LED lights can be mounted on panels using one of several methods, and each method has its own unique advantages and potential limitations.  For through-hole mounting, round or square holes can be drilled through a panel or circuit board to permit installation.  Round hole mounts provide several benefits over square hole mounts, including a more structurally sound base and fewer alignment-related issues.

Round hole mounts offer greater structural support in that square holes must have four precisely-drilled corners.  This can provide issues from the beginning of the installation process, as the corners may not be drilled correctly or the edges of the panel may degrade slightly at those points.  This will affect not only the structural support for the mount, creating the potential for the mount to fail, but will also create alignment issues as the mount will not be seated in the exact position required for the LED’s intended operation or usage.

As drilling a circular hole leaves the surrounding panel area more structurally sound than a square hole does, a round mount provides a superior installation base.  With no corners that must be accurately drilled and protected, the mount will be seated at the proper elevation and angle, and remain in the optimal location for the LED’s usage requirements. Thus, using round mounts can reduce installation risks, which in turn reduces the risk of alignment error.

There are two types of round mounts: flange mounts and grommet mounts. Flange mounts allow LEDs to be seated flush with a panel surface, while grommet mounts protrude above the panel and elevate the LED above its surface. Round mounts provide a further benefit: LEDs can be inserted into round mounts simply by snapping them into place.  This not only speeds up the installation process, it facilitates the repair or replacement of LEDs and LED installations during the panel’s lifetime.

VCC offers a variety of LEDs and LED mounts to suit any intended panel lighting function or usage.  We offer round mounts in various diameters to accommodate LEDs of different sizes. In addition, VCC also provides square lens mount for panel thickness from .0312″ to .250″ and for mounting purposes where round holes were once assembled. Our engineers can also design and manufacture LEDs and LED mounts for your company’s particular equipment or instrumentation needs. Our products are rigorously tested to ensure precision and reliability, and we continuously monitor our processes to ensure peak efficiency and provide our clients with outstanding customer service.

For 40 years, Moon International has been envisioning, creating and implementing original and productive retail spaces. Their team of innovative designers is always looking for new and more efficient ways to backlight their beautiful signs. They know that LED lighting is more than just a trend – LEDs use a considerably smaller amount of power to output light, and last far longer than conventional bulbs, even compact fluorescents which is very important in the retail grocery trade they serve. In addition, their small and flexible shapes allow for a wider range of applications than could normally be achieved with other forms of lighting. 

Newark’s Greg Fell had been calling on Moon for a number of years, so, when an opportunity came up for LEDs, Greg helped them choose VCC for their interior cabinet lighting project. They selected VCC’s one watt starboard LED with heat sink. VCC unique method of light delivery options helped provide a suitable solution for a complicated design.

MOON’s customer required a multiple of LED’s wired together to back light a display cabinet, with little
ventilation. VCC all in one LED and heat sink package made MOON’s design become reality, requiring just soldering the LED to the Starboard heat sink and then using double sided tape gave an easy functional solution for MOON. VCC starboard 1Watt LED’s are available in multiple colors.

Let us help you find the right VCC product for your design issue.

Mounting LEDs for use on circuit boards requires utmost precision and care.  If an LED is not set correctly on the circuit board, or if the LED is the wrong size or shape, it will not perform properly for its intended purpose. These lights perform functions such as showing when the device is powered, when certain parts of the device are working, if certain utilities or machine functions are operating, etc.

Several different methods are used to mount LEDs on circuit boards: right-angle, horizontal and vertical. Printed circuit boards require a separate mount design.  Engineers select the appropriate installation method after reviewing infrastructure requirements, circuit board type, the number of lights necessary and the intended purpose for the LEDs.  One critical determiner is whether the mount must be directly connected to the top of the circuit board or if the LED can be installed as a thru-hole unit.

Right-angle mounts hold an LED light parallel to the circuit board.  This mounting style involves soldering the mounts directly onto a circuit board, and these mounts can accommodate bi-lead or tri-lead LED lights of different shapes. The most common LED shapes used with this style of mount are round, flanged, flangeless and rectangular, but other shapes can also be accommodated.  The bi-lead and both tri-lead styles can be installed in conjunction with other right-angle mounted LEDs, which allows engineers to create interlocking sets of LEDs depending on usage requirements. These lights are installed as complete units; if an LED must be replaced, the entire unit must be removed and a new one installed.

Horizontal and vertical LED mounts can be installed as thru-hole units or mounted directly onto circuit board surfaces. Horizontal mounts are similar to right-angle mounts in that they align the LED parallel to the circuit board.  Vertical mounts hold the LED perpendicular to the circuit board. Thru-hole mounting requires a hole of appropriate size in the circuit board, and the LED protrudes through that opening.

Newer installation mounts for horizontal and vertical LEDs involve single or multiple sockets that can accommodate lights of any shape and color in the correct size.  These sockets are installed where required, and the LED lights are inserted after the mount installation.  This type of socket mount prevents LEDs from suffering damage related to the soldering process, and also facilitates the removal and replacement of LEDs for maintenance purposes.

VCC offers a selection of high-quality mounts designed to meet industry needs for precision and durability.  Along with right-angle, horizontal and vertical mounts, VCC offers a special mount designed specifically for printed circuit boards.  The PCB design is available as a single, dual or tri-lead mount and offers LED stability and the ability to address uniform height and spacing requirements. As with other types of circuit board mounts, PCB mounts can accommodate LEDs in a variety of shapes and colors depending on manufacturer requirements.

LED modeling is an essential tool for determining the efficiency and suitability of LED light sources.  Modeling allows manufacturers to test various LED components for suitability before installation.  LED modeling provides feedback on brightness and intensity, and gives system designers the opportunity to quickly test different LED lights to achieve the required values.  It can also give designers the opportunity to test ideas for new LED lighting systems — before manufacture begins — in order to determine if a new system will be useful for any applications.

How It Works

LED modeling is done in one of two ways:  either by using a physical representation of the LED light, or by numerically simulating an LED model with a computer program.  Depending on size and intensity requirements, the designers may need to create a new LED light or complete LED lighting system, and may not have a physical representation of the LED to use for testing.  Thus, the process begins with determining the geometry of the new system. Next, the designers must find an LED light data set that provides intensity values that closely match project requirements.  Using this data, they can model and create a light that meets intensity requirements while also designing it to fit within the appropriate space.  As this process does not use a physical representation, it does not allow designers to trace the light path through the LED to ensure that it flows correctly while giving appropriate output values.  This can lead to computational errors and faulty analysis.

Numerically simulating an LED system will provide results faster than physical modeling, but use of a physical model allows technicians to fully document a given LED light or system.  This type of modeling begins with a physical representation of an LED light or system — either a stock model or one designed to fit project area geometry while meeting optical requirements.  This allows designers to trace the light path through the LED and account for scattered light coming from other sources.  It provides a more accurate assessment of intensity and accuracy for both near field and distant field ranges, and thus helps ensure a closer match to a project’s intensity and brightness requirements. Regardless of which method is used, LED modeling relies on accurate data sets and laboratory or computer simulations to provide data on the light output.

VCC offers a comprehensive range of LEDs, lenses, and light pipe solutions, including custom systems tailored to meet individual customer needs.  LED modeling is a major component of this service, enabling VCC’s technical staff to design and manufacture LED components that meet accuracy, intensity and spatial requirements for any project.   Cutting edge technology and computer modeling allow VCC’s development team to remain at the forefront of LED light systems delivery.

LEDs are increasingly used for display applications. For this purpose, the display should exhibit some favorable characteristics such as strong intensity, bright contrast and uniform illumination.   An LED light pipe, often a plastic-based, injection-molded construct, is an important accessory that plays the role of creating a uniform distribution of LED light flux — incidentally, LEDs create directional light fluxes. For example, in backlighting applications, the directional light from LEDs must be uniformly distributed. This can be done by using LED light pipes. Using light pipes provides two benefits.  First, it keeps the number of LED lights to a minimum and just provides sufficient light to meet brightness requirements.  Secondly, the need for using diffusing elements is minimized if not removed altogether.

LED pipes offer many benefits for private, commercial and industrial use.  The primary benefit is a cost-savings associated with the reduced number of lights — and therefore energy — needed for a particular lighting operation.  LED lights also offer a reduced heat output as compared to other forms of lighting.

How It Works:

The basic optical principle for any LED pipe is quite simple. The geometry of the pipe is important for two needs. First, the LED acts as the source, so the LED-produced light must be coupled efficiently to the LED pipe. The coupled light subsequently floods through the pipe using Total Internal Reflection (TIR). Secondly, the output light must be able to provide uniform illumination via output coupling.  In direct coupling, a slab light pipe, is used.  The LED is a surface mounted diode. The light is propagated throughout the length of the light pipe.  Often, the output couple light passes through layers of diffusing film to further scatter the output luminance distribution and increase uniformity. In indirect coupling, the light from the LED is coupled to the pipe in an intermediate step. In this geometry, a diffuse reflector is used to collect the light from the LED source. The diffuse reflector is used for two reasons:  two colors can be added; and the LED light is already scatted before it enters the pipe, giving more uniformity.

LED Pipe Applications:

LED pipes have many possible applications, ranging from miniature to large-scale. For example, LED pipes can be designed to evenly disperse light over liquid crystal display (LCD) surfaces to render clear images, color or brightness.  One major LED pipe application is to illuminate LCDs for products such as computers, cell phones, signs, and alarm clocks.  LED pipes can be further specialized by creating light pipe systems, which are designed to deliver light to a specific target or output point even if the light’s path is non-linear or obstructed.  Major applications for this type of targeted light delivery are instrumentation, equipment and warning lights, or any system where lighting needs to be routed around existing components.

VCC LED light pipe systems are designed to efficiently transfer light from an LED emitter to a display panel.  VCC light pipes are manufactured from optical grade acrylic, and are available in rigid and flexible components to suit a wide range of instrumentation and applications.

Branson is the industry leader in the design, development, manufacture, and marketing of plastics joining, precision cleaning, ultrasonic processing and metal welding equipment. When Branson decided to develop a new line of Ultrasonic welders they looked to improve the user’s ability to easily operate and view the process using indicators as a means of identifying the stage at which the welder is operating. Since this is an extremely important feature they wanted to trust a company that could provide a customized solution in short time. VCC was called to duty, with our CNX C series LED panel socket that easily configures to a single four pin connecter allowed two LEDs to be panel mounted with one connection. This time saving feature is important to Branson since the majority of their products involve hand assembly which is very labor intensive.

Features of the CNX C series includes multiple of lens styles and mounting options with a relampable LED for easy service and replacement. Configurable to multiple of connections and options allows for a solderless alternative solution from more standard methods used to mount LED’s to a panel. Labor saving, easily configurable, short time to a custom design, This is why Branson Ultrasonic selected VCC as a partner for their panel indication requirements. To learn more about VCC custom LED cable interconnects visit www.vcclite.com.

A premier goal when completing any design is to turn over a system that is safe, reliable and efficient. The use of LED lights and circuits has become an important contribution to the success of this mission. Unlike other lighting types that utilize gas or vacuum filled tubes, LEDs are able to generate light simply and solely by the movement of electrons through a semi-conductor material. Compared to these traditional sources, LEDs draw less power and generate less heat. They are safer and more environmentally friendly as they do not include gases that contribute to global warming concerns. Lighting, machine, vision, signaling and signage can all experience an increase in efficacy by the implementation of LEDs in the design.

LED circuit themselves can be further enhanced with the use of drivers and controllers. A driver regulates the current to the LED circuit for maximum output while also functioning to protect the LED(s) from fluctuations in the power source to prevent damage to the circuitry or premature failure of the LED. The drivers are then interfaced with a control solution. The controller can serve to further increase efficacy by a number of means including strobing, dimming and timed activation.

The ability to control lighting for buildings, production lines and signage allows a decrease in required energy at times when buildings and equipment are not in use or to adjust to changes in external illumination. This ability to lower power consumption can assist in building and production design meeting new building infrastructure power reduction requirements.

LED Control Types

A variety of control types can be implemented into an energy efficient LED Design:

Switching Control: This is the simplest control type and simply provides an On/Off switching function.

DMX Digital Control: DMX (digital Multi-plexing) is rapidly becoming the most used control type for room lighting, sign and backlighting. This control type only requires a channel level communication and provides a fast and consistent control solution.

DC Voltage Control – DC voltage circuitry design can control LED circuitry through either sourcing circuits that vary source voltage or sinking circuits that absorb different amounts of voltage.

AC Voltage Control – AC circuitry can be used to control your LED system and provide varying output levels by truncating either the forward (Forward Phase Control) or back (Reverse Phase Control) portion of the sine wave.

Design Considerations

There are several LED specific design factors that should be considered when selecting your LED control type:

Don’t Overload the Driver – Before selecting a driver and controller, the LED circuitry requirements must be in place and ratings checked to ensure that enough power is present to drive the circuit efficiently.

Heat Consumption – While LEDs produce less heat; a successful design must implement enough heat sink devices to permit operation without failure.

Environmental Ratings – Choose an LED and controller that are appropriate for your environment. LEDs are available in indoor and outdoor ratings as well as moisture and dust resistant offerings; however, the controllers are usually required to be enclosed and both factors must be addressed in design.

Available voltages -The voltage ratings of the LED, LED Driver and controller must be considered during design for optimal circuit performance. While a number of control voltages can be used, the result must be a solid, quality DC signal to the LED circuit.

VCC Sales Representatives are available to provide design data for our LED devices, cabling and PCB components to implement your control solution and achieve the desired efficiency for your signaling, signage and backlighting needs. Our LEDs and pre-assembled cables will meet environmental and circuitry requirements for your application. From moisture and dust proof to high-powered LEDs and more, contact VCC Optoelectronics today for a quick application design response and even quicker supply of products to meet your design, testing and production needs.

Light pipes transport light from the source to some remote location for a wide variety of applications such as signal indication or backlighting. This carriage of light is accomplished with Total Internal Reflection.

To understand Total Internal Reflection, one has to go back in time to your college Physics class and dust off one of the basic principals of light movement, that being Snell’s Law. Snell’s Law explains the correlation between the Angle of Incidence and Angle of Refraction when light rays pass through a boundary from one medium to another (i.e. plastic and air). When light crosses that boundary between the materials, the light beam will be partially reflected and partially refracted. If a path is developed that permits light to travel from a medium with a higher refractive index to one with a lower refractive index, the Angle of Incidence can be greater than the Critical Angle, which allows the phenomenon of Total Internal Reflection to take place. Total Internal Reflection is accomplished due to the fact that at this critical junction, the Angle of Incidence at which light is refracted will cause it to travel along the boundary until it ceases from ever crossing the boundary and instead is totally reflected back internally.

VCC is a leader in lightpipe design that accomplishes the goal of Total Internal Reflection. Using high-quality, optical grade acrylic, VCC’s patented Litepipe® series is polished with the latest technological equipment to achieve clear, scratch free surfaces. Combined with VCC’s Fresnel Rings, you can implement a flexible, reliable and powerful means of communication. Our Litepipes® will greatly increase design possibilities as they are offered in round, rectangular and square shapes. VCC Litepipes® also come in a variety of sizes and mounting types. The LMS and LCS series of Litepipes® are moisture sealed and can be used in environments with adverse conditions, including outdoors. Our wide viewing angles and the latest innovation, the Flexfire Flexible Litepipe®, make VCC the best supplier for your Total Internal Reflection and light shifting needs. Contact VCC today and one of our dedicated personnel will guide you through the ideal selection for your project.

Biolase Technology manufactures a line of advanced medial and dental laser products including the Waterlase® VSGG and Hydrophotonic lasers. These innovative lasers use a water laser technology that is minimally invasive to reduce the client anxiety and pain that normally accompanies some dental and minor medical procedures.

A recent development in design included implementing a water reservoir to be illuminated with LEDs that were removable. Design requirements called for a custom cable assembly with three LED socket assemblies that would allow for extraction of the LEDs. The very nature of this device required special consideration, as there would be continuous exposure to water and cleaning solutions. Isolation of the LED was sought to improve operation and life cycle.

When VCC was presented with this opportunity, we developed a perfect solution, ideally suited for this application. Our Engineers proposed use of the VCC CNX 440 socket and a CMS 442 CTP NEMA 6P waterproof lens. The CNX 440 was integrated onto a custom cable that included three replaceable LED sockets. The Sockets allow for the LED to be easily installed on site, utilizing the CMS 442 waterproof lens and installing the lens and socket thru the front panel. This also fulfills the isolation requirement to prevent the LED from excess exposure to water.  The VCC CNX 440 and our line of lens assemblies provide a fast, easy and labor saving installation as an alternate to soldered wire leads.

Biolase and other vital VCC customers rely on us to quickly and consistently create custom cable and socket configurations to meet a variety of needs and special environmental considerations. We are proud to offer our expertise as well as our time saving, innovative and versatile line of connectors, LEDs and more.  Contact VCC today for assistance with your design requirements.

North Shore Safety is a leader in the development of electrical safety products for diverse and custom applications.  In a recent project, North Shore Safety units were implemented into the public charging stations for electric cars. This application required that the device perform as an in-line fault detector to prevent electric shock or fire in the case of a short circuit. The units effectively operate as inline isolators between the car and the charging station. If circumstances were to occur that resulted in a charging station malfunction, the North Shores Line Guard will terminate all current flow to the vehicle.  Designed to meet extreme conditions reliably; this is an industrial grade ground fault circuit interrupter that is a “Go Anywhere” protection device.

VCC has been a leader in LED panel indication for years so when North Shore Electric needed an indicator for this device that could function under extreme conditions, they turned to VCC.  This device had to meet stringent NEMA 4X ratings, as the design parameters required this device to be outdoors, impact resistant and also able to withstand exposure to chemical elements.

North Shore investigated their options thoroughly and chose the VCC lens products as the best solution with proven testing results to meet and exceed project requirements. VCC Lenses are UV resistant, meet NEMA 4X ratings and offer Fresnel rings that increase the discernable brightness of LED devices. This option was an important feature because if an error occurs, it will be indicated by the LED. This means the LED must capture the users attention and must be viewable in a variety of conditions, including direct sunlight.  Dave Futkos, President of North Shore Safety, estimates the number of units needed to supply demand will be close to 1 million, as each electric car dealer will need a charging station in addition to each consumer who purchases an electric vehicle.

VCC was thrilled to provide our panel lenses to meet the challenges of this project and look forward to a long lasting relationship with North Shore Safety. Contact VCC today for more information about our line of products to meet your most stringent application requirements.