5w Luxeon on 12v with Arduino on/off control

I think i'm in way over my head here, heh. I got this:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4516

Which I think is 6.6v/.75A which the arduino can't handle. I've got a 12v power supply but I am not sure if there is an elegant solution to use that to drive the Luxeon. (I have a 7805 Chip, LM340T5 that someone else said would work but analog components are still very Greek to me, heh)

I'm also not sure how to put a switch into the line, relay?

Any help is appreciated, thanks :slight_smile:

The 7805 is a voltage regulator.

A relay would work. You will need to limit the current supplied to the led though. Connecting a relay to your arduino, probably, isn't as straightforward as you're hoping.

For simplicity I'd suggest something like:

Which has plenty of headroom in case you want another Luxeon.

AFAIK Luxeons require constant current drive. For this you can configure a regular as a constant current source.

Linear regulators like the 7805 and LM340 are not very efficient as drivers but it might work for you.

Go to the datasheet and look up current source applications. If you have questions fire away.

For discussions on high power LED driving see:-
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1234273497
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1258412419

I'm going to be using the Luzeon like a Xenon Flasher, just a strobe once every second or every few seconds if that changes the formula at all.

if that changes the formula at all.

No it doesn't, you should still design it as if it were on all the time for the purpose of voltage and current. The fact that you pulse it means the power dissipation is reduced and so you might not need as big a heat sink.