High CRI home lighting

[ze_cook]

Looking to purchase high CRI led lighting for home, either batten or bulb.
I have a few high CRI led flashlights (astrolux, wurkkos) and really love how the colors pop when I bounce the light off the ceiling. Unfortunately, can't find anything on amazon, just some led strips.

 

[Heisen]

If can't buy.

DIY - buy CREE high CRI leds from mouser, slap them on to a aluminum bar for heatsink, power it with a constant current driver. Face it up towards the ceiling to avoid glare. No idea how it will turn out, probably will need a lot of leds.

 

[ze_cook]

If can't buy.

DIY - buy CREE high CRI leds from mouser, slap them on to a aluminum bar for heatsink, power it with a constant current driver. Face it up towards the ceiling to avoid glare. No idea how it will turn out, probably will need a lot of leds.

View attachment 176918

That's too diy, even for me. I have a bunch of Samsung LH351D 90+ CRI LEDs that I ordered way back from element14, and some CC driver that supports pwm dimming, but not gonna mess around with them for home lighting.

 

[ze_cook]

What I ended up doing, tore down one of my Philips 9w led bulbs, and found out they're using 1w 2835 LEDs, with v_f of around 9v. Ordered 100x Bridgelux 97+ cri (Thrive series, ra, r1-r15 over 95) 2835 9v 1w 5000k leds from digikey. Should get them soon, will try to retrofit them in the bulb. If successful, gonna order more leds of different CCTs (digikey has them from 2700k to 5000k) and retrofit more powerful led bulbs, maybe even mix and match CCT.

Have ordered a bunch of cree 2835 90+ cri 6v 1w 4000k leds as well, in case i come across 6v leds in other bulbs, these seem to be the most common ones.

 

[Heisen]

What I ended up doing, tore down one of my Philips 9w led bulbs, and found out they're using 1w 2835 LEDs, with v_f of around 9v. Ordered 100x Bridgelux 97+ cri (Thrive series, ra, r1-r15 over 95) 2835 9v 1w 5000k leds from digikey. Should get them soon, will try to retrofit them in the bulb. If successful, gonna order more leds of different CCTs (digikey has them from 2700k to 5000k) and retrofit more powerful led bulbs, maybe even mix and match CCT.

Have ordered a bunch of cree 2835 90+ cri 6v 1w 4000k leds as well, in case i come across 6v leds in other bulbs, these seem to be the most common ones.

Bro, does digikey take customs charges on their end or is it done on the time of delivery?

 

[ze_cook]

Bro, does digikey take customs charges on their end or is it done on the time of delivery?

Digikey does not charge customs upfront, have to pay at the time of delivery.

I ordered from digikey through semikart, they take customs upfront, and because they batch orders, international shipping is free. They charge a 250rs domestic shipping for digikey, but not for mouser.

Bonus, teardown photos and measurements of the bulb.

 

[Heisen]

I recommend hot air station, to solder these, but soldering iron with very fine tip can work to, but will require some precision, also with the iron if you have digital one, while soldering don't go above 300 degrees for more than 3 seconds on any side.

I use this technique to solder this type of stuff with soldering iron, I put some solder on one pad on the pcb, then while keeping the solder melted on that side, I slide in the LED held by tweezer, holding it there until the solder get hard again, now I don't do the other pad immediately cause the LED is still hot, I let it cool down, in the meantime I do place the other LEDs, at the end I do the other pads of all the LEDs.

To practice you can buy these cheap ones -
https://www.sunrom.com/p/cool-white-2835-smd-led-6000k

 

[ze_cook]

I recommend hot air station, to solder these, but soldering iron with very fine tip can work to, but will require some precision, also with the iron if you have digital one, while soldering don't go above 300 degrees for more than 3 seconds on any side.

I use this technique to solder this type of stuff with soldering iron, I put some solder on one pad on the pcb, then while keeping the solder melted on that side, I slide in the LED held by tweezer, holding it there until the solder get hard again, now I don't do the other pad immediately cause the LED is still hot, I let it cool down, in the meantime I do place the other LEDs, at the end I do the other pads of all the LEDs.

To practice you can buy these cheap ones -
https://www.sunrom.com/p/cool-white-2835-smd-led-6000k

Thanks for the tip, I have a digital soldering station with all sorts of tips, including a fine tip. The actual tip temperature seems to be about +20c from the digital readout, so there's that, but it's pretty good otherwise. The only problem is going to be the big heatsink under those LEDs sinking away the heat from the soldering iron.

 

[Heisen]

The only problem is going to be the big heatsink under those LEDs sinking away the heat from the soldering iron.

To the rescue.

 

[ze_cook]

Change of plans, ended up buying a SMD Hot air gun and SMD solder paste, removing existing LEDs and installing new ones should be a breeze.

 

[ze_cook]

The hot air station arrived. Tried my hand at desoldering a qfn package, had a broken nrf24 board lying around. The desoldering went really well, removed the chip at 300c on the hot air gun, cleaned the pads with flux and desoldering wick.

Just for the heck of it, tried soldering the ic back, 3 sides turned out really good, one side has a solder bridge between 2 pins, too much solder paste probably. Good enough for first time, probably.

 

[Heisen]

Which smd hot air station you bought?

Good enough for first time, probably.

Indeed, looks great. Solder bridges are easy remove with iron, I clean the iron with brass wool solder tip cleaner, and gently touch the bridge multiple times, repeating until the extra solder gets off.

 

[ze_cook]

Which smd hot air station you bought?

Some cheap Yihua 882D, actually pulls 800w ish from the wall when using the hot air gun, not sure about temperature accuracy, but temp regulation looks fine.