How to reflow solder an LED emitter on a PCB or MCPCB. Cree XML2, XHP70, XHP50, XPG2, XPG3.
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ค. 2024
- 3 easy ways to refleow solder a Cree LED emitter onto an MCPCB or PCB. No reflow oven or special tools required.
This tutorial will show you in a few simple steps how to reflow solder popular LED emitters like Cree XML, Cree XM-L2, Cree XHP-50, Cree XHP-70 Cree XP-G2, Cree XP-G3, Cree XPL, Cree XPL-HI, and more.
Using only a few simple tools you can do this at home. In the video I will demonstrate three methods.
1. Using an electric skillet (with used parts 10:14 )
2. Hand held torch or heat gun 17:00
3. A lighter. 18:30
How to test if they are working 13:51
How to clean 15:26
This could also be done using Weller soldering iron to heat the base of the MCPCB. The demonstration will also include how to use Kester no clean soldering paste and flux, or standard lead tin rosin core solder.
If you would like to buy high power Cree LEDs you can get them here.
asflashlights.com/21-led-emitters
For the copper mcpcbs such as SinkPad order here.
asflashlights.com/22-mcpcbs
If you enjoyed this video please click "like" and share with others.
Thank you for watching :)
#FlashlightDIY - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
I just flowed my first LED with a lighter, used a pair of pliers to hold the board and a vice to hold the pliers. Simple and effective :D thanks for the awesome video, it was so helpful!
Nice
First attempt at SMD parts and LEDs with your "skilletflow" soldering technique: Worked perfectly each time, straight away. Much appreciated!
I don't get why people still dislikes this video. It's helpful and only a few kind of this video are available.
Thank you Kalo
Bro I used electric iron in my case. :D plus.google.com/116486437098284300502/posts/HsBTHrqg3J6
BTW. Thank you also for the tutorial. :D
Your account bro deserves a verification :D God Bless.
Thanks for sharing.
Concerning a fail, my son says "skill issue".
So I showed him this good "skillet issue" 😃
Thanks for the explanation, will try it with those little 95+ CRI Yuji LEDs.
That’s fantastic procedure to eject excess molten lead. Good to note, how to solder LED Emitters to MCPCB. Thanks, Matt as always.
Such a great video. I'll be doing my first emitter swaps this week. I was a bit worried I'd mess it up, but after watching this video I'm feeling much more confident about the process. You did a great job explaining things and showing how it all works.
Thank you rajun, please let us know how your project turns out :)
Had saved this one but watched others over a year ago but wish I had taken the time for this one, the best simplification & examples of room for error I've seen! If you uploaded a chopped version of this one it could help those cautious about attempting their first reflow.
I have preloaded certain parts to teach others how un-intimidating it is "I think my friends may be a little ADD too Lol". If you did a 3m set of clips from this one could eliminate any anxiety someone has & get you some well deserved views + subs.
Great explanation, I wish I had seen this a few years ago.
Thank you for the very helpful information. Helped me reflow some UV leds! I used the heat gun method, wouldnt have thought of that on my own.
Wow. Very well explained and detailed video. Thanks!
Thank you Sample Text..
Great demonstration! Subbed.
Thank you Matt, that was very informative and useful. Very cool
Thanks for this tutorial! I've really wanted to know more about these emitters ever since I began buying the early Cree and then XML-T6 flashlights. Also thanks for the links to buying both the parts. I screenshot the Kester products so I feel armed with enough info. I do have a reflow smd workstation but never did more than my phone's micro USB port replacement. You gave really good hands on info! Liked and subscribed!
I have learned so so much from you,thank you Matt, you for sure are the best at what your doing,I guarantee that
thanks so much for the video and putting up the links.
Thx a bunch! Learned a lot! 👍
simple yet effective techniques. awesome!
Thank you
Very informative, thank you.
This is how an instructional video should be done! Answered all my questions and then some. Awesome job!
Thanks! I learnt a lot from your video.
great video
Excellent video. Helped me out a lot. Thanks
Thanks for the feedback.
Very useful info
An induction stove plus an infrarred thermometer couple nicely too.
Thanks vestureofblood. ;-)
Wow best explanation on youtube. Really good job sir. Keep it on. Thanks
Nice vid easier than my way with a solder iron heating up the plate to temperature... your way is much more controlled and easier to not overheat.
thanks for this video, it is very well explained
Thank you for letting me know.
Good information and tips! Thank you for sharing
Top video thankss
thank you so much
i need this information
thanks again
Glad I could help :)
i think i like the heatgun method, i will test it
great information thank you
Thanks for watching.
i used a eletric iron to heat up, work really well, it is fast and i can control the temperature.
If you don't like cooking This Shows you the skillet Is good for something. Very good ideas!
thanks share ..information
Electric frying pan?? Ha, who would think of this, that's so awesome! Big work surface and controlled heat.
Thanks Bugdozer, good lux with your projects :)
You mean ewectric not electric.;)
Matt Smith Hi there, I’ve been subscribed for a while and have bought a couple of torches that you’ve recommended, thank you. Please don’t shoot me down but but before I was educated by yourself I’d bought an Ultrafire® 7x XM-L T6 7000 Lumens can torch!! Typically the LEDs have died. I’ve put a multimeter on there circuitry and there is power all the way to the PCB so I’ve assumed the LEDs are dead! Using this procedure with the hot plate/frying pan can you recommend a replacement led that I can use. I don’t know whether you know the torch but basically the Aluminium heart sink that the LEDs are on is 45mm diameter, there is one pos & neg soldered to the board that shows 1.5v to 4.2v depending on the mode! 7 (I guess T6 LEDs) flowed to the board which is just plain white. It would be great to upgrade the LEDs if possible which is where I need your help!! The only issue is that there is no way of knowing the orientation of the LEDs to decipher which is pos & neg! One more question........ do you send to the UK? I’m interested in your Mag upgrades as my step father and Dad both have 2 C cell Maglites. Keep up the great work you’re doing, I love your enthusiasm.
Thank you!
Thanks!
3:30 That's 400°F = 204°C, for those of you not in the U S of A.
That's about right for Sn 63% / Pb 37% or Sn 60% / Pb 40% solder, but a bit low for lead-free solder. Here's a chart:
www.kester.com/Portals/0/Documents/Knowledge%20Base/Alloy%20Temperature%20Chart.pdf
Awesome!
Very nice content, i should have this video few years ago. why did not i think this way. LOL
Thank you
very cool...
Thanks
Thanks bro :)
Thanks for watching.
FOCUS! FOCUS!
Thanks.
nice
Hey Matt, awesome video, thanks! You mentioned you can control the temperature of your hotplate. Can you please point me toward the exact model you have?
very good video and tips. Do you now
which is positive on a bare led sst40?
thank Vesture_of_blood the hotplate works great for me
Jesus , great video
You need more subscribers, this is gold! Had so many questions about how this is done, before I watched your video, now I cant wait to order some emitters and get to it :)
Thank you Hampus.
I plan to swap 2 of 4 emitters on a D4SV2. For the two emitters I’m not swapping, should I remove them during reflow and reapply sold paste, essentially treating them like to 2 new emitters I’m adding?
Great video and thank you! Normally I just hold the MCPCB board with a small vice and put my soldering iron right under the MCPCB board to do the reflow.
I reflowed my first emitter yesterday. I used a butane jet lighter on to warm up a thick stainless steel flat bar. Solder paste from banggood. Now my astrolux s43s finally works. One nichia 219c emitter is 4000k the other 3 are 4800k, because I couldn't find the stock emitter with cheap shipping.
Would you say an old pan on an induction or infrared hotplate with a digital temperature setting be just as good as using a stand-alone electric skillet?
Hey Matt do you know if these XHP70.2 diodes can be ran in parallel? or can they share a PCB with multiple XHP70.2 diodes? I cannot seem to find any PCB boards for an array of them.
I seen some people use a clothes iron also.
Great channel Matt, quick question...
I recently purchased a pretty cool Night Vision Camera (Sionyx Aurora) that he a small IR internal emitter. I’d like to switch out a led bulb on a flashlight I have, any recommendations or recommended IR flashlight with a large (broad) flood beam? I don’t want to blind the Camera with a hot spot! I am using this for boating at night and it’s capabilities are amazing but I want it to literally be like daylight to the camera!
By the way the Sionyx has color night vision....
Again as a new subscriber, love the videos!! Well done Sir?
Fantastic and Thanks a lot,
Please if you can give explain about led type. i have T6 diving flash light which LED i should have because i lost the one on it. :)
Hi Waleed. The T6 was a designation for an XML emitter. If that is what was in your light, then I would say using an XML2 U4 would be your best bet, if you will be using the same driver board etc. It's several brightness bins above the T6.
asflashlights.com/30-xm-l2
No boing = bad. Got it!
Can you swap an emitter in on my mateminco ft01 ? Its the 10440 light with a 3000k color i cant stand
Would you be willing to replace the SST-90 in my Olight SR-90? Bought the flashlight 2nd hand and it was already broken, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Would using a hot air rework gun work? I don't want to use the pan if possible. I'm just worried that the hot air gun may damage the chip
Very good instruction video.👍 Ihave i little problem. i have got a couple of sofirn C8F hosts. But a cant find any C8F DTP Copper MCPCB 30MM with leds on it. (XP-L HI) have searching on internet. Mountain Electronics only selling the host with Triple C8 LEDs.😒 Do you think i can manage to solder 3 bare emitter on a C8F DTP Copper MCPCB 30MM?
Does normal solder work good enough? This solder paste is hella expensive and I only need to reflow a few emitters.
wicked advice methods, i use the aluminum bar + torch underneath. heat gun is too risky to lose hair or skin lol.
Thanks for the feedback. I like your avatar BTW....
Thanks bud, its from my days back in the day when i used to run a youtube show... 30k subs back when subs were rare lol
trimakasih bro infonya
Hi, i already do it and it works to my blfgt changed using cool white, the beam is good
Hi i am forget to said thanks
I usually use a old iron for reflow soldering of LED emitters. Is pretty much like the electric skillet method
Bro do you know where to buy an Original LED Driver and LED Diode set that size too 20mm ??? I accidentally touched the dome :'( my fault and apparently destroyed it. TIA :)
Hi Kalo,
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by an Original LED Driver. Can you explain?
Where could I buy the genuine ones not the counterfeit ones, I see alot of cree led and driver on Amazon, Aliexpress,... but not sure if which one were the genuine ones :( .
OK. Here are some genuine cree LEDs on the copper mcpcbs.
asflashlights.com/21-led-emitters
In order to recommend a driver board I need to know what LED and batteries you intend to use?
can I use an electric cloth iron instead of the skillet?
So I re flowed the solder tapped it and it still flickers but when I press down on the led dome it stays bright and works fine what do you think is causing the problem?
Hey Matt i have a Convoy C8 and Astrolux C8... The Astrolux C8 dont have this type of waterdrop in the Led light bulb... What is the waterdrop in the Led light bulb... Is a crystal drop or silicone drop???
Hello, I love your videos but what happened with the led xhp90.2 has disappeared from the market, would you know how to tell me why it has failed or ...
If your CREE flashlight or LED flashlight have blinking issues even if you have tried replacing the wires and button, this is also the solution.
Does anyone know what value of series resistor is required for these so-called star copper heatsink / LED combo units? I know there is a 3.5x3.5 mm series, a 5x5 mm series, and a 7x7 mm series of raw LED emitter. i know these can work with 3v, 6v, and 12 v. I purchased some 12 v 5x5 mm versions. but i can not find any literature showing a simple overall battery, resistor, star module schematic, and i dont want to fry my unit. Please help!
Anyone know where I can get the SinkPAD for the MK-R in UK?
If xhp70.2 has dot in the so it means that negative?
Do you reckon a gas camping stove with a frying pan would be good enough temp control? 🤔 Don't have an electric one I can use. 😅
If not it's the paint gun method for me. 😊
Watched this video and you got my sub! I have a diy project using the new xhp 70.2 emitter. I need to figure out how to use 3 6v emitters on one pcb in series to make an 18v board. I have found 3led pcb' s on eBay but they all are aluminum and say 1w/3w. What do you suggest? Thank you
Cutter electronics sells mcpcbs that are copper that will take 3 XHP50s. Not exactly what your looking for, but they can be wired in series.
Can I connect the PCB directly with solder or do I need to use wire?
You Are A Rock Star! I am using a Cree CXA1304. It is about a 1 inch square component with 2 pads to solder the wires to. Do I need a heat sink? Or are they like you mentioned in the video, semi hardy and just solder it like I see it is now? sorry for the obscure question...
Hi Rex. That LED would not need to be reflow soldered to an mcpcb, but it dies need to be attached to a heat sink. I would either use arctic silver 5 and fasten it down with something or use Arctic alumina 2 part epoxy and glue it down. Make sure in either cases you use a very thin layer of the epoxy and that your metal heat sink surface is smooth and flat.
The epoxy: asflashlights.com/more-/122-arctic-alumina-2-part-epoxy.html
Thank You! That Helps! Appreciate It!
If I don't have a skillet or heat gun, could I cut and use the bottom half of an empty soda can and a small candle to create a mini "hot plate"??
I think that would probly work. As long as you can move the soda can up and down to adjust the heat.
awesome thanks!!... im going to try this in a week. Anything unique about the XPG3?... its the same procedure right?
Yes, the prcocess is the same, just make sure you get the + and - orientation correct. On an XPG2 the black dot shows the battery negative, on XPG3 it shows the battery pos side.
oK got it thanks!!
i need an led pcb for milwaukee torch, 25mm pcb led 20mm fixing centres, 11.6v input, can anybody advise? of an equivalent part
I know this is an older video, but I've been struggling with a DIY project I wanted to get started. And the main issue is, where do you get your components? I want to do a fish tank light with some Cree XHP35.2 leds and for the life of me I can't find any stars loaded with them in anything but the bottom most bin.
Mouser and digikey are both good sources for bare LEDs. For 35.2 preloaded on a star I would check Mtnelectronics, Cutter electronics and Kaidomain. These are typcially the first places to stock a newer LED already loaded on an MCPCB.
Would a normal pan work removing it from the stove once in position work?
It can work, you have to be careful that it doesn't cool off too quickly
Thanks Matt! Is there absolutely no concern about possibly shorting + and - with using that solder. It always situates itself when its heated?
This is how motherboards are soldered, they have tiny parts still seems to work.
@@benlawton5420 I've done several reflows since a month ago. Solder doesn't stick to the red area of the mcpcb
@@averagerider92 Oh so you didn't know that at the time of the original comment, well guess you know now :)
How did that not short out? I'm about to make my first attempt at reflow soldering a cree emitter to a star mcpcb and all I can think about is how am I going to keep my solder from flowing and shorting out my positive and negative? I expected you to use a high tech stencil to precisely apply the paste, but you really just smeared it on there and it seriously looks like it would short out. My emitter and board are much smaller in comparison, too. Any advice, anyone?
The solder "sucks" itself to the metal part of the MCPCB and LED, that "extra stuff" will just disappear. You would have to put on really thick "sausages" of solder paste to get it wrong. For me, it works every time, just like he demonstrates.
No BOING bad... BOING BOING BOING BOING = Good! LOL thanks for great instructional vid. TU'd
Woot :)
So if i was to use the oxyacyteline or map gas with a oxygen tank that maybe to hot? Maybe I'll start a little metal fire with like a few ounces of magnesium to heat it up since u said they are tough right?
Actually if i was to go ahead and do it I have several electric skillets as well as corded and cordless heatguns an a remote ir temperature gun. An if I lost most all my tools I could probably use my titanium multifuel camping stove. I can use premixed under pressure butane/propane, gas, diesel, everclear, acetone, denatured alcohol, white gas, moonshine, as well as straight propane. It came with 5 pots/pans made of titanium, titanium potholders, a titanium pressure cooker, and over 15 titanium tent stakes
It wasnt cheap. In 1999it cost me $225 after 10% discount and another 20% off and the $25s off . For another 40 dollars they added a second identical cooking that I gave my mom. I had a titanium 38 revolver that I really didnt like since it kicked hard and if I had actually had to use it it lacked the power and penetration to do anything besides making the bear pissed. Almost every time all we had to do was stand up and make alot noise. Once I had to fire a few shots off also which I made sure had no chance of hitting it. If it had hit him that would have shown how pathetic it actually was. Also they really seemed afraid of my camera's flash. Ive inow several peoplewho had to kill problematic bears who had developed a taste for human's that had a empty can of bear spray in their stomach.
hmmm - is it such a good idea to fry the leds for many minutes?....
This process could and should be done much faster, i would suggest.
Yeah you want to do it a quick as possible (apart from the heatup)
Thank you for the video!!
Quick two questions:
1. Is it 400 Celcius or Farnheit?
2. What are the exact specs of your solder paste?
Thanks again!
Fahrenheit. Here is the data sheet for the paste
www.kester.com/DesktopModules/Bring2mind/DMX/Download.aspx?Command=Core_Download&EntryId=1523&language=en-US&PortalId=0&TabId=96
I purchased it at CML supply.
Thanks a lot!
I just had an led melt off its dome not on a heat plate but from power. How much heat can they handle?
You'll have to check the spec sheet for your specific emitter. Generally, they can't handle over 220C for more than a few seconds, as that's the level used to solder them to PCBs.
If the dome melted off, it's way past it's max heat level.
What if I stick glue around led instead of soldering
Hi I am wondering what's gonna happen If you don't give it a "tap" every time before you cool them down?
The LED will be sitting up high on a blob of solder and you wont get good thermal transfer to the mcpcb.
Paused the video at 4:20 without knowing and was thinking after 5 minutes, this solder is taking along time to melt lol
Can't you just by these pre-made?