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Nerys · 11-08-2010, 09:59 AM

what about voltage regulators? are they more efficient?

if I drop the voltage first to 2.0 and 3.3v then I only need a 1 ohm 1/4 watt resistor and it only consumes a few milliwatts in stead of thousands of milliwatts since it only has to control current now instead of current and voltage.

how much power typically do voltage regs consume? IE this one is for 2 volts.

300361405417 (ebay) would that be a lot more efficient than a resistor to drop the voltage? (though its rated for 2 amps I would only be pushing maybe 300-400 milliamps through it) and would use my led heat sink as its heat sink as well.

I would design the circuit for 13.8v so when its at 12.6-12.9 volts (engine off) its safer for the LED's not worse.

I might reduce the current even more to make the LED's dimmer and just use 2 instead of 1 so I have less heat dissipation issues.

I plan to put a "plate" of copper behind the entire light fixture and solder fins to it so that it acts as one giant "heat sink" for all the LED's

I want to have an individual resistor and regulator for each emitter so that if one fails for any reason it does not take out the others and this would make it modular IE easy replacement. (well easier)

Plus I won't be using ENOUGH led's to gang them up. it would take 7 of the yellow LED's to get to 14v and I only plan to use ONE. Two at most. (they put out 50lumens yellow 60 lumens red and 80 lumens white so more than enough without ganging them up)

I wanted to use drivers since they are far more efficient but I have yet to find any drivers that go from 13.8 volts to 2v and 3.3v

I found some 110v drivers but then I would have to run an inverter and that can't be too efficient or reliable.

11-08-2010, 09:59 AM	#5 (permalink)
Nerys Grrr :-) Join Date: May 2008 Location: Levittown PA Posts: 800 Cherokee - '88 Jeep Cherokee 90 day: 19.44 mpg (US) Ryo-Ohki - '94 Geo Metro Xfi 90 day: 50.15 mpg (US) Vger 2 - '00 Plymouth Grand Voyager SE Ninja - '89 Geo Tracker 90 day: 30.27 mpg (US) Thanks: 12 Thanked 31 Times in 25 Posts	what about voltage regulators? are they more efficient? if I drop the voltage first to 2.0 and 3.3v then I only need a 1 ohm 1/4 watt resistor and it only consumes a few milliwatts in stead of thousands of milliwatts since it only has to control current now instead of current and voltage. how much power typically do voltage regs consume? IE this one is for 2 volts. 300361405417 (ebay) would that be a lot more efficient than a resistor to drop the voltage? (though its rated for 2 amps I would only be pushing maybe 300-400 milliamps through it) and would use my led heat sink as its heat sink as well. I would design the circuit for 13.8v so when its at 12.6-12.9 volts (engine off) its safer for the LED's not worse. I might reduce the current even more to make the LED's dimmer and just use 2 instead of 1 so I have less heat dissipation issues. I plan to put a "plate" of copper behind the entire light fixture and solder fins to it so that it acts as one giant "heat sink" for all the LED's I want to have an individual resistor and regulator for each emitter so that if one fails for any reason it does not take out the others and this would make it modular IE easy replacement. (well easier) Plus I won't be using ENOUGH led's to gang them up. it would take 7 of the yellow LED's to get to 14v and I only plan to use ONE. Two at most. (they put out 50lumens yellow 60 lumens red and 80 lumens white so more than enough without ganging them up) I wanted to use drivers since they are far more efficient but I have yet to find any drivers that go from 13.8 volts to 2v and 3.3v I found some 110v drivers but then I would have to run an inverter and that can't be too efficient or reliable.