lightbar........ha,ha,ha

I thought you were retired?

Anyway I don't know how many 5mm LEDs you'll need to be equivalent to a single 3W power LED but going by current consumption alone it's around, 0.7/0.02 = 35.

I don't know whether a single 3W LED will do, you might need three of them for it to be bright enough.

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You can get ultrabright 5mm LEDs which are rated to 50mA and need to have the cathode soldered to a large plane on the PCB to act as a heatsink so you'll only need 14 to be as bright as a single 3W power LED.
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You'll have to look at the datasheets and compare the the efficiencies so you can work out which is best value for money.

Don't forget that you can overdrive them slighlty because the duty cycle will be 50% so the 3W LEDs can be easily driven at 1A but it depends on the length of the pulses, see the datasheets.

New life in an older post

I'm here trying to learn more about high power LEDs for use in a traffic adviser. Due to the price of the components (3w Luxeon Rebel LEDs) and unique automotive electrical demands, I'm looking into voltage/current regulation methods beyond just a resister.

Enclosures, as previously mentioned, are tricky to find. I plan to mount mine inside the vehicle, thus eliminating the need for weather proofing. Is this an option for you?

An older design by an eLightbars.com forum member can be found at: **broken link removed** . It may help provide some inspiration.