steady state of about 59C in free air after about 40 minutes of run time. With the assistance of a small 80mA CPU fan the heat sink runs at very close to ambient air temperature.
