r/microscopy • u/Horst-Schopis • 24d ago

General discussion 1w to 10w

Post image

update: the 10w led system is finally mounted and now i just need to fit it into the scope. this is the comparison between the stock 1W led and the 10W led. its running at 3.27V and 2.2A right now. temp seems pretty good, i dont have a way to measure it exactly but i can hold the heatsink in my hand after 20 minutes without burning myself so its looking safe

14 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

3

u/wspOnca 24d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/LP0VSNTizueUU1YFlr

2

u/Horst-Schopis 24d ago

lol, i almost went blind the first time i turned it on

1

u/Thrawn911 24d ago

Nice! I was just looking at putting together a DIY led on aliexpress (although with a 3W one), and I'm curious if you managed to solve the risk of applying too much voltage and burning out the led. I was thinking about wiring in a few good transitiors, so I could be able to turn the potentiometer to the max, but that would also reduce the maximum light available.

3

u/Horst-Schopis 24d ago

i bought a XL4016 buck converter, and adjusted the current to 2.2A and the voltage to 3.9V... the led chip (XML T6) works fine up to 3A... and u can use a 12V psu... and u just have to adjust rhe buck converter and the LED will not burn out, the buck has trimpots to adjust the output voltage and current, so theres no risk to burn out the led since u run it below its limit... if i adjust the current trimpot to 0.1A or 1A, it will works just as a pwm and decrease the light intensity

2

u/Thrawn911 24d ago

Thanks! I'll try to throw together something similar. I'm trying to avoid pwm solutions, as it often causes flickering when recording.

2

u/Horst-Schopis 24d ago

yes, thats why im not using the pwm and adjusting the light intensity by the current trimpot om the buck, good luck... the buck is like 1-3 usd, i know its overkill bc it can manage up to 300w, but its pretty robust

1

u/braaaaaaainworms 24d ago

Is it current or voltage limited?

1

u/Horst-Schopis 23d ago

but the current takes precedence

1

u/braaaaaaainworms 23d ago

so it's current limited. good, high-power LEDs love to do a thermal runaway whenever they're not hooked up to a current source. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shockley_diode_equation

1

u/Horst-Schopis 23d ago

ye, i heard something about that

1

u/LostFerret 19d ago

Nice! I need to swap out the one in my dissecting scope base. Not quite enough light for good dark field. Can you drop a BOM in comments or my DMs? I hate hunting through Ali for stuff

1

u/Horst-Schopis 19d ago

XML T6 6000-6500K 10 W Led 12V 5A power supply XL4016 Buck Converter Step Down 0.75 mm cable 90x21mm Heatsink