I just got a bag full of these superbright warm white 1W LEDs. However, I'm new to electronics and am having trouble figuring out what kind of constant current driver I would need.
It says forward voltage is 3.2V "IF" mA=300. Given that I want to light up 3 of these things in a circuit using Arduino which LED driver would I need at a minimum? My feeble understanding of electronics leads me to believe that I would at least need a driver that can provide 900mA (3 x 300 mA) of current, and a power supply that is at least 9.6V (3 x 3.2V). I've got a 12V DC adapter already so I think I'm set there.
So....Which LED driver do you recommend?
LED driver options here:
Since I would like to dim these LEDs I think I am leaning towards buying this one:
But will it be enough? Please advise. THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT!
If you want to dim them simultaneously, than you need 1 driver BuckPuck DC LED Drivers and 3 leds connected in series. To control individually, you need 3 drivers.
For leds connected in series current is the same, so 350 ma is sufficient. But I change my opinion, after I checked on price options, because price is the same for 350 and 1000 mA, better to buy more powerful unit, just in case later on you'll buy more leds ( up to 18 !!! with 1 driver ).
Only be careful to limit current in software to 30% at max for now.
Thank you Magician, for confirming my suspicions. I just wanted to make sure the driver I bought was at least adequate, if not more than adequate, for my purposes. Have a Happy New Year!
Magician:
For leds connected in series current is the same, so 350 ma is sufficient. But I change my opinion, after I checked on price options, because price is the same for 350 and 1000 mA, better to buy more powerful unit, just in case later on you'll buy more leds ( up to 18 !!! with 1 driver ).
Only be careful to limit current in software to 30% at max for now.
Well the problem with driving three 350 LEDs wired on parallel to one 1000ma constant current source is how do you insure equal current sharing for the leds. Wiring the leds in series ensures at all time that they all will be running at the same current.
3 Leds should be in series, that what I mean, and 1000 mA unit should be limited to 30 %, to provide 300 mA no more. Only for 6 leds in string, 2 or 3 strings could be align in parallel, as it shown in drivers docs with 2 strings and 700 mA unit.