Gluing LED Lenses
 

I'm looking for something local I can pick up this morning preferably to glue my lenses to my LEDs. Lots of sites say Loctite is fine but don't use superglue cuz it will fig the lens. Most Loctites are Loctite superglue though. I came across this stuff too. What do you think?

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/5-mi...ge-25ml/947622

Are you talking about the bigger secondary optics or the small dome shaped primary optics on the LED itself?

This guy right here.

These lenses are pretty old too. They were part of the original LED Group Buy in like 2011 I think. Are they out of date or is a lens a lens?

Secondary optics. Those are easy. Tiny dab of silicone on the edge where the plastic contacts the star/circuit board. It will hold them in place and is easy to remove later if needed. Glue them with the fixture laying on it's back, not with the LEDs facing down. Give it a couple hours to set. You'll be golden.

Oh, and a lens is a lens. They are fine.

Thanks very much. Any particular silicone?

gonna slap you :)

Lol Why?

Any silicone that comes out of a tube and dries. Unless you're submerging the light, then you want reef safe. It's just pliable glue in this case :)

Well there's all kinds of articles on what glue to use so you don't fog the lens. I don't know enough about silicone to know if it can be similar. Lol Better to be safe than sorry.

I suppose :) I've used lots of different silicones over the years to glue acrylic, and none of it ever affected the surface.

Any concerns with heat from the LED with the silicone?

I guess over years it could get brittle, but replace as required.

Cool. Thanks :)

I've always used low temp hot glue on my fixtures. That way if for some reason my heatsink starts to heat up I should be finding lenses sitting on my splash shield. When a lens does fall off the change in the light pattern is noticeable, on my system.

Sort of an analog temperature gauge. Though I've only had them fall off once and that was when the power supply on my fan controller went, was a fun day, Apex alarm, Fan controller Alarm and lenses falling down onto the splash shield before the controller shut down the lighting system.

Silicone

Ok new problem. The optics I bought years ago are the round cylindrical kind and most of the LEDs that have been soldered have solder just enough in the way that the lens doesn't really click in properly. So it's either resolder a lot of connections or buy the more pyramid shaped lenses. I think I'll go that route. Any good priced links to this kind of optic? I've been looking but wanted to ask on here too.

lens
 

use a dremel to grind the area of the lens that your solder is blocking,or the side of a drill bit