Linear LED drivers increase efficiency in LED strips

11th May 2017

Anna Flockett

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The constant current regulators introduced by Diodes Incorporated, BCR401U, BCR402U and BCR405U, are appealing to lighting designers as they enable simple driving of low-current LED strips and panels in the commercial and industrial lighting sectors. Targeted at 12 and 24V linear LED strips, these regulators increase light output efficiency as they only require a 1.4V supply, allowing more LEDs in the string.

By achieving regulation within ±10% and providing preset options of 10mA (BCR401U), 20mA (BCR402U), and 50mA (BCR405U) that can be adjusted up to 100mA, these regulators simplify the design, minimise component count, and overall enhance system reliability by integrating the driver.

Combined with the improved efficiency and longer life offered by LEDs, many lighting applications including advertising, emergency, refrigeration, decorative, architectural and other general forms are being superseded with this emerging light source.

Delivering a regulated current over a wide 1.4-40V supply, the BCR40xU tolerates voltage spikes and LED short failures in strings, while preserving LED brightness and longevity. This, along with a negative temperature coefficient that reduces the LED current with rising temperature, helps to increase the LED lifespan by reducing dissipation and additionally enables parallel device operation for increased current in applications requiring more than 100mA.

The BCR40xU operates as a linear LED driver, minimising the likelihood of EMI, which is particularly important in medical lighting and other sensitive applications, while LED brightness can be PWM controlled with <1% duty cycle at 25kHz allowing accurate dimming to low light levels.

Offered in the industry-standard SOT-26 (SC74R) package, the BCR401U, BCR402U and BCR405U LED drivers provide pin-to-pin compatibility with other sources and are priced at 0.13 USD each in 3k piece quantities.