Thread: Question about 10MM led's

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Maybe someone here can help me?

How bright are the 10MM led's (multiple used in a pin spot) in relation to a standard floodlight?

Thanks.

I just built out several 10mm blue LED spots. I used this 1" round perf board (which is now out of stock again):

http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8809

and this LED:

http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8860

At ~10K mcd, they're pretty bright, comparable to a 50W flood but the beam is more focused. I plan to use them for graveyard wash lights and for really highlighting certain props. I used 80 ohm resistors with them, one LED per spotlight.

There are actually at least 3 different brightnesses out there, for 10mm LEDs. I've seen the standard 20mA varieties (probably the ones Otaku is referring to), the "0.5W" 100mA ~170,000mCd varieties, and the "1W" 300mA ~250,000mCd varieties. The latter two can be purchased on eBay from Hong Kong. Please see my thread on LED spotlights for some photos of how much light the "1W" put out, when running around 130-150mA (to keep the heat down, and resistors small). They are very, very bright.

- Hook

The ones I got from Sparkfun are 80mA, ~3.4VDC forward voltage. Brighter than the average bear. Electronics Goldmine used to have some 40K mcd blue 10mm LEDs, but I missed out on getting some of those. I use 9 volt batteries with them, not exactly efficient but compact and portable.

Thanks all. Due to the numerous threads on led's, I have caught the disease.