Electronic – Possible to calculate forward voltage of LED

ledvoltage

I'm wondering if it's possible to calculate the forward voltage of some LEDs I have, given that I have their other specifications:

Base type Aluminum
Power consumption 1W
Voltage 12V <- I believe this is the power supply this calls for, not a forward voltage.
Lumens 11.7-84.2 lumens
Beam angle 25 degree narrow spot beam
Color temperature 3300-6500K
LED working temperature -20 to 60 degree (around 54 degree)
IP Class IP68
Lifespan 50,000+ hours

Would anyone be able to provide some advice for the calculation I'm looking to make? Thanks!

Best Answer

From the specifications, the LED in question is an integrated module, not a bare LED. Therefore, the Forward Voltage of the LED is not really relevant from a design perspective: Integrated current limiting circuitry, i.e. a resistor, would dissipate the difference in voltage between the actual LED junction's Vf, and the supply.

However, if this is an exercise in academia...

A diode characterizing device, or even an oscilloscope in X-Y mode plus a high-current signal generator, could be used to identify the approximate forward knee of the device's current curve. While a bare LED die would have a sharp knee, even a resistor-integrated part will show a somewhat representative curve, such as this:

LED current curve.

Of course, if you have a few sacrificial pieces for such characterization, a more definitive range of Vf values could be approximated.

Do note that LEDs have minor tolerance variations in Vf even between parts from the same batch, and adding a current limiting resistor increases such variation.

Also, the current graph in such cases will definitely not be sharp - at best, a mild knee will be observed, broadly indicative of the underlying LED junction knee.

The specific junction chemistry determines the characteristic band-gap and light emission threshold, so if more were known of the LED in question, this would help.