LED’s are a staple of signage and signal applications and with the wider use of high power LEDs the range of applications is constantly expanding to practically limitless proportions. High power LEDs can be driven at currents from hundreds of mA to more than an ampere, compared with the tens of mA for other LEDs. Until recent years their use has been limited by the need for large heat sinks and thermal management issues.  The latest developments have introduced the ability to control and maintain brightness levels without “hot spots” and “not spots” for further efficiency improvements. More strategic configurations of heat sinks, new heat sink materials and metal core printed circuit boards have improved control thermal of management problems. These advances have allowed new areas of development.

High power LEDs from VCC are now in use for in an almost limitless number of applications among which are:

• Accent lighting applications such as: contour lighting, stairway lighting, pendants, coves, displays and front panels.
• Outdoor lighting applications such as: floodlights and landscape lighting.
• Specialty lighting applications such as: Flashlights, reading lamps, security lighting and more.

Architects, Engineers and Security Specialists are including LED usage in the basis of their core designs effectively replacing incandescent, halogen, and even fluorescent style lights. The largest selling points in these applications are the ability to meet new environmental standards from LEED and other groups for close to 40% improved power efficiency and the ability to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the building. High Power LEDs also enjoy a longer operating life that practically eliminates the need for maintenance.

High power, high intensity LED selections from VCC offer many additional benefits including:

• Silicone lens technology
• Saturated color spectrum
• Special “design-to-fit” secondary optics
• Low thermal resistance
• Full dimming capabilities
• Superior ESD protection
• 100% RoHS Compliance

Our LED selection experienced less than 10% light output decay under test conditions and with our many vivid, saturated colors, surface mounted options and high energy efficiency, our product range has the right high power LEDs for your requirements. Contact us today and our dedicated professionals will be happy to help select the right product for your high power LED application.

1W High Power LED on Star Board

After enjoying initial success with our through-hole LED offering, VCC is moving forward with its surface-mount LED line. The introduction of the surface-mount line rounds out VCC’s ability to be a true single-source solution for LED needs. Whether its the LED, a light pipe, or any other of the many VCC mounting components, we are now a one-stop shop for our customers.

Standard package sizes will include 0402, 0603, 0805, 1206, and PLCC2. Additionally, VCC will be offering a line of high power SMD LED solutions. These include .5W, 1W, and 3W products. Custom design solutions are also available. LEDs will be available in early October.

All of the VCC LED specification sheets are currently available at the VCC website.

VCC is pleased to announce the launch of the Flexfire™ series of flexible/fiber-optic light pipes.

VCC’s FLX Series Fiber-optic LED light pipes provide the simplest method of transmitting light from a PCB-mounted (Through Hole or SMD) LED to a front panel. Competing flexible light pipe products offer limited lens options for interfacing to the panel and LED. The FLX Series offers wider design capabilities for lens styles to include wide angle, moisture-sealed, and high profile.

Additional product specifications can be found on the VCC website.

Advantages over Traditional Copper Wire Solutions

VCC’s FLX Series flexible light pipes have many advantages over legacy copper wire solutions. These include but are not limited to:

• Immune to electromagnetic interference (EMI)
• Does not conduct or transfer electrostatic discharge (ESD) pulses
• Non-conductive light path- pinching of copper wires has the potential to cause electrical shorting, which may damage components
• No solder or crimp terminations
• Single versus multiple conductors
• Graceful degradation under “extreme” bending conditions
• Diffused light output pattern – no hot spots or narrow field of view
• Less components

If you would like to find out how to incorporate Flexfire™ into your design, feel free to contact us.

VCC is pleased to announce the addition of a line of Ultraviolet (UV) LEDs. The UV LEDs are available in 3mm and 5mm through-hole packages, with wavelengths of 385nm and 405nm. Both packages are available with a narrow 15º and slightly wider 30º viewing angle.

VCC’s UV LEDs demonstrate high resistance to shock and vibration vs. traditional filament-based light sources, which makes them more reliable in the field. Furthermore,  their low power consumption make our UV LEDs perfect for portable, battery operated, or hand held devices. Like all VCC products, the UV LEDs are 100% RoHS compliant.

Applications for UV LEDs include but are not limited to product disinfection and sterilization, adhesive curing, fire detection, authentication, security, forensics, and leak detection.

VCC’s UV LED offering is available exclusively through Newark Electronics during the month of June.

Disneyland Resort’s operations group recently chose VCC to replace costly incandescent lamps in the FASTPASS system. Park engineers selected our C connector with one of our powerful 5mm white LEDs (Mouser, CDI, Newark) which extends from a PC board up to the viewing panel. For driving the assembly, engineers decided on another VCC product, our power module. It converts AC current to usable DC current and has an extremely small footprint, which is unique given the alternatives currently in the marketplace.

After working closely with a few key customers, we are moving forward on the right-angle socket LED interconnector. It wil be available in both the CNX 310 and CNX 410 series cable assemblies. You should see/hear more by early summer. Feel free to contact our sales and engineering team for more details.

VCC is proud to introduce its GLO Series lenses.  They are made from a unique thermoplastic material that diffuses a LED’s light output and dramatically reduces “hot-spots”. The result is a clean, hi-tech glow that evenly distributes the light along the lens surface and can be viewed from nearly any angle.

Currently, VCC offers the SMB 200, SML 190, CLB 300, and CLF 280 as part of the GLO Series. Custom design inquiries are welcome.

VCC’s new GLO Series responds to the needs of the marketplace with color innovation, offering even greater flexibility to design engineers.