Testing the 0.25W Top Hat LED

Testing the 0.25W Top Hat LED

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I have already designed the circuit board for the Engines and so, hopefully, they will arrive before Christmas. But if you look at the lit engines in the show, the most ideal light source would be a 30-40mm COB Warm White LED. Alas, they with a 50mm aluminum heatsink. There are some that does fit but would require a working voltage between 9v to 12v.

The COB led would illuminate the engines perfectly without any hotspots and more. As for my design, they are just a bunch of LEDs trying to do the same thing. I have also put in an order for the 50mm COB LED as well.

THE TOP HAT LED

In the middle of the AMT clear part, there is a small clear cylinder attached to the disc. This which not only diffuse the lights (after some light sanding) but also helps keep the Engine parts together. If I am going to go ahead with my PCB design, I would need a LED for the middle.

The LED I have in mind is the Top Hat LED. They usually have a very wide viewing angle and are very bright. The same can be said for SMD LEDs but their effective brightness range are mere millimeters.

Testing the 0.25W Top Hat LED
This Top Hat LED version is a 0.25W and so, has a bigger DIE than the other normal top hat LEDs. Another good thing is that it only consumes 20mA like any other LED while giving me a 160ยบ viewing angle
If you look at both 5mm LEDs from above, you can see how big the DIE on the left is. The normal LED’s DIE is very small but its resin lens magnified it and so it looked bigger when it is actually not.

MOUNTING THE LED

You can fit the 5mm top hat LED easily into the clear cylinder which has an inner diameter of about 6mm. But before that, I will have to cut out a small 13.5mm circle made from draft paper. This paper is excellent as a diffuser but you’d need to place the LED quite a distance away.

This is a very handy tool for making circles. Of course it is not from DSPIAE.
It is much cheaper but you’d need to try a few times to get the correct diameter.
I am very happy that AMT did this. Not only is the small circle designed to keep the clear tube in place, it allows you to insert the draft paper.
This is how the engine looks like. Of course, if you try to match with what was seen in the show, this is not accurate.
But the effect is there, more or less. The reason I used the draft paper is to protect stupid people like me who always forget not to look into the LED head on.
On another note, notice the lighting effect of the top hat LED. Most of the engine’s insides are lit. But this is not the effect I want.
Posted in A Piscean Works Blog, AMT, Electronics, Lighting, Razor Crest, Scale Lighting, Scale Models, Sci-Fi, Star Wars, Technology, The Mandalorian.

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