WTB/WTT/LFS: Obsolete Component LED Rectangular Light Bars

[Scotophor]

I'm seeking some out-of-production discrete through-hole component LED light bars for a project. There are two different styles that I want and can not substitute. Depending on where I look, they were reportedly manufacturer-discontinued in either the late 1970s or early 1990s, but remained somewhat available until around 2000 because at least two distributors had bought the manufacturers' remaining stocks as surplus and sold them in retail packaging.

The first type have 2 LED emitters (a.k.a. chips, or dice) per unit. Their front face measures approximately 14 mm x 7 mm (9/16 x 1/4 inch) and they're about 12 mm (1/2 inch) tall excluding leads. They're made of lightly-tinted clear epoxy, with a white-ish diffusion layer about 1-2 mm (~1/16 inch) thick at the front. The dice are about 7 mm (1/4 inch) apart, center-to-center. These were once sold in retail packaging as Cal-Pak brand "Specialty LEDs", distributed by Cal West Supply, Inc. as their part numbers CP-59 (green), CP-58 (red) and CP-60 (yellow). I know that the Cal-Pak packages were stocked in MarVac Electronics stores in the Los Angeles, California vicinity, but I do not know where else they may have been found nor how widely distributed they were. They were also offered online via Cal West's website, www.hallbar.com (defunct since early 2005). Additionally, I've been told that these LEDs have been found in "Lucky Bag" LED assortments sold primarily in Europe several years ago by Kemo Electronic. Kemo still sells such assortments but this type is apparently no longer included. I do not know the original manufacturers' part numbers nor which company(/ies) made them, though I have read a post mentioning that they were Japanese.

The second type is of similar general appearance and construction, but they have 3 emitters per unit. Their front face measures about 16.5 mm x 4 mm (5/8 inch x 3/16 inch) and they're about 8.5 mm (5/16 inch) tall excluding leads. The chips are about 4.5 mm (3/16 inch) apart, center-to-center. These were also sold in Cal-Pak packaging, at least in green (CP-57) and red (CP-56) colors, but apparently not in yellow. There are similar LEDs to these in current production, but not exactly alike -- the chip-to-chip spacing is 6 mm now, and the dimensions a bit different at 16 mm x 5 mm x 8 mm height. Some time circa 2000, Cal West switched the LEDs in their Cal-Pak packaging to the current style without changing the part numbers. They also changed the 2-die style to a much smaller modern type of only 10 mm x 5 mm frontal dimension, again without changing the part numbers.

Photos attached show the original large 2-chip style (slightly retouched image of actual LEDs in all 3 colors), the original 3-chip style (the green one is real and the others are simulated), and the Cal-Pak blister card packaging (partly simulated -- I don't know how many actually came on a card; it would most likely have been in the range of 1 to 4).

I will consider your offers for any quantity. I am willing to pay international shipping costs.

EDIT: At the time of posting this, I believe I have fairly well exhausted the online possibilities presented by the popular search engines. I'm also running several daily eBay searches in English and German. So, unless you have access to data that isn't generally available to the public or crawled by the search bots, or in other languages, please don't waste your time running internet searches on my behalf. I'm after real-world info about a source or possible sources for these LEDs that probably isn't already online.

[FoXX]

I might have some.. What do you need them for?

[Scotophor]

Replicating a prop used in a science fiction television show.

Quality control wasn't very good in these LEDs, so units with a dead or very dim die were not unusual, even when new.

There were also other styles in the same product lines having different numbers and arrangements of dice; such as 1, 4 (10 mm x 10 mm square), 4 (linear), 6 (3 dice x 2 dice) and 8 (4 dice x 2 dice). Single-die versions in 5 mm x 5 mm frontal aspect are still fairly common, but there are also single-die versions in an odd 7 mm x 5.5 mm aspect which are obsolete... and as it turns out, useful to almost-invisibly repair the 14 mm x 7 mm 2-die style if one die burns out. I do have a few of the 7 mm x 5.5 mm units, so I would even be willing to accept 14 mm x 7 mm units with a dead or dim die, or more of the 7 mm x 5.5 mm style.

I will also buy some of these other styles, such as the 10 mm square in green, red or orange; and the 3 die x 2 die style in green or red.

[kingofkya]

Maybe you could just melt/glue 2-3 of the ones you can get together?


http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20141113155309&SearchText=LED+Rectangular

[miguelvp]

Way back machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20050212195105/http://www.hallbar.com/CalPak/square2.html

-------------------
5 x 16mm
QTY: 1 $14.88
QTY: 100 $0.62
-------------------
CP-56   Red Diffused
Light Emitting Diode (LED)
Kingbright Part # L845/3IDT

CP-57   Green Diffused
Light Emitting Diode (LED)5 x 16mm
Kingbright Part # L845/3GDT

-------------------
5 x 10mm
QTY: 1 $10.80
QTY: 100 $0.45
-------------------
CP-58   Red Diffused
Light Emitting Diode (LED)
Kingbright Part # L835-2IDT

CP-59   Green Diffused
Light Emitting Diode (LED)
Kingbright Part # L835/2GDT

CP-60   Yellow Diffused
Light Emitting Diode (LED)
Kingbright Part # L835/2YDT


Searching on the web "l835 5x10":
http://www.reichelt.com/Panel-LEDs/2/index.html?&GROUPID=3015

Other links were found as well, but at least you have the kingbright part numbers now

Edit: farnel has them in europe as well:
http://uk.farnell.com/kingbright/l-835-2gdt/light-bar-green-8mm-x-5mm/dp/2099206

I did try kingbrightusa.com but it's not in their current offers so you got to hunt for distributors that have them

maybe www.findchips.com and www.octoparts.com will give you better results.

http://octopart.com/partsearch#!?q=kingbright%20L-835&start=0&limit=10

http://www.findchips.com/search/L-835%20kingbright/1540-Onlinecomponents.com

Edit again: element 14 (Newark) has some

http://www.newark.com/kingbright/l-835-2ydt/light-bar-yellow-8mm-x-5mm/dp/93T1628?CMP=AFC-OP

Bonanza at Element14 (page 3) page 4 has other ones as well.
They do have inventory (less than 100 each) so unless someone gets them before you do, there should be plenty for your project (I hope)
http://www.newark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?catalogId=15003&langId=-1&storeId=10194&categoryId=800000005557&mf=100074&pageSize=25&beginIndex=3&showResults=true

[Scotophor]

@kingofkya: Fabricating lookalikes will be my option of last resort. The epoxy from which LEDs are made isn't easily "melted" by heat, nor by dissolving in a readily-available solvent. Gluing up some smaller LEDs might be viable for the 3-chip style, but for the 2-chip style there just doesn't seem to be anything available today that's big enough and the right (pale) tint from which to build up. To replicate those, I would need to make molds of the obsolete LEDs then hand-tint a clear casting epoxy or resin to match the color, and then cast them with smaller modern LEDs inside -- preferably modern LEDs of matching color, if I can find them. It's doable, but costly, time-consuming and fiddly. Since I have already found over half the quantity I need of original parts, I think I'll keep searching for a while before I give up and go the replication route.

@miguelvp: Thank you very much for the effort you put into that post, but I've already seen all of those sites. The Kingbright parts are those with which Cal West replaced their original (currently unknown) parts from my photos and description. SunLED also makes parts that are nearly indistinguishable from the Kingbright parts. I need the original styles, which to the best of my ability to determine, are no longer made.

I've been to the Wayback Machine / hallbar.com (Cal West Supply, Inc. website) pages previously. Unfortunately it seems that all of those archived pages are from after they changed the LED styles.

[Yago]

Had some light bars at an old company I worked for.
They were similar to the ones you posted, but had a white opaque plastic around the back and sides of the device, translucent colour window on the front.

They had/have a few different sizes, I'll give them a phone later in the week and see what they have.

[Scotophor]

Yago, thanks for the offer, but I can't use the ones with the white frame around them either. Those are still popular and easy to find, and they even come in the 14 mm x 7 mm dimension like the 2-chip ones I'm after. They also differ in pinout, being a modified dual in line with 5 pins instead of the single in line as in my photos.

[Yago]

Indeed, the pins are inline as you say Scott, I remember them now (was about 10 years ago!).

I remember sorting out all the old opto stock before I left and there was a crate full of old LED samples (one of those companies that people won't touch stuff unless they are told to!).
I'll try to go this week and see what's there that might fit the bill.

They might have some goodies for me, though I doubt it!

[Richard Crowley]

I recently bought a few hundred of the 5mm x 5mm rectangular LEDs in several colors.
I was able to bond the packages together using acetone to "melt" the mating surfaces together.

[Scotophor]

Indeed, the pins are inline as you say Scott, I remember them now (was about 10 years ago!).

I remember sorting out all the old opto stock before I left and there was a crate full of old LED samples (one of those companies that people won't touch stuff unless they are told to!).
I'll try to go this week and see what's there that might fit the bill.

They might have some goodies for me, though I doubt it!

Thank you for offering to go the "extra mile" (or extra 1.6 km?) for me -- I hope you find goodies for both of us!

[Scotophor]

No luck, Foxx? Or Yago?

[envisionelec]

LED Bargraph Elements in various forms found here:

https://www.westfloridacomponents.com/Displays.html

You can find them as old HP (Avago) and Lite-On buyouts from surplus and eBay sellers.

[Scotophor]

@envisionelec: Quoting your signature, "I'm not a complete idiot". Well, I believe I'm not either. Did you actually study the photos and description in the first post in this topic? I see nothing at the site you referenced that matches what I'm looking for. I've been searching eBay almost daily with several different search term variations for them for more than six months too.

EDIT: I'm sorry, this response was inappropriate and uncalled for. I fear the damage I've done may be irreparable. It was a poor attempt to show my frustration after posting what I believed to be a thoroughly detailed description, perhaps excessively so, including photos, of what I wanted, then being repeatedly directed to websites at which I could not find anything matching that description.

[ovnr]

Well funk you very much. Just throwing out a search term you may have overlooked.

Blocked.

LOL the butthurt is strong with this one.

[miguelvp]

TBH, if the OP would have shared all his findings I wouldn't have wasted my time finding those exact replacements that he stated later he already had found. And his answer to the last link was rude to say the least.

[motocoder]

TBH, if the OP would have shared all his findings I wouldn't have wasted my time finding those exact replacements that he stated later he already had found. And his answer to the last link was rude to say the least.

Totally agree. The OP's rude responses to several people on this thread killed any and all motivation I had to help. Amazing how someone can be such an ass to people trying to help. Where do people get this sense of entitlement?

[Scotophor]

I apologize to everyone who has been offended by my posts here. I don't mean to be offensive. Tact was never my strong suit. No I don't feel "entitled" to anything, I'm just trying to find out if anyone knows where some apparently rare items can be obtained and is willing to share that information. If you don't know, or don't want to share with me, feel free to ignore this topic and move on.

Just throwing out a search term you may have overlooked.

I'm not sure which search term you mean. Avago? Lite-On? I have no indication that Avago/HP or Lite-On ever made anything matching what I'm seeking.

I'm not asking anyone to do internet searches for me. I apologize to everyone who thought that's what I was asking. I don't think it would be reasonable for me to post here every website that I've already checked and rejected, to reduce your needless duplication of my previous effort. I haven't kept a list, and I'm sure the number is over a hundred sites.

Since there seems to be some confusion here, probably my fault, I apologize. What I'm hoping to find is someone who either has some of these LEDs, or who already knows a place or person where there's a fair chance that they can be physically found. I believe I've already exhausted all the online possibilities, or at least those that can be found with any reasonable effort. So what I'm after is knowledge that probably is not already online. Perhaps somebody on here knows someone who sells old LEDs at a mom-and-pop bricks-and-mortar electronics shop, electronics swap meets, flea markets, hamfests/hamventions or the like, or someone who might have them squirreled away and gathering dust somewhere.