# Looking for brightest led for least power



## aceo07 (May 22, 2009)

I have a solar garden lamp that I want to upgrade the led for. It's currently using a 5mm led. It has 1 NIMH battery. It supplies 9V and unknown amp, probably really low.

I tried replacing the led with an orange SSC z-power led. It's much dimmer than the 5mm led. I didn't take into account that it probably wants 350ma.

Any recommendations?


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## balou (May 22, 2009)

Nichia GS.
They are the most efficient 5mm LEDs.


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## Marduke (May 22, 2009)

I think a little bit of knowledge on the arrangement would help. I doubt it powers a single LED at 9v.


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## lolzertank (May 23, 2009)

aceo07 said:


> I tried replacing the led with an orange SSC z-power led.



What color do you want? Orange? Or was that just what you had on hand?


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## Jarzaa (May 24, 2009)

The most efficient low power LED at the moment is Nichia NSPWR70CS-K1 also known as Nichia RAIJIN. They have 150lm/W at 20mA. Nichia is shipping them but I havent found a good source for them yet. They seem to be mainly available at japanese sites.


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## raggie33 (May 24, 2009)

Jarzaa said:


> The most efficient low power LED at the moment is Nichia NSPWR70CS-K1 also known as Nichia RAIJIN. They have 150lm/W at 20mA. Nichia is shipping them but I havent found a good source for them yet. They seem to be mainly available at japanese sites.



wow thats pretty darn coo llove to see it in a arc aaa sized light


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## Marduke (May 24, 2009)

Jarzaa said:


> The most efficient low power LED at the moment is Nichia NSPWR70CS-K1 also known as Nichia RAIJIN. They have 150lm/W at 20mA. Nichia is shipping them but I havent found a good source for them yet. They seem to be mainly available at japanese sites.



A Cree R2 driven at 20mA has been capable of 145lm/W for many months now. Binned from the high side, you could probably do even better.


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## aceo07 (May 25, 2009)

Marduke said:


> I think a little bit of knowledge on the arrangement would help. I doubt it powers a single LED at 9v.



It's a small solar garden lamp. It recharges a single nimh AA battery(upgraded to 2600mAh). It has a board that I assume handle the solar panel and the light sensor and a converter that changes to 9V.

I measured with multimeter. Voltage was 9V. I wasn't able to figure out the current. I tried for a while, but I was doing it wrong or I never had the connects. I didn't have clamps and the wires were short. Also, I don't really know what I'm doing.. :thinking:

I left the setup running since Thursday night and it's still on today, without recharging since the solar panel and sensor is covered. So I assume it's a tiny current that's going through.

Sorry I can't provide more information that that. Electronics isn't my field so I have little knowledge on details.

I clipped off the 5mm led and replaced it with the seoul orange led, 2.25v-2.5v according to dealextreme. Much dimmer than the 5mm led. It's not soldered on, just some jerry-rigging with copper wires. 

Though I did notice that if I connect the 5mm led back on, it doesn't light up as it did prior to being cut. It just flashes on for a split second every second. This has happened on 2 test units lamps I've done it to. The seoul led will however light up and stay on, though dim.

So, that's as much details as I know of. Sorry for the late response. I thought I had enabled email notifications but didn't.


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## Gunner12 (May 25, 2009)

It has a boost circuit, if you don't connect the power leads to a load, it could burn itself out. It will try to raise the voltage as high as it can untill something happens. The actual voltage to the LED is probably lower.


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## ledstein (May 27, 2009)

A useful info about Nichia NSPWR70CS-K1. Retail price will be at least 2 euro/pcs


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## SaVaGe (May 27, 2009)

raggie33 said:


> wow thats pretty darn coo llove to see it in a arc aaa sized light


 
+1


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## ama230 (May 16, 2010)

Jarzaa said:


> The most efficient low power LED at the moment is Nichia NSPWR70CS-K1 also known as Nichia RAIJIN. They have 150lm/W at 20mA. Nichia is shipping them but I havent found a good source for them yet. They seem to be mainly available at japanese sites.




The best place to get them for sure is ledrise.com. I have seen all their products and they look solid but it seems a little high for the prices... hope this helps


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## deadrx7conv (May 16, 2010)

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/89607

Good read above. Helped me make several decisions on my LED selection.


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## JohnR66 (May 16, 2010)

The Nichica GS is the no longer the brightest 5mm LED. The upper bins of the Cree C503C series ones are according to my meter with better beams too.

Nichia seems to like making their LEDs hard to find and/or expensive. I could get the Raijin for $150 plus shipping in 100 packs, but I just don't have the money for that right now. It is also a flux style LED.

Assuming the optics are made for an ordinary 5mm LED, you probably want to use the same type. The age and quality of the previous LED will determine if a new LED will make any difference.


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