Resistors are not recommended for regulating current to high power LEDs for two critical reasons.
1.) Resistors are not able to respond to changes to input voltage levels, which will cause very large variations of input current to the LED.
Over-driving an LED with too much current, even briefly, will significantly reduce its operating life and can lead to total failure within a few seconds. This problem is especially acute for battery power sources as the voltage level of most batteries can vary significantly over the charge/discharge cycle of the battery.
2.) Resistors are very inefficient regulators as they simply turn excess current into heat. This means that you need to use high wattage resistors and provide some means of cooling the resistor.
To protect your investment, you must always use a current regulating driver that is specifically designed to regulate current for high power LEDs.
Our Product Guarantee will be voided if the LEDs are not powered with a current regulating power supply or LED driver.
You can learn more about the LED drivers that we offer here.