3 ms·

Brilliant! I've been wanting to do something like this because of how disappointing the commercial options are. Any chance you could share your design details?

Brilliant! I've been wanting to do something like this because of how disappointing the commercial options are. Any chance you could share your design details? Even something as simple as a GitHub repo with a Readme and any design files would be amazing!

the_pwner224 6y ago
I will make a writeup and psot it to HN when I'm done. I'll post another reply to your comment so you get notified too.
the_pwner224 6y ago
Just put up a quick post: https://thepwner224.wordpress.com/2020/05/29/led-status/ https://thepwner224.wordpress.com/2020/05/29/led-status/. A bit unorganized and not really edited; I haven't slept in a long time and just wanted to fill my notebook and also write this down before I forgot any details. My first design was supposed to be around $70 and make 8k lumens, but was useless because I couldn't get away with the cheap thermal management I thought I could get away with. My second prototype which I just did was $105 and was supposed to make 13.5k lumens, but even after much planning it seems the thermal performance is inadequate. The third one will be $145 and will make 18k lumens, and I believe it will actually be able to work at max power without overheating. Luckily the lumen output is increasing too along with these price increases so they're not really price increases. But I have to say, it's totally worth it. While it's not stable at 100%, I did run it at that for a bit and my initial reaction was 'this is a second sun.' In my workspace which went from 300 to 1500 lux it really made a difference in perception. I spent most of the time with sunglasses and still being blinded while trying to take temperature measurements, but at the end I stopped and just turned it on and looked around, and everything looked lit in a way it just hadn't before.

3 ms·

Brilliant! I've been wanting to do something like this because of how disappointing the commercial options are. Any chance you could share your design details?

by smaddox 6y ago

the_pwner224 6y ago
I will make a writeup and psot it to HN when I'm done. I'll post another reply to your comment so you get notified too.
the_pwner224 6y ago
Just put up a quick post: https://thepwner224.wordpress.com/2020/05/29/led-status/ https://thepwner224.wordpress.com/2020/05/29/led-status/. A bit unorganized and not really edited; I haven't slept in a long time and just wanted to fill my notebook and also write this down before I forgot any details. My first design was supposed to be around $70 and make 8k lumens, but was useless because I couldn't get away with the cheap thermal management I thought I could get away with. My second prototype which I just did was $105 and was supposed to make 13.5k lumens, but even after much planning it seems the thermal performance is inadequate. The third one will be $145 and will make 18k lumens, and I believe it will actually be able to work at max power without overheating. Luckily the lumen output is increasing too along with these price increases so they're not really price increases. But I have to say, it's totally worth it. While it's not stable at 100%, I did run it at that for a bit and my initial reaction was 'this is a second sun.' In my workspace which went from 300 to 1500 lux it really made a difference in perception. I spent most of the time with sunglasses and still being blinded while trying to take temperature measurements, but at the end I stopped and just turned it on and looked around, and everything looked lit in a way it just hadn't before.