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LED Specs question

Hi all,

I'm trying to research some LED's for a project and I have some questions in that regard. Being a novice in electronics, I still don't assume I'm correct (or know what the hell I'm doing!)

Here is the pdf to that LED family.

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Specs:

Absolute Maximum Rating (Ta=25C)

(1)DC Forward Current 20mA (2)Reverse Voltage 5V (3)Reverse Current (Vr-5V) 10uA (4)Peak Forward Current, tw,=1 msec Duty,=1/20 180mA

Section comparing different LED's in family (5)Vf (v) Typ 3.8 (6)IV (If=20mA) mcd min=5000, max=5500 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Questions

#1. To turn this LED "on" at full power, I should not exceed 20mA? (1) #2. What does (4) mean? #3. Does (5) say "a typical voltage is around 3.8V?" #4. I'm not sure what (6) says

All I want to do is turn the LED on as BRIGHT as it can go! Thanks in advance!

~Kam (^8*

Reply to
Kam
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20mA is the nominal current. It runs almost as bright with just 5mA, just longer.

You can feed it 180mA for 1ms, with the other 19ms without current. This gives an averaged brightness of also about 9mA. For stroboscopic applications.

The forward voltage is 3.8V.

This means with 20ma you get between 5000 and 5500 millicandelas

A bad idea, the lifetime becomes shorter. Better use more than one.

Rene

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Ing.Buero R.Tschaggelar - http://www.ibrtses.com
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Reply to
Rene Tschaggelar 

--
Yes.  However, since 20mA is the Absolute Maximum rating, you\'d do
well to stay below that
Reply to
John Fields

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