I have the led and driver out of a cateye bike lite that I broke the case off. I know the current led setup is capable for what I want (@4.8volt it can blind someone) The led come in a 15-20mm black case with the leads sticking out the sides. apart from desoldering the led from the heatsink (plain round unmarked disk) how do I work out what I need to drive it at optimal dimmable efficieny?
so basically you want to be able to dim it? if so, then all you need is a way to pwm the supply voltage (in this case 4.8V). by altering the duty cycle (on off periods) you dim the led. for example, if you want to dim the led to half it's potential you set the duty cycle to 25% (50% gives full potential since the led is on for 50% of the time and then off for 50%). this can be done in many ways, you could use a microcontroller. but i think that for application (assuming that all you want to do is to dim the led) a 555 timer with potentiometer will do just fine. put a knob on the pot and presto, you have a dimmer.
No, (very bad at explaining this) The current 2 brightness driver is @ 4.8v, I wanted to know how I go about finding out what the driver is supplying.
¿que? i'm sorry, i'm trying to cut down on my daily caffeine intake which is probably why i don't understand what you're asking . so, you want to know the current and or voltage which the driver outputs to the led? if so, then all you need is a multimeter and measure the output. or do you want to know what you should supply the driver with in order for the driver to work? if so, just use the battery...
I haven't had enough candy and cola yet so I don't understand That's it, so I just need to go out and measure it running.
