Well there's no manual of what you should or should not do. I'm just saying from what I've seen in the forums, people who jump into a DIY LED project will typically go with what everyone else has been doing, and go with the big heavy heatsinks, as that is the "norm." Even the online stores that specialize in DIY LED parts are providing these heatsinks, as that is what the market has been demanding.
Even with a massive heatsink, I dont think you can escape overheating issues. I think of heatsinks like batteries/capacitors. Once you fill it up with heat energy, it will be full, and it will not be capable of drawing any more heat from the LEDs. The LEDs are not going to stop generating heat, so the heat has to go somewhere. Therefore I think you still need fans no matter what heatsink you use.
The beauty about a smaller heatsink with more surface area is that it is easier to dissipate the heat, rather than trying to cool down a thick piece of metal. I dunno, that makes sense to me.
Again I refer to CPU heatsinks. They have passive heatsinks like this now:
Oh, and no, no pics of everything on full. It's insanely bright, and the camera just sees one big glare. The blues get totally washed out by the white, so I just turned it down to where I wanted, set it and forget it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StirCrazy
I don't anyone has ever said you need a big finned heatsink, what I believe has been said is that yes with fans you can get away with smaller and cheeper forms of heat sinks, even 1.25x1.25 al tube.
what has been said though and provin is that if you have a fan failure and are not home to catch it or didn't build over temp protection into your design then that cheeper lighter heat sink puts your whole system at much more risk than a higher watt/in2 heat sink would.
got any pics of it with everything on full?
Steve
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