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Luxeon LED FlexiLED

Status 10 Feb 2004:

FlexiLED heads are shipping!.
FlexiLED units ship with nFlex driver (choose nFlex_UIF or nFlex_UIP), refer to nFlex documentation to see the features of each firmware version and choose based on your requirements.

FlexiLED - Available NOW

The FlexiLED is sold in either a kit form (no Luxeon emitter) or fully assembled and is composed of the components shown in the following picture.

The Micro O-ring retains the mineral glass lens in the head unit. The Base is where the Luxeon emitter is thermally epoxied down. The Teflon wire is pushed through the bottom of the Base where the 1/8" NPT tapped hole is where the Locline is screwed in. The Teflon wire goes through two small drilled holes to make connection to the two tabs of the Luxeon emitter. The Teflon wire runs through the Locline and is then soldered to the LED+ (red/brown wire) and LED- (green wire) on the nFlex board. The head and base units are thermally epoxied together in the fully assembled model.

The 60 degree reflector surface is sand blasted to provide a wide, uniform and artifact free beam that makes for an ideal reading light or tasklight.

Note: Ships with nFlex driver (uFlex drivers are no longer available).

This picture shows the beam attributes. The head is being held about 3' from the wall, it has quite a wide beam and as can be seen is very smooth with no noticeable artifacts due to the roughened reflector. The wall is wallpapered - that's what the pattern is: blue dots and stars.

A picture of the bits all ready to build up the first batch of head/base units.

First batch of 10 heads having their emitters thermal epoxied in place. The heads are just slipped over the bases to aid in centering the emitter. The heads do not yet have their mineral glass lenses and o-rings installed. That way a soft plastic stick can be used to nudge the emitters into the perfect center position.

This is a picture of a nearly completed unit (still needs the teflon wires soldered on and fished through the base. The head has the mineral glass lens and o-ring installed in this picture. You can just see the micro o-ring around the inside lip of the head. The o-ring retains the lens - it easily slips into the groove, you can run the back of your finger nail around it to push it securely in. To remove it requires a dental pick or other sharp instrument to ease it out of the groove.

This picture shows the wires soldered to the uFlex driver. The red/brown wire is connected to the positive output and the green wire is connected to the negative output of the uFlex driver.

The easiest way to strip the teflon wire is by cutting it with a sharp utility knife. Hold the blade against the teflon insulation and rotate the wire 360 degrees. This will cleanly slice the insulation and it can then be easily slipped off. I just rest the wire on a table, press the blade against it and then rotate the wire.

FlexiLED for a Bed reading light

This picture shows one of the FlexiLED prototypes that is now a reading light on our bed's headboard. The switch allows access to the dimming features and electronic on/off. The unit is powered from a wall wart.

The unit powered up and the output set to one of the dimmer levels. The lens is a piece of LSD material - creates a beautiful even flood with no artifacts. The roughened reflector of the production units produces a beam that rivals the LSD material for smoothness and brightness - at an much reduced price.

The brightness level cranked up to full power. The light is very white in output - the camera creates a blue halo that does not exist in real life.

The installed reading light. The box is installed just behind the headboard and the switch is easily accessible by just reaching below the locline. It has been installed since Oct 22 2003 and is used every night.

FlexiLED prototype - first field test (Aug 2003)

It was time to go camping, so I quickly put the prototype into a plastic case. Threaded a hole for the loc-line head and put a switch (the small white 'thing' below where the power wires go into the case. The battery pack is a 6V 4AHr gell cell. Not particularly pretty but functional. We used the prototype over a three day period and it performed well, the nightlight mode was used each night for around 9 to 10 hours. The unit was used at full output as a general 'task light' and also at a medium level for reading.

The head twisted to point at the camera. The unit is in standby at this time, drawing only about 0.2mA from the battery. Note the head is an early prototype with the lens glued in place and the reflector polished.

The tasklight in action - you can make out the tasklight's head - it's the bright white spot on the right. The wide FLOOD on the ground is from the tasklight. The bright white spot on the ground is from a torch my son is holding and pointing at the ground that has a Luxeon 1W. When I took the picture I didn't realize he had the torch turned on - sorry for the confusing shot, just ignore the bright spot on the ground.

The tasklight turned on and illuminating the camping table - bit blurry, no tripod for the camera. The Luxeon is been driven at 350mA for this picture.

Same location but the driver has been set to the lowest setting. It makes for an excellent nightlight.