# MCE availability



## videoman (Aug 23, 2009)

If the MC-e is so popular, why is it that few stores or distrubutors have little or none of them? It seems that I have to buy from Hong Kong or England or India to get a product that is made here in US.Are they being sold out as soon as Cree makes them? I really need a dozen neutral whites in parallel config. on a round or star mount without a huge price on them and without huge oversea shipping cost. I really need a dealer here in US that has stock ready to ship and has a choice of bins. Some can get but with a long waiting time, others have only a small few in stock, and there are others who have just the emitters and I have to solder them teeny weeny wires myself. I wish Radio Shack would stock them this way I won't have to pay shipping and get them as I need them.


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## lolzertank (Aug 23, 2009)

videoman said:


> If the MC-e is so popular, why is it that few stores or distrubutors have little or none of them? It seems that I have to buy from Hong Kong or England or India to get a product that is made here in US.Are they being sold out as soon as Cree makes them? I really need a dozen neutral whites in parallel config. on a round or star mount without a huge price on them and without huge oversea shipping cost. I really need a dealer here in US that has stock ready to ship and has a choice of bins. Some can get but with a long waiting time, others have only a small few in stock, and there are others who have just the emitters and I have to solder them teeny weeny wires myself. I wish Radio Shack would stock them this way I won't have to pay shipping and get them as I need them.



Arrow and Digikey have them, though without exact bin codes.


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## videoman (Aug 23, 2009)

Yes, of course, both Arrow and Digikey have them alright BUT I don't see them offering them on a star or round board in parallel. I guess I am stuck going to Australia to Cutter and pay the piper. Thanks


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## WeLight (Aug 24, 2009)

This just rings OPPORTUNITY If you find someone enterprising I am happy to ship a bulk qty to the US of mounted leds and they could be onsold???


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## Illum (Aug 24, 2009)

LED Supply has MCEs on serialized stars, but no specific bins...it seems somewhat too harsh for any supplier to stock a full array of bins with very little possibility that all of them will be sold by the end of their fiscal year, It would be nice though to have such resources available that can be ordered independently of their inventory, but virtually no suppliers offer that kind of service around here. 

I'm PM Endeavour to see whats left of his reel of MCEs..and possibly where to find them


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## videoman (Aug 25, 2009)

That's exactly what I'm talkin' about, I live in Virginia and I need a product that is made within driving distance,but I have to buy it from a dealer in Australia to be re- shipped back here next to the company that manufactured it in the first place. No offense to Cutter, as I will be purchasing from them, but if US wants doesn't want my business, I'll keep buying abroad.


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## HarryN (Aug 25, 2009)

Hi,

Here is a list of their distributors, which is as noted before:

http://www.cree.com/products/XLamp_distributors/lightleds_dist_namerica.asp

But one people often miss on the list is ETG:

ETG, Inc.
8599 Venice Blvd
Unit K
Los Angeles CA 90034

Tel: (310) 202-6400
Fax: (310) 202-6406
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.etgtech.com

I don't buy a lot of Cree parts, but when I buy, I use ETG. The reason - at least in the past, they would sell various bins of Cree products, and were a joy to work with. They have been a distributor for Cree for a long time - at least since they released their first 1 watt part.

I suggest calling them and see what they have in stock or what they can get for you. When I called (3 years or so ago), the parts gal pulled out the reels and said "what do you want?"

IMHO, they were a key part of getting Cree accepted into the small users market, as they would sell cut, binned LEDs right off the reel, as many as you wanted, at a time when Future would only sell reels of Lumileds parts. Now of course, you can more easily buy binned Lumileds parts as well.


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## videoman (Aug 25, 2009)

Thanks, I will give them a call right now.


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## LED Boatguy (Aug 25, 2009)

+1 for ETG.


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## jar3ds (Aug 30, 2009)

i'm anoyed with not being able to get a vf of my choosing!


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## HarryN (Aug 30, 2009)

jar3ds said:


> i'm anoyed with not being able to get a vf of my choosing!



Hi - Cree makes very nice LEDs, but Vf is not an area that they have historically had a technical advantage. The marketing solution they chose, is to focus on Lumens per package and skip the Vf spec.

Lumileds has typically had a technical advantage in Vf, but obtaining the desired Vf bin has never been that easy there either. In order to really pick the Vf bin, it takes some time, relationships, and frankly, buying the entire reel. I used to do this, but lately I don't - I just get them from Photon Fanatic and enjoy the fruits of his labor. 

Given the results in JTR1962's white lumen testing thread, it is worth considering the LEDEngin package if Vf is of prime importance to you. They use premium binned Cree die to make their 4 die package, which can be had in series or parallel. Take a close look at those Vf numbers from JTRs test - those are for the "in series" version package. Example - when he is running it at 1 amp, that is 1 amp per die in series, so if you are running the die in parallel, you can use the results from 250ma per die for your Vf.

Just how low of Vf are you looking for? I guess I am assuming you are looking for very low Vf.


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## snarfer (Aug 30, 2009)

> That's exactly what I'm talkin' about, I live in Virginia and I need a product that is made within driving distance,but I have to buy it from a dealer in Australia to be re- shipped back here next to the company that manufactured it in the first place.



Although Cree is headquartered in the US, I believe that their LED manufacturing is all in China. At least that's what I understood from reading their annual report.


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## DimeRazorback (Aug 30, 2009)

That would also make sense as to why the chinese companies get the new emitters in lights so quickly!


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## HarryN (Aug 31, 2009)

snarfer said:


> Although Cree is headquartered in the US, I believe that their LED manufacturing is all in China. At least that's what I understood from reading their annual report.



Hi, I will admit to being mostly Lumileds biased, but I am reasonably sure Cree makes them in the US.

There are 6 main portions to an LED product:
1- Wafer
2 - Epi layers
3 - phosphor
4 - package
5 - final assy of the package
6 - final assy into a light fixture

There is no way Cree would let 1 and 2 past the gate in North Carolina. I cannot comment on 3, and at least a lot of 4 and 5 has been done in the US for a long time.

I can believe that 6 would be sent over seas, as most light fixtures are made in China, no matter the brand.


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## bshanahan14rulz (Aug 31, 2009)

I'd speculate that creeNC sends either entire ready-to-cut wafers to China to be assembled or somehow sends the substrates with pre-mounted dice to China to be phosphored and sealed, since it has been said on CPF that the Chinese crees have phosphor on chips only, while ones from the u.s. have phosphor on anything that is showing inside the ring.


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## HarryN (Aug 31, 2009)

bshanahan14rulz said:


> I'd speculate that creeNC sends either entire ready-to-cut wafers to China to be assembled or somehow sends the substrates with pre-mounted dice to China to be phosphored and sealed, since it has been said on CPF that the Chinese crees have phosphor on chips only, while ones from the u.s. have phosphor on anything that is showing inside the ring.



Cree is well known for selling wafers and die to others to put in their own packages - that is well known.

If I am correctly understanding that the "same" product p/n from Cree has two different assy versions - well, I am just guessing, but to me, that implies that some are counterfeit. Cree and Lumileds are full ISO and Mil spec qualified, so two versions of the same product p/n "sounds" funny to me. Obviously there is switch over time as products improve, but that is different than really two versions.

Honestly, I don't follow Cree's product family in enough detail to be sure of all of the permutations, but


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## bshanahan14rulz (Aug 31, 2009)

yes that is also a possibility, and I had thought that to be more likely an improvement (going from full coverage to only chip coverage) than a different version.


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## videoman (Sep 1, 2009)

I am beginning to see the light. I still can't believe there are only a very few places in this whole big USA that stocks them for immediate shipping at the shape and bin desired. I could go to Burger King and have it my way any day and time of the week.


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## bshanahan14rulz (Sep 1, 2009)

I know, when I get MC-E I'm just settling for k-bin I guess. although I really shouldn't buy any at all...


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## ledstein (Sep 3, 2009)

I can help for Europe with a good source: 

Cree MC-E LED, M bin, Star, White, 752lm, 4 chips, 110° 

Very cheap and now shipping is only 4.90 euro. These guys are new and pushing hard, last time i checked their website there shipping was ultra expensive...


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## Gomer (Sep 23, 2009)

I figure piggybacking this thread may be better than starting a new one.

Any word on the availability etc on the MC-E Color? 

I remember hearing about them a few months back but haven't heard much since.


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## slappomatt (Sep 24, 2009)

I am also looking for a us option of MC-E with either 4p or 2s2p stars. the only thing I have seen so far is china.


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## videoman (Sep 24, 2009)

Try Cutter Electronics in Australia, got mine from there ,took 8 days to get.See if they have what you need, they got other cool stuff. Shipping rates were very reasonable.


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## ledstein (Oct 23, 2009)

For us in Europe there is a special offer at ledrise.com:

http://www.ledrise.com/product_info...650lm--4-chips--110--176---Special-Offer.html

Only 8.79 euro for a MCE star. I already ordered 10pcs for my personal use.


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