Can You Damage An LED Emitter?

[Novice]

update. I figured since I have at least one new set, and possibly one old, partially damaged set of 32650s I would tear down the light and see how hard it would be to swap the emitters. I used a set of circlip pliers from Harbor Freight to pop the outer ring. The glass was a pain to get out only because it was stuck to the O ring. Pulled another inner ring which allowed me to pop out the heat sink. The emitter was just held in place by thermal grease (not adhesive) and no screws. I plan to secure the new emitter with thermal adhesive. Other than just having the emitter held in with thermal grease the heat sinking was better than I thought it would be. The driver and led were mounted on a machined aluminum slug the fit nicely in the body of the flashlight and was coated with thermal grease. There should be good sinking with sea water.

In hindsight the light must have turned on in the storage box after a dive. I usually don't open the light till i get home so I don't get sand etc... on the o rings. It must have turned on on the way home and overheated, with the decent heat sinking I found I can't imagine the light cooked itself underwater.

I ordered the emitter from DX so as soon as DX gets it packed on a donkey or however they manage to make shipping take so long I will have a working light again.

[airsix]

Glad to hear things are working out!

[Novice]

LED finally arrived via Burro from Honk Kong. The geniuses at DX sent me a sst 90 instead of sst 50. I figured what the heck and soldered it in. All buttoned up and works great so far. No leaks in the bathtub.

So, I figured that using the driver which came with the light (for the sst 50) which I am guessing is pushing 5 amps at 8.4 volts based on the specs, the run time should be the same? I am just under-powering the SST 90, right? Thoughts?

[camerone]

So, I figured that using the driver which came with the light (for the sst 50) which I am guessing is pushing 5 amps at 8.4 volts based on the specs, the run time should be the same? I am just under-powering the SST 90, right? Thoughts?

Yup. LED drivers are constant current devices (at least, properly built ones are.) So you're going to get the same run time as the SST-50.

Whether that current setting is optimal for the SST-90 is a different story. You're probably not in its most efficient range, but since it's designed as a higher power unit, you're not going to hurt anything. It'll run pretty cool and last a long time. As long as it looks good to you, you're good to go.

[Nwbrewer]

Run time should be the same, should be a little brighter, beam pattern will be wider, and it will run cooler.

[airsix]

Run time should be the same, should be a little brighter, beam pattern will be wider, and it will run cooler.

Exactly. The 90 is more efficient than the 50 at 5 amps, but the die is 2x larger, so exactly what Jake said.