Changing LEDs from white to blue

[justsomeguyinvt]

Wow, this is my first post! Anyway, I have a 48" Current Outer Orbit light that has 6 white LED's and I really want to change them over to blue. After many emails with manufacturer that went nowhere except legalese and sidestepping, what LED should I buy? After looking around the internet there are many different kinds of blue LED's with different specs. All I know is they are 5mm, but I have no idea about the Ma, MCD, viewing angle, etc...Ithanks in advance..J

 

[kcress]

Welcome to the forum justsomeguyinvt.

Well.. With any of these type mods you have to realize you may screw it up and have nada once you start hackin on something like an LED fixture.

For 30 years LEDs were all based on 20mA of current running thru them. You need not even look at a data sheet practically. In the last 2 to 3 years though all that has changed. Now there are 20mA, 30mA, 350mA, 500mA, 700mA, 1A, and 1.5A LEDs.

All LEDs also have a voltage spec. The voltage spec can generally be considered to be a function of the LED's color. Red; one voltage, green; another, etc.

Luckily for you white LEDs are actually all blue with a phosphor coating that converts the blue to various shades of white. Hence the voltage won't be very different between your choices.

Baring the electronics instruments and skills to actually measure your existing LED current your best bet is to identify exactly what LEDs your unit has. Once you have that you could find a supplier of that brand and model and find that same model in white. Substitute one in and try it.