Whelen Liberty- when & what types of diodes over the years?

octoberguy77

Member
May 15, 2014
975
Indianapolis, IN
Curious to learn more on the types of LED diodes used in the Liberty lightbar over the years... I know that the diodes changed at some point in 2008 and 2010 so at least 3 different types were used in, say a typical LIN6 head. Does anyone have full clarity on the month/year they changed diodes and what type they were?? Thanks
 

shues

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 21, 2010
10,276
NW Indiana
@wilsonbr90 is the resident expert. I imagine he'll be along shortly, but in the meantime here's this:

Whelen switched through differect manufactures of leds through their progression.

Early leds were philips lumileds which were one of the first cost effective high output led on the market. These started off as the dreaded teal blue that everyone hates.

Lending to feedback philips progressed and improved the led design to have more output and be more reliable. This in turn changed the color to a more pleasent blue.

Second generation of leds that whelen used were cree xr-e. This was one of the first high output surface mount leds. This allowed the light manufacture to flow solder every part of the board. These early ones were a mixture between blues, leading more to the light blue side of things. Although better than the teal blue, it still wasn't as pleasing as the nice deep blue.

Cree progressed their leds to more output and better longevity ending in the cree xr-c and as a result a better blue was attained.

Third generation was leant to making the light heads smaller. This is where we are currently at. Depending on model depends on leds. The first round was the cree xp-e. Variations of blue exist but whelen generally used the same blue.

Second round is the philips luxeon rebel. The most commonly used led now for most major manufactures. This is also available in multiple hues of blue including true blue and royal blue.

So you can't blame it on the light manufacturers as much as you can the led companies. They are continually updating their designs and therefore changing what's available to the manufacturers. It's a race to see who can push the most lumens in the smallest amount of space.
 
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Nolines

Member
Apr 5, 2018
1,678
Margate, FL
and still none of the reliability ! actually what was the change... thinking back and looking at my own led's I dont see the difference...
 

Nolines

Member
Apr 5, 2018
1,678
Margate, FL
i have both on my car cause i had to replace 2 vertex when the diodes went, and since I hadnt had them before I bought my car in 2007 they lasted 11 12 years and replaced them last year or so but i dont see a difference between the 2 that were still working and the 2 new... but ill look on google for it
 

Nolines

Member
Apr 5, 2018
1,678
Margate, FL
read the thread, someone commented they switched to cree from rebel so its a good question which is which... I know lets ask Wilson!
 

wilsonbr90

Member
Sep 30, 2013
1,427
Corning, New York
the bright yellow was a model change but didn't last long. it was predominately used on the rebel model of leds, but there were a few cree xp in there in there that were yellow too.

models of leds used in libby 1 and libby 2 are;
lumileds, cree xr, cree xp, luxeon rebels, and cree xq

whelen switched off from rebel leds after a few year due to high failure rate from a manufacturing defect where the die and the substrate would dis attach itself. cree xp series is the most tolerant to abuse.
 

got_yogurt

Member
May 21, 2010
539
BC, Canada
the bright yellow was a model change but didn't last long. it was predominately used on the rebel model of leds, but there were a few cree xp in there in there that were yellow too.

models of leds used in libby 1 and libby 2 are;
lumileds, cree xr, cree xp, luxeon rebels, and cree xq

whelen switched off from rebel leds after a few year due to high failure rate from a manufacturing defect where the die and the substrate would dis attach itself. cree xp series is the most tolerant to abuse.

So whelen isn’t using the super-bright yellow anymore?
 

Da-Sarge

Member
Feb 27, 2020
393
Canada
i know this is an old topic but im ceurius what leds are in the 2012 liberty amber they have an orange pholspher over the lin6 and the 2 con3 heads in the rear but the corners dont they look like the clear bubble over the chip like the ebay 1 watt led packages any clues
 

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