Abstract: The invention generally relates to LED lighting fixtures and provides apparatuses and methods for determining the forward voltage of a light emitting diode or light emitting diode array in a light fixture. An example apparatus comprises a boost converter with a user-variable forward bias current, that measures and displays the characteristics of an arbitrary LED load. Example methods according to the invention use a configurable boost converter apparatus in the field to determine the LED characteristics of an arbitrary LED module in a lighting fixture and subsequently display the results to the user. The apparatus can be part of a system that includes a link to a mobile device to transmit operating characteristics of the LED load and retrieve pertinent commercial data.

Abstract: A diode detecting circuit which cancels temperature dependence of a detecting diode so as to obtain highly sensitive detection. The diode detecting circuit has a first diode detecting unit in which a first diode detects an input signal biased by a bias voltage, a second diode detecting unit in which a second diode receives the bias voltage, and an output unit which compares an output from the first diode detecting unit with an output from the second diode detecting unit.