Diodes Incorporated introduced the BCR401U, BCR402U and BCR405U. Appealing to lighting designers, these constant-current regulators enable simple driving of low- current LED strips and panels in the commercial and industrial lighting sectors. Targeted at 12 V and 24 V linear LED strips, these regulators increase light output efficiency as they only require a 1.4 V supply, allowing more LEDs in the string.
By achieving regulation within ±10% and providing preset options of 10 mA (BCR401U), 20 mA (BCR402U), and 50 mA (BCR405U) that can be adjusted up to 100 mA, these regulators simplify the design, minimize 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including advertising, emergency, refrigeration, decorative, architectural and other general forms are being superseded with this emerging light source.
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| Internal Device Schematic. |
Delivering a regulated current over a wide 1.4 V to 40 V supply, the BCR40xU will tolerates voltage spikes and LED short failures in strings, whilst 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 100 mA.
The BCR40xU operates as a linear LED driver, minimizing 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 25 kHz allowing accurate dimming to low light levels.
The BCR401U, BCR402U and BCR405U LED drivers are offered in the industry-standard SOT-26 (SC74R) package.
